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0:00 hello and welcome I'm maduri and every Sunday I publish helpful videos about academics career and self-development in this week's career 101 video we're going to talk about e-commerce and retail industry so you realize the importance with which we use Amazon mintra and all of these websites today we are going to understand how exactly these work who are the people who manage the different categories behind it so yes we're going to talk about category management for this I have a special guest with me who has over 7 years of work experience in retail management and brand management she's worked with really big companies such as the catalon sports lifestyle India and even minra she has gained tremendous success with her diverse exposure and interest in the field of
0:46 category management let's hear it from shti [Music] Pria hey shti thank you so much for being with us here today hi thanks Maui I'm glad so I've already shared with our viewers that you know you have had such a was experience in the brand management industry and specifically with category management so to begin with I would first like to address the fact that category management is actually a very broad term right and specifically for e-commerce can you help us understand what category manager management is and how did you become one sure so I think like you said if I if I take a broader perspective of what is category management I think let's just break the
1:33 term management we know what it is category you know from a customer's perspective you know when you are able to provide an assortment or more number of option to a customer's requirement that is what is a category so it's pretty much you know category management is pretty much a retail concept which is now making more sense in the e-commerce world now what really happens is when you break down a bigger business into smaller units you organize them so that you have a more focused approach to those business units that's what is category management all about so if you take the example of say an Amazon or I mean because that's like the biggest e-commerce uh player you have different categories whether it could be in electronics it could be a homeline or a fashion or say a mobiles or I mean so so
2:20 on and so forth so breaking down the bigger pie into smaller business unit so that you can have a more focused approach right from what a customer wants to delivering those you know to to your uh targeted customer so managing those smaller business unit becomes the category management you know in short and uh how did you venture into this industry so I think for me it was pretty organic uh uh I mean like I mentioned I'm a nift graduate so I'm a fashion student so for me retail was one of the you know one of the areas which most of us look forward to after completing fashion school if if you don't want to enter design so once you're in retail you have to I mean you know one major uh k for any roles that you uh that you I
3:06 mean that you go into is to drive the business now when you're driving business in retail it means retail is b2c I mean straightforward so once you're you know once you're into one uh you know any sector of retail you have to understand what the customer wants and thereby build that assortment all together so I think for me it was very organic because I chose retail I started working with Brands whether you know whether it was fashion or you know or I mean outside fashion and then for me it was a very organic part Al together but I think if you extend your question I'm sure you'll ask how others can you know enter category management exactly so I think answer is you have to identify with the category you you want to enter with so I had a fashion background and therefore it made my I mean for me it
3:53 was easy to you know to get into a fashion section of the retail now if somebody has a background uh say in electronics or has has a workex in mobiles or any such experiences then you're then it's easy to enter that industry because you have to understand the customers's requirement of that particular category and then you know then accordingly uh you know manage okay but what if someone doesn't exactly have that background so like you mentioned you were a fashion student and from there on it was a pretty natural shift for you but if someone who doesn't have that background and and still wants to venture into and enter the industry as a category manager how do you think they can do that are there any courses or certifications available outside uh any
4:39 kind of skills that they need to build before even thinking about moving into this industry sure so you know I mean we both are MBA student and I mean we've been MBA students so MBA is sort of a Jack to all trades I mean that's what it is so through an MBA it's definitely an easy you know easy entry point but even without an MBA you have to then start uh right from the uh I mean right from the entry point of being a merchandiser to a buyer to a retail uh you know to a retail owner to a category manager because managing a category you you are pretty much controlling these four aspects of it so you can always start off as a merchandiser where you are plan where you are uh where your role is more towards forecasting demand planning uh I mean uh buying pricing and so on so you
