Defined

Category Development is the process of introducing business decision-making tools that are designed to mutually drive value creation in yours and your retail partners' businesses.

By practising Category Development, manufacturers are encouraged to ask themselves, how are our current business strategies delivering increased retailer and consumer value?

Value creation can be delivered in a number of forms: driving increased category usage, delivering innovation for which consumers will pay a premium, or shifting the product mix to higher value options.

Category Development is not:	Category Development is:
Subjective (internally focused)	Objective
Just about suppliers and retailers	Also about the consumer
Short-term	A big picture direction
Tactical/ad hoc	Progression over time
Separate function	Seamless across entire business
Reactive	Proactive
All about data	Making fact-based decisions
Trading	Planning ahead
More promotions	Addressing the category as a whole
Justifying enhanced terms	Value creation focused

Category development is about working with the retailer to leverage consumer insights to deliver future benefits to consumers, retailers and manufacturers.