February 12, 2023, 1:01 am
Why do Doctors' have a "Practice"?
Why do Doctors’ have a “Practice”?
It’s the end of the year and Doctor offices are packed. I realize this as I’m waiting for my annual checkup.
“Man, you all are slammed!” I commented.
“It’s that time of year.” explained the Nurse Practitioner.
“Everyone is either trying to use up their health care spending or have met their annual deductibles and want to get seen without paying out of pocket….”
“and the flu?”
What are my brands vital signs?
As I’m getting the cold stethoscope jabbed into my back, I thought about who plays the Doctor role in the CPG industry? Who is collecting my BRANDS vital signs, looking for symptoms of disease, threats to its health and recommending medicine or lifestyle changes to improve performance?
Whether you are an emerging, growth, or mature brand, understanding key vital signs like pricing effectiveness, shelf position, packaging impact, and share of shelf are important to understand your brand and specific items health.
The Doctor is In
I realize the CMA Annual Conference is just around the corner and comparing Category Managers to Doctors might be playing to the audience. I understand the skepticism. However, ask any Sales VP or CEO who they turn to when IRI comes out and their brands are struggling or when they see a competitor unexpectedly gain share. Category Management.
Diagnosing the difference between a hypertension and indigestion for your brand is best monitored by the Category Management Team. They have the instruments, visibility and professional experience to ensure your brand is healthy or what is needed to bring them back to health.
An Apple a Day……
In this case, rather than keeping your Category teams away, I suggest keeping them closer. The industry today is showing signs of “Compounded Complexity”. That is, complexity on top of complexity. In the seeking market share, Retailers are driving store level planograms like never before while entrepreneurs continue to innovate. If you are a large brand, the attack on your share is constant, coming from all reaches of the retail industry. If you are an emerging brand, the gaps in markets you are trying to exploit are getting hard to find. In both cases, not diagnosing the warning signs can lead to problems down the road. The newest tools Category Managers have access to is AI-Image Recognition. The “MRI” for seeing below the surface of syndicated data.
Consider this a Public Service Announcement. Don’t wait until there is a problem before you make an appointment. Your Category Managers will be back in the office after the CMA conference!
For more information regarding AI-Image Recognition tools search Visiongroupretail.com and Maxerience.com.