5:26 have to start off with those roles and then you know then pretty much uh you know get into category management while through an MBA that job becomes easy then you are expected to you know understand the business all you know from a from a uber level you you're expected to understand the business and then you can definitely you know start off because ultimately category management is a BD role is a hardcore uh you know hardcore I would say uh customer Centric Business Development role so would you say that category management is for someone who will enjoy uh having the autonomy of owning uh an entire business of sorts end to end uh even if that business just means the category that you're managing right from procuring uh suppliers to uh ensuring
6:13 that the customers that you have uh are getting what they need managing everything end to end basically 100% 100% I think you pretty much answered my you know what I was what I would answer is because it's pretty much owning the whole business human or owning the whole category it involves like I said you know the one of the key aspect for it uh is to drive sales which is make the category bigger and therefore you know one skill that is expected out of out of a category manager is being good with numbers because you're constantly you know chasing uh obviously you're chasing the top line of your category but also the bottom line and therefore you are the pnl owner of your category you're owning the whole category right from product selection to assortment building
6:59 to pricing to ensuring better margins with your respective vendors to when you know to managing vendors to negotiating with vendors for the best of you know best of the margins or best of commissions and then obviously working with your marketing team to drive the best of prices so that you are able to you know uh I mean result in a bigger Top Line so I think uh you know to sum up like you said you own up the whole business you manage the pnl now when you're managing the pnl obviously both the top offline and Bot line becomes your key deliverables and in the process it's a lot of people management because you you are you know you are in the middle of it's like a platform again you you are on one way you are you have these customers who are looking who who have a certain requirements from your
7:46 category and on the other side you have all these vendors and Brands and suppliers which you need to marry so a lot of people management a lot of negotiation a lot of good communication also and plus Point has to be good with numbers so I think that is something you know every category manager interview would like to you know examine or assess in the process or in the interview when they are trying to select candidates for particular roles yes yes 100% uh so let's dive a little deeper into your uh work role and understand what you do day in and day out so as a category manager how does your typical day look like see uh typical day is I think the first thing that you do is check the sales of the previous identify were their
8:31 opportunities that you have missed because that keeps you I mean that keeps you on your toes all the time so you have to definitely see that whether you were able to match the demand which marketing team helped you generate with the supply that you have created or the assortment that you have buil if you identify it you know fitting in that's like the best day ever but obviously every day you have one or two new challenges or in fact more challenges whether there has been product gaps there has been issues with deliveries there has been wrong pricing so all those things you you you then you know come and solve so I think on a typical day once you check the numbers you identify what are the Scopes of growth what were the uh what were the challenges that you know that hindered your growth and then you try to meet
9:17 those now again as a category manager I think we have buying Seasons or we have Cycles where you know it's like uh for the whole year maybe once or twice in the year we uh we have I mean try to we're building assortment not for a day not for a month but probably either annual or by anual so you know every day probably you get some ideas on how your buying cycle will be or how you will you know manage your contracts with your suppliers or uh what new things you need to develop or what new things you have to look forward to with your vendors in order to meet the uh customer demands and in order to in order to ensure that your category is growing ultimately in a profitable way right I hope absolutely I mean you're sharing it
10:04 in in an exhaustive Manner and I think our viewers will be very happy to get this level of understanding for category management especially if they are thinking of venturing into this Arena so uh I want to talk more from a career perspective as well uh how does the hierarchy look like for a category manager maybe who has just started and how long does it take uh to move from one level to the other how does how do the promotions look like so you know like I was talking uh you know how uh in conventional retail basically we still have a fixed hierarchy because that has been there for quite some time now e-commerce overall as an industry is a new industry I mean it's very Dynamic we are I mean every year I believe we
10:49 Define some new Norms some new some new strategical strategic ways to you know grow or Prosper all together so in e-commerce idly you know category manager you know starts off with a smaller share or a smaller business unit and as you know as your sheet does well or you know the responsibility increases you you know it's like you start off from a 2% of the company and then you know over a period of time you be you are pretty much owning 50% or 60% of the business of you know of of your respective multibrand or multiproduct company so the growth is more in terms of responsibility of your bigger business business all together so likewise I would say you know there's no fixed hierarchy as such I mean you have
