Designation: Category Manager

Reports to: CBO

Category Strategy & Business Ownership:

- Own the category P&L, including revenue growth, gross margins, contribution profitability, and overall business performance.

- Define the category vision, growth roadmap, and long-term business strategy aligned with organizational goals.

- Identify growth opportunities through market analysis, competitive benchmarking, consumer trends, and whitespace identification.

- Drive annual operating plans, business forecasts, pricing strategies, and portfolio expansion initiatives.

New Product Development & Innovation:

- Lead end-to-end new product development from opportunity identification and concept creation to commercialization and post-launch optimization.

- Translate consumer insights, market trends, and unmet needs into innovative product propositions and distinctive offerings.

- Partner closely with R&D, sourcing, regulatory, operations, and quality teams to ensure timely and successful product launches.

- Build and manage a robust innovation pipeline to support sustained category growth.

Go-to-Market (GTM) & Launch Excellence:

- Develop comprehensive go-to-market strategies for new product launches across D2C, e-commerce, quick commerce, and offline channels where relevant.

- Define product positioning, pricing architecture, launch calendars, channel-specific assortment, and commercialization plans.

- Drive successful launch execution through cross-functional collaboration with marketing, sales, supply chain, operations, and channel partners.

- Monitor launch performance and implement corrective actions to maximize adoption, penetration, and profitability.

Brand & Marketing Leadership:

- Own the category marketing strategy, including brand development, consumer acquisition, retention, and engagement.

- Develop integrated marketing plans across digital, performance, influencer, social, content, CRM, and marketplace ecosystems.

- Manage marketing budgets and ensure efficient allocation of investments to drive category growth and ROI.

- Partner with creative and media teams to build strong brand narratives and differentiated consumer propositions.

Consumer & Market Insights:

- Lead consumer research, behavioural analysis, and trend monitoring to uncover growth opportunities.

- Build deep understanding of customer needs, purchase drivers, competitive landscapes, and emerging industry trends.

- Leverage data-driven insights to refine product strategies, communication frameworks, and portfolio decisions.

E-commerce, Quick Commerce & D2C Growth:

- Drive category performance across Ecommerce, Quick Commerce and D2C channels.

- Optimize assortment planning, pricing, promotional strategies, marketplace visibility, and conversion metrics.

- Partner with channel teams to build scalable growth programs and improve customer acquisition and retention.

- Monitor channel economics and profitability while maximizing category penetration and market share.

Commercial & Cross-Functional Leadership:

- Collaborate with supply chain, finance, operations, analytics, and sales teams to ensure seamless execution of business objectives.

- Drive inventory planning, demand forecasting, and supply readiness for launches and growth initiatives.

- Establish KPIs, dashboards, and performance management frameworks to track category health and business outcomes.

- Influence senior stakeholders through data-backed recommendations and strategic business reviews.