The purpose of PGR's - retailer category range reviews
To remain competitive, retailers continually have to monitor and assess their product ranges in line with market trends and their shoppers needs. Being at the forefront of the review helps manufacturers or suppliers ensure they maximise the space allocated to their brands. Planograms are created ahead of time to give retailers a visual representation of what the fixture will look like with any planned changes, they can also be used to predict sales or profit changes based on the number of listings and facings etc. An effective range review process is an opportunity for the supplier and the retailer to positively develop their working relationship and grow the category so both can benefit by improving the shopper's experience.
Key benefits of performing a range review
- Well managed categories have a proven success record of increasing sales & profit
- Your range will be based on consumer trends and category performance
- You can Identify gaps in the existing product range (gap analysis)
- Perform space to sales analysis in order to maximise return on valuable shelf space
- Create range justifications for your new products, new products get the best chance
- Understand the visual impact of new range from a shoppers perspective
- Drive new sales to the category with targeted shopper insights
- Improve shopability with aesthetically pleasing layouts (planograms)
- Increase profitability with tighter inventory control and reducing out-of-stocks
- Perform analysis on competitors and look for opportunity gaps
What work is carried out by Suppliers and retailers?
Suppliers
The category manager/analyst prepares a category review which will be based on syndicated market data analysis (e.g. Nielsen or Kantar) & if available retailer epos. The goal is to use the data to spot opportunities to improve the category and suppliers own brands, the category review needs to be positioned around benefiting the entire category as opposed to focusing on the suppliers brands. A category review presentation then gets presented to the retailer (usually by key account manager with the category manager also present), enabling them to make informed decisions regarding what possible changes to make to the category range and planogram.
Retailers
Retailers will perform regular analysis on their categories and range and just like suppliers seek to ensure they are meeting their shoppers needs and keeping up with market and consumer trends. The frequency will depend on the retailer and are updated 4 times per year on average. Major retailers will have a schedule of when a category is updated called a “planogram window” or “PGR” planogram review and give suppliers the option of presenting their suggested changes before the next review. Retailers often seek the help of their suppliers and will ask the following of them;
- Are there any products which should be discontinued and replaced?
- What categories/sub categories are 'on trend' or declining
- Which products should get more space on the shelf?
- Which shopper behaviours are impacting the category?
- Are there any emerging trends which the category is going to need to adapt to?
Shelfstock's range review service
Some of the things you can expect;
- A high-level review of the findings and suggested solutions. Making sure they complement the retailer's own category strategy
- A brief discussion on market performance and shopper trends
- Detailed recommendations for the category assortment
- New planograms to suit each retailer and planogram size saved in preferred format
- Recommendations, insights, or observations substantiated with data
- Soft and hard copies of the presentation in various formats as needed
Detailed range analysis will also include;
- Category Best Sellers
- Your shelf warmers or poor sellers
- How the categories/sub categories are performing/trending
- Hot and cold parts of the existing planogram
- Is the planogram following consumer decision tree
- What your planogram will look like after implementation
- How NPD compares with existing brands on planogram
(*note it's assumed that syndicated data & epos will be available in the process)