Managing retail on a category-by-category basis is no longer sustainable.

Category management has served the industry dutifully for decades, but its original practitioners could never have predicted the astonishing advancement of retail technology and the consumer empowerment it has made possible. Further, food retailers in this decade are under intense competitive pressure from Amazon, discounters, meal kit services, natural/organic markets and various combinations thereof.

To compete and thrive in this new reality, retailers need a new approach — beyond category management — that will guide them in aligning merchandising and marketing decisions with shopper preferences.

See this on-demand session as Precima’s Graeme McVie explains the master strategy behind Total Store Optimization, an approach that moves far beyond category-by-category management, and Win Weber who highlights how some leading food retailers are effectively implementing this new shopper-centric methodology.