Symphony GOLD Category Management Survey Finds Retailers and Manufacturers Divided on Assortment Priorities

PARIS, FRANCE--(Marketwired - Feb 6, 2017) - Symphony GOLD, provider of the GOLD unified software platform for omni-channel retail, today announced the results of its third annual Category Management Survey, which found retailers and manufacturers divided on assortment priorities. The survey determined that retailers are focused on category innovation through new product development, rationalization, and planogram design in their assortment reviews, while CPG manufacturers are keen to drive revenue by increasing distribution and listing opportunities with products that already exist.

Seeking to benchmark approaches to category management, the Symphony GOLD 2016 Category Management Survey surveyed over 250 leading CPG manufacturers from across the United States and Europe. This year's survey identifies key forces challenging both retailers and manufacturers, such as a focus on relevant store formats is decreasing the relevancy of big box outlets and more granular assortments, and an onslaught of data that is difficult to consolidate and analyze with existing legacy systems.

The Symphony GOLD Category Management Survey reveals:

Retailers and Manufacturers Divided on Assortment Priorities - Although manufacturers globally report that 49% of retailers are demanding SKU rationalization and new product introduction, 48% of manufacturers globally would prefer to do opportunity gaps assessment and advanced trending analysis. Overcoming this division requires both parties to collaboratively review category strategy in order to transform collective insight into timely and actionable planning that is focussed on delivering profitable category growth.

Assortment Recommendations Are Becoming More Granular - Globally, 31% of manufacturers report that assortment and space recommendations are made at total retailer level. This number increases to 36% in the United States but drops to 22% in the United Kingdom, with a similar number (23%) providing plans at a more granular fixture level. While this indicates the depth at which manufacturers are required to provide assortment and space recommendations to retailers, it also reflects the different retailing landscapes. As format expansion increases, manufacturers in all markets will be asked for recommendations at store and fixture level in addition to banner level.

Collaboration - US and UK respondents were more likely to describe the retailer-manufacturer relationship as mostly collaborative (46% and 40% respectively), while in mainland Europe this number drops to around 25%. However, as shoppers come to expect greater product availability and more relevant assortments, closer collaboration represents an opportunity. By embracing a more collaborative approach internally and externally, retailers and manufacturers can improve the connection with their customers and drive a more cost efficient category management process.

Time-Consuming Data Consolidation - The majority of manufacturers, 27%, report spending three to five days consolidating data to support category insight, with a further 26% spending five days on the task. Consequently, actionable insights are elusive and organizations are unable to respond quickly to market and consumer needs. A cloud-based category management solution enables retailers and manufacturers to assimilate data from multiple sources and create a single access to the truth, which will become more imperative to speed time to decision in the future.

"This year, the key factor is the need to increase collaboration between retailers and manufacturers in order to get closer to customers and drive more business growth," said Matt Robinson, Director of Solution Marketing Symphony GOLD. "Organizations who are winning are those that invest in solutions that not only integrate data with technology, but that connect people and processes with the capabilities necessary to increase category growth and employee productivity."

Multimedia and Resources
Learn more about the survey results in this short video
Download the full results of the 2016 Category Management Survey
Join the conversation on the Merchandising & Category Management LinkedIn Group

About Symphony GOLD
Symphony GOLD, provider of the industry-leading GOLD unified software platform for omni-channel retail, helps high volume and CPG retailers grow revenue and margins through localized, space-aware assortments and pricing, improved inventory deployment and availability, and increased operational productivity. Symphony GOLD has delivered results for some of the world's most known retail brands and consumer goods manufacturers for almost 30 years in over 70 countries, enabling them to provide their shoppers with better value, greater convenience and improved choice. More at www.symphonygold.com follow us on twitter @GOLDretail

Symphony GOLD solutions help power the Symphony Retail Cloud, the industry's first role-based, customer-centric cloud solution that enables retailers and manufacturers to deliver more than two percent revenue growth by translating customer intelligence into insights and actions that drive bottom-line decisions. More at www.symphonyretailcloud.com