CONFERENCE BEGINS

09.00

Registration and Refreshments

10.00

Chairman's Welcome & Introduction

Karen will open the conference and outline the themes of the first day.

10.10

10.35

The Role Of Category Management In A Credit Crunch World

Sue will focus on how Pepsico has built an action plan for the chilled juice market following its market decline as a result of the economic climate. She will stress how category management becomes even more important in challenging times as it is used to educate and drive change outside promotional planning.

11.00

Refreshments Break

11.30

Price is Not the Only Option

In these recessionary times the temptation is often to reduce price in order to stimulate growth. However by unearthing genuine shopper insights it is possible to drive category growth without having to resort to price reductions. Sue will share a case study to demonstrate how Bridgethorne, in partnership with its clients, has sought to truly understand shopper behaviour to challenge the established category norms in order to drive incremental category growth.

11.55

Frozen: Fit for the Future

Learn how Birds Eye uses consumer, shopper and customer insight to deliver frozen food category growth for not only today, but also for the future. Maria and David will present a case study to show how consumer and shopper strategy has led to a reset of macro space for frozen food, paving the way for an optimal mix between category core range and new product development.

12.20

Chair's summary

12.30

Lunch

13.45

Best of the Best

Claire will demonstrate how The Co-operative embraces the customer in creating its new offer for the Somerfield conversions, through its 'Best of the Best' approach from both businesses. Bringing consistency and clarity to The Co-operative Group stores through range harmonisation across all categories, Claire will demonstrate how the new combined business will drive a more effective central range management whilst delivering a more flexible and relevant customer focused offer.

14.10

How can retailers and category managers avoid a "One-Size Fits All" approach? The benefits of tailoring the category strategy around the core shopper

Through in-depth research into shopper behaviour across grocery and specialist stores Mars has helped retailers better understand the unique characteristics of their core shoppers. This has been used to help them differentiate their approach to space, layout, range, promotions and point of sale. Benjamin will show how Mars has worked jointly with its buyers and commercial teams to bring this together into effective change at the shelf and in the store.

14.35

Refreshments Break

15.05

Smarter Ranging at Tesco

Rob will share how Tesco is shaping its range for customers and the changes that will be seen in-store. Via video interview and in-store filming, Rob will discuss how the use of sophisticated insights from dunnhumby, Nielsen and TNS will revolutionise the in-store range at Tesco, and the implications this brings for suppliers

15.30

Turning consumer insight into real and deliverable practice

Understanding the consumer has never been more critical than in today’s challenging trading environment. Using recently commissioned Consumer Research, Martin will detail some of the tactics implemented that have helped to cement the Wild Bean Café as the Nation’s leading Forecourt “food to go” brand. He will explore the basic tenets of the brand and demonstrate how simplicity is the key to delivering a great customer offer and experience. He will also advocate the need for collaborative Category Partnerships that remain true to continuous improvement, not side-tracked by short-term initiatives happening within the sector.

15.55

Chair's summary

16.15 

Drinks Reception and Networking

17.30

Finish

 CONFERENCE BEGINS

08.00

Registration and Refreshments

08.30

Optional Breakfast Session:
Intelligent Planograms? Improve category and shelf performance by automating your existing investment

Successful shelf execution demands effective planogram production. Mohit Paul, Commercial Director at leading software specialist Aldata, will explain how the Dr Pepper Snapple Group and leading grocery retailer Delhaize Group, are building organisational intelligence into their automated planogram production. The result? The ability to effectively deliver against local demand requirements, leverage and integrate existing market, product intelligence and current space management systems, to ensure execution where it matters - at the shelf.

09.40

Chairman's Welcome & Introduction

Karen will open the conference and outline the themes of the second day.

09.50

10.15

10.40

Refreshments Break

11.10

Helping shoppers to get ‘into the zone’

The Meal Solutions Category at Sainsbury covers a wide range of product areas from ready meals to pizza , prepared salads and pies. Melanie will show how customer insight has helped the team understand the customer shopping behaviour and the resulting change in layout of the store space to make shopping easier.

11.35

Out of the Ice Age: Driving Growth in Frozen through Manufacturer-Retailer Partnerships

As one of the leading players in the Frozen Foods category, H.J. Heinz has developed a set of proprietary insights and strategies for growing the category. Join Paul and Christian as they share their approach for developing manufacturer-retailer partnerships to help drive the category forward. This work has been developed through a comprehensive shopper insights program and leverages Heinz’s deep, global experience in the category in several other markets around the world. Learn how to leverage the actions that have proven so successful in the USA for growing frozen, and how to maximise the opportunity for manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.

12.00

Successful joint business planning with trading partners

In 2008 Morrisons shared their approach to ‘driving Category Strategy through integrated data’. Steve will share with us the category success Morrisons has achieved through joint business planning with trading partners.

12.25

Chair's summary

12.35

Lunch

13.50

A Small Supplier’s Approach to Category Management:
Establishing Category Captaincy whilst Managing Cash

Tom will share how Little Dish is using Category Management to drive double digit growth in the Kids Chilled Meals Category across their retailers. He will show how a resourceful and innovative approach can deliver big results whilst at the same time managing cash through the credit crunch.

14.15

Improved Targeting for In-store Callage, Driving Better Results

Over the last year Kimberly-Clark has been working closely with some of its suppliers to identify genuine opportunities to drive sales in its customers stores.  Steve will tell you how the company has vastly improved its store targeting and is investing heavily in in-store calls by field marketing agencies to further improve promotional effectiveness, on-shelf availability and speed to market of new product launches.

14.40

Driving Category Growth Through Less is More

As competition intensifies within the current trading environment, it's critical to innovate and break the mould in order to maintain a clear point of difference.  Chris discusses how he removed 25% of the crisps and snacks range within Asda and converted 75% of the range to RRP. The less is more strategy has made the fixture simpler to shop for customers, easier to replenish for stores and has driven value and volume growth ahead of the market.

15.05

Chair's summary

15.20

Finish