Mastering the Art of Category Management —Exploring Customer & Supplier Category Management

Based on the scope of this role in the organization, the 7 key functions discussed in Chapter 1 can be classified under Customer & Supplier Category Management. Let’s understand them in detail.

Customer Category Management

It fundamentally encompasses analyzing the areas which impact the customer journey on the platform. The below-mentioned pointers can be useful in understanding the same:

• Traffic & Conversion: Mobile APP, Msite & Desktop funnel measurement & tracking conversion metrics.
• Content: Ensuring Product Search Result Page, Details Page & Transaction Page has sufficient information for a smooth checkout.
• Loyalty: Rewarding the customers through loyalty programmes & maintaining healthy Repeat ratio.
• Marketing: Lucrative offers & campaign to provide the best experience to the customers.
• Product: For example, offering a Product comparison feature wr.t. competitors to highlight differentiation & unique value proposition.
• Customer Support: 24/7 proactive Customer support team to resolve queries instantly.
• Feedback: Taking corrective actions based on customer feedback collected through Net Promoter Score.

Supplier Category Management

In an e-commerce business, Suppliers or the Seller on the platform ensures competitive advantage & helps to control the customer experience. The key areas to monitor are shared below :

• Distribution: A healthy supplier distribution makes sure that risk is mitigated & also increases the breadth of the offerings for the customers.
• Supplier Platform: Working closely with Product team to launch new features which help to solve pain points of the supplier fortify close-knit collaboration with suppliers.
• Supplier Intelligence: Empowering Business Development team with insights can help them to focus on key supplier which can propel Revenue growth as well.
• Supplier Health: Monitoring breadth & depth of inventory, Sold-outs, Refunds, escalations, Active Suppliers, Orders frequency & prepare a Balance Scorecard to share with Suppliers gives them valuable insights to identify strategies to grow business.
• Communication: Handholding suppliers & actively engaging them with latest offerings through competitor benchmarking can help to forge a long-term relationship.
• Promotions: Collaborating with interested key suppliers for exclusive visibility & promotions to generate higher value & growth can fuel additional revenue stream as well.

Thanks for reading! If you’ve got ideas to contribute to this conversation please comment. If you like what you read and want to see more, clap me some love! Follow here, or connect with me on Linkedin.

This Story incorporates key inputs shared by Ankit Rastogi-VP @ Cleartrip.