On February 27th, the ECR Community Webinar Series hosted its fourth session, discussing the final two steps of the 8-Step Approach to Category Management: Implementation & Review. This session provided a behind-the-scenes look at how retailers and suppliers move from strategy to execution and ensure their category plans deliver measurable success.

At the heart of this discussion was an innovative collaboration between SuperValu Ireland and Danone Ireland, who transformed their approach to category management with a more structured, data-driven and execution-focused process.

Meet the Experts

The session featured two key speakers, each bringing deep expertise in retail execution and category strategy:

  • Paul Corcoran – Head of Range & Space Planning at Musgrave, the parent company of SuperValu
  • Sarah Hanley – Senior Category Manager at Danone

They demonstrated the process they developed, focusing on how they tackled the challenges of planogram compliance, shopper-focused category optimisation and performance tracking.

Revolutionising Category Execution: What Changed?

SuperValu and Danone set out with a clear goal: to build a more effective and shopper-centric category execution model that would ensure the right products were available, in the right stores, at the right time.

Here's how they did it:


✔ A Smarter Range Strategy: Instead of following a one-size-fits-all approach, they shifted to a more data-led, tailored category strategy that prioritised shopper needs and market trends.


✔ Better Compliance & Execution: They implemented clearer planograms, ensuring stores followed category layouts correctly, improving on-shelf availability and consistency.


✔ Real-Time Performance Tracking: Using SuperValu's operational scorecard, they were able to monitor execution in stores, ensuring planogram compliance, promotional participation and overall sales performance.


✔ Optimising the Yogurt & Desserts Category: Danone took a deep dive into consumer behaviour, leveraging shopper insights and trend analysis to improve the category's segmentation, ensuring it reflected the latest market demands, like protein-rich and plant-based products.


✔ Delivering Tangible Results: The new strategy led to a 7% increase in sales in the Yogurt & Desserts category, proving that small adjustments in execution can lead to significant financial impact.

Why This Matters: The Power of Continuous Review

One of the key takeaways from the session was that category management is an ongoing journey, not a one-time task. It's not enough to create a plan, it has to be implemented correctly, reviewed regularly and adjusted to evolving customer needs.

SuperValu and Danone's success highlights the importance of collaboration between retailers and suppliers, the role of data-driven decision-making and the need for a structured approach to reviewing and refining category strategies.