11:35 category leaders owning up to all those smaller business units and then you have category heads or in fact you know you gize the category so maybe you know in in fashion terms how it happens I can explain you very well is that you know you have overall apparel section and now in apparel you divide it among men and women so you have a head for the whole apparel then you have a head for both men and uh women and then on women part you again classify it into say a women apparels or a women Footwear or a women uh you know in India we call it ethnic wear or a women Western Wear or uh and then again Men's Wear you divide into men's Street Wear Men's Work Wear men's Lounge wear men's in aware and so on and so forth so that that's how you know a
12:21 bigger pie is divided into subcategories and therefore you start you you start your career with a smaller subcategory and which time and you know I mean with time how you have performed and based on your uh based on your growth the responsibility increases and ultimately you start owning up a bigger chunk of you know of the category so that's how I would say you know I would define an e-commerce world the hierarchy looks like ultimately you know I've seen some leaders who have become in a span of 10 years or 15 years or even shorter in especially because e-commerce in India is younger in in a span of say 8 to 10 years they' become the chief business officer are in fact a CEO also so because you're you're the business owners I don't see that part any wrong because ultimately you you own the whole
13:08 company you know Drive the whole company not own sorry you drive the whole company you know in an overall way so I hope I I could answer itely and I think I'm really fascinated with the timeline that you're defining because in every other industry 10 to 15 years is a really short time period of time for anybody to yeah the highest level of promotion and you know cover all the paths so I think that's that's quite intriguing I think uh yeah but I think that's more because this industry is new and young e-commerce is overall is a New Concept it's yet you know defining it's uh its way of you know functioning all together that's that's one reason otherwise yeah I mean once it's also settled and establish you would again
13:54 see a similar you know 20 25 years to you know to grow and be a CBO follow a business leader all together okay so what would you advise someone who is just starting out as a category manager what are some things that they should definitely do and some things that they should avoid I think as a category manager you have to uh stick to you know what your customer wants you have to Aspire uh you know aspire to be a marketer altoe because you I mean if you lose on the connect with your customers requirement you somewhere you know start failing as a category manager because that's something you have to you know like I said you have to match the customers demands and you know uh you know match it with the with the right product or the right assortment so I
14:39 think the one aspect which is very important as a category manager is to keep is to uh you know is to to keep your knowledge as strong as possible with what your customer really wants and then you know answer it with where can you provide it with the best product at the best place at the best time I mean like a pure marketer though this is a hardcore business role but I believe you know all your marketing uh you know 101s and all your marketing uh you know courses that you you've come across whether in your MBA or before all those will come in all those will come in you know action or come in uh practice all together so you have to continue uh that connect and then obviously you have to definitely improve with time understand what your which direction the company is
15:26 uh you know heading to whether it's all about increasing the top line or you know ensuring a fair ensuring a good mix of you know a healthy bottom line and so on so if you're able to match to those companies requirement I think you you can grow in I mean there's no way uh it I mean there's no way anybody can stop you from so be passionate I mean that's like everybody says be passionate about the category you're representing and then you know you're able to prove yourself better right right um thank you so much for all of that information shy I'm sure our viewers might have found it really useful do you want to give it a try to ask you our viewers to subscribe to my channel yeah definitely so I think I know maduri for quite some time and I
16:12 think I'm a big uh uh not just obviously she's a good friend but then I think I'm a big fan of the work she's doing uh the educ I mean the way she's imparting education so I think I'll I'll request all the viewers who watching please like subscribe and follow her on both link uh on both Instagram YouTube and Link thank you thank you thanks for the time you pretty much ate up my lines which I say towards the end but I think coming from you it will give more validation to our users so uh guys I really hope that you enjoyed this conversation between me and shy and you have more information now if you are looking to venture into e-commerce and specifically as a category manager if you still have have
16:59 any questions please feel free to drop them in the comment section and I'm sure shy will be more than happy to answer them for you uh please follow shti and you can connect with her on LinkedIn and you can follow me on Instagram and Linkedin but before you move on please subscribe to the channel and stay tuned for more videos thank you for watching thank you
