What is a ‘Category Development Professional’?
‘Category Managers’ and ‘National Account Salespeople’, as well as other related roles, are professionals who use ‘category management’ methods and data to increase sales. 

Every ‘category’ (product or group of products like ‘beverage’ or ‘pet food’ or ‘OTC/over-the-counter drugs’) is closely tracked for sales history using scan data from the retail check-out counter, which is combined with the manufacturer’s internal historical sales data, data reflecting total category sales (purchased from third party vendors), and other qualitative data (consumer surveys, etc).   The analysis of this data results in a recommended assortment of products for the store shelf in each category, and this exercise is referred to as ‘category management’.

These roles exist because most manufacturers today sell about 80% of their goods to large national retail chains, who have buyers for each category.  These buyers are ‘sold to’ by the manufacturer’s national account sales team but they are ‘advised by’ the manufacturer’s ‘Category Manager’ (or team of category managers and analysts).  The Category Manager, while employed by the manufacturer, is assigned full-time to help the retail buyer maximize sales for that Buyer’s entire category – not just the products that particular manufacturer wishes to sell. 

Most major retailers demand, and get, one or more Category Managers assigned to them by any manufacturer who is serious about selling goods to that Retailer. The Retail Buyer for each category usually relies on one manufacturer to act in the role of ‘Category Captain’, providing the buyer with a detailed drawing called a ‘Planogram’.  This full-color picture of the actual store shelf, includes specific recommendations about which brands should be placed on which shelf and how many of each.  Each buyer will tend to look to one additional manufacturer to act in the role of ‘Validator’ to double-check the Category Captain’s recommendations.  Retailers employ their own Category Managers (particularly if they do a lot of private label sales) but in addition want each manufacturer to provide one also. 

Manufacturers who are too small to afford a Category Manager dedicated to each retailer will generally try to have one for each major channel: Grocery, Convenience, Drug, Mass/Club, Super Stores, etc. and will attend specialized industry events to reach the buyers all at one time.  Some manufacturers use Food Brokers or Beverage Distributors who have regional teams of Category Managers dedicated to providing category management services to the retailer on behalf of the manufacturers.

The ‘Category Manager’ title and role has evolved only over the last fifteen years or so with no common career path or training model.  Only recently have colleges even begun to offer courses on the subject of category management and currently there are no existing training standards.  Fortune 500 companies are grasping at ways to assess the experience and ability of the professionals they wish to hire.  Individual professionals are limited to their own past experience, combined with the accumulated knowledge of their employer, to perform their job well. 

Source : http://www.cpgcatnet.org/