HOW IBS CATEGORY MANAGEMENT - OPTIMIZE CONSUMER MARKETING MIX AND MARGIN GOALS

ibs Category Management solution, fitted through clients' organization and Business processes, is used to automate actions and perform results, providing needed and accurate information. Several possibilities and functionalities are available for users to support and optimize their work.

Merchandise targets and planning management

• Top-down, bottom-up and mixed target setting
• Simulations of targets and projections adjustments
• Breakdown of validated targets to different divisions
• Date-managed approval cycles

Standardize KPI follow-up

• Automatic actual consolidation vs. targets
• Forecasted monthly adjustments
• Standardized reports and metrics follow-up by category roles

Category Planning

• Planning on short and long-term
• Planning according to specific timelines
• Ensure optimized product mix adapted to consumer demands and margin strategy
• Drive and monitor category plans according to strategy adopted

“Optimized Category Targets And Planning Based On A Reliable Mdm”

TIMELINE GLOBAL PROCESS

ibs Category management respects standard time line processes of the Category Management, and can be adapted according to client's specificities. As a result, each action is realized on time, and supported by a validation cycle and automated workflows for control.

The Main steps of the Category Management process are:

1. Preparation and Decisional analysis

• Unique company decisional
• Analysis using internal and external data (market, competition)
• Benchmark of categories performance
• Forecast and landing management

2. Strategy set up

• Definition of strategic company axes
• Qualitative orientations
• Definition of global and Business axes

3. Objectives set up

• Objectives construction top-down, bottom-up, or mixed within scope
• Multi-dimensional view: purchasing hierarchy elements, products types, time frames and entities
• Other dimensions process related to promotions, vendors…
• Dynamic management of indicators and formulas by skill
• Validation cycle and multi-users approval

4. Categories planning creation

Definition by global objectives and by skills:

• Assortment
• Pricing
• Promotions
• Merchandising
• Purchasing / Negotiation
• Logistics
• Finance

With use of adapted indicators and axes

5. In year follow-up

• Reviews management
• Reviews of the objectives respect
• In-Year periodic re-forecasting based on actual results
• Objectives verification
• Objectives updates when gap between target and forecast is too wide
• Definition of corrective actions
• To be done scope review, To-do organization
• Year-end-closure projection based on actual results

“ respect strategic timelines by automation and optimization of actions and business processes, adapted to each company's organization ”

ACTORS INVOLVED & COMPANY ORGANIZATION

Company Organization

ibs Category Management solution includes all concerned actors of the process according to their roles and profiles (managed with users rights). It allows a full control of the process at each level of the organization, as well as the involvement on time of each concerned trade. Each department can have its own actions to be realized at several and different moments of the process and time limits. These actions are realized at different levels of the nomenclatures, and can be done several sequences according to the company organization: centralized, decentralized, mixed and crossed.

Example of constructions modes of objectives by organization type


Departments involved and responsibilities according to levels of hierarchy:

• Financial Controllers

Financial controllers modify and validate forecasts (landings) coefficients by category/typology level, according to several indicators like purchases and margins coefficients. Then, they validate or not forecasts (landings) by department or sector level. They also create and validate targets at department level according to several indicators like purchases evolution or margins rates. Finally, financial controllers will refuse (and send back for update) or validate objectives at sector or department level.

• Buyers

In the same way, they modify and validate forecasts (landings) but by negotiation group according to indicators available (purchase volumes, margins…) Then, they will create and validate objectives by negotiation group at category level, still in accordance with appropriate indicators like purchases evolution or margins rate…

• Group Managers

They validate or not the forecast (landings) at department or category level. They distribute targets by category or typology level. They validate these targets by department level. Finally, they validate the objectives by department or category level.

“involvement of all actors of the process for a complete validation cycle according to the company organization and defined statuses”

ibs Category Management can deliver dramatic results to support a variety of organizational goals, through an effective application and modulation of the process. It can directly answer to the drivers of the organization and the sector. It operates within any specific market conditions, as well as prevailing macro-economic.