Category management has evolved from a tactical function to a strategic differentiator. At the recent Category Management Association breakout session, leaders from Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, and Danone shared how automation is transforming their approach to category excellence. Here's what we learned.
The Evolution of Category Management
The role of category management has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years.
As Haitham Ghadiry, one of the session moderators, noted in the opening remarks: "Category management has come a long way. What used to be mostly about pricing and placement has now transformed into a much broader and more strategic role."
This evolution has created both challenges and opportunities for category leaders. How do you balance the operational demands of the role with the strategic impact retailers expect? How do you manage increasing complexity with limited resources? And how do you transform vast amounts of data into actionable insights that drive category growth?
Our panel of industry experts addressed these questions head-on, sharing their journeys toward category excellence through automation.
From Operational to Strategic: Kraft Heinz's Transformation
Erin Martin, Director of Category Leadership for Walmart and Sam's Club at Kraft Heinz, opened the session with a candid look at how the pandemic disrupted category management practices.
"Like most of our peers in the industry, the pandemic caused a loosening of rigor around our business practices as everyone was solely focused on keeping food on the shelves," Martin explained. "Instead of going deep on things like consumer need states, usage occasions, aisle transformations, my team turned to replenishment-type activities. So, more than losing rigor, we lost some creativity... and with that, we shifted from influencing strategy to completely operational."
Martin emphasized that there's no "back to normal" in today's rapidly evolving retail environment. "The consumer is moving faster than ever before... taste and nutrient trends give us whiplash... shoppers are savvier than ever before, and their behavior doesn't always match with what they're telling us. The consumer was transforming, it was time for us to as well."
Building a Future Focused Mindset
Kraft Heinz responded by developing a new "Category Leadership Mindset" grounded in three commitments:
- We Transform the Future
- We are Shopper Obsessed
- We are the Highest Performing Culture in the World
Through these commitments, Martin's team has shifted from reactive to proactive, becoming anticipatory and insight-driven. They focus on being shopper-centric across all channels while fostering a culture of continuous learning and strategic influence.
The results have been remarkable—retail partners are turning to Kraft Heinz for insights beyond just their own categories.
"Probably the best measure of our success has been our merchant partners asking for more. They're asking us more questions than ever before, looking for our perspective in critical decisions, and even asking that we bring our capabilities—our mindset, our people, and our tech—into categories Kraft Heinz doesn't actually participate in."
-Erin Martin, Kraft Heinz
Powering the Transformation with Automation
To power this transformation, Kraft Heinz relies on Nuqleous Retail Analytics, enabling their teams to extract deeper insights and make faster, smarter decisions.
"You can’t get to transformation when your team is buried in spreadsheets—pulling reports and manually building everything in Excel," Martin explained. "We’re finding partners like Nuqleous that help us move beyond the ‘what happened?’ to the ‘so what?’—and ultimately to the ‘now what?’ The foundation of that is having best-in-class technology."
But their automation journey goes beyond analytics. For several years, Kraft Heinz has also leveraged Shelf IQ, Nuqleous’ space planning automation solution to streamline planogram execution and category strategy. Shelf IQ, in particular, has been a critical tool for Kraft Heinz. "We really view Shelf IQ as foundational to our planogram capabilities," Martin shared. "I even have a team member who said she would quit the team if we took away Shelf IQ."
PepsiCo has also harnessed Shelf IQ to drive efficiency at scale—managing an astounding 75,000+ planograms annually. As their category leadership responsibilities have expanded, automation has become essential to ensuring speed, accuracy, and strategic impact.
Planogram Excellence at Scale: PepsiCo's Automation Journey
Lisa Pagliani, Director of Category Advisor Foods Team at PepsiCo, shared an equally compelling story about leveraging automation to manage an astonishing volume of planograms.
"Our Walmart Inc. PepsiCo Advisor team is made up of 30 category advisors, analysts, and mod managers who are responsible for building over 75K planograms every year," Pagliani revealed. "I couldn't imagine how we would be able to process that many modulars as well as provide that strategic thought leadership to our customer that they expect without the support and help of automation tools like Shelf IQ."
Pagliani identified three primary benefits of automation:
- Speed and Consistency: "We've estimated that leveraging automation alone probably carries the workload of 2 full-time employees on our team with the amount it's being leveraged. Not only has it made us faster and more efficient, but it also reduces the number of human errors that are bound to happen when manually adjusting that many planograms."
- Rule Enforcement: "As category advisors, our team spends a lot of time with the merchants analyzing every square inch of their modulars and merchandising strategy. Many rules are driven based on shopper insights or store labor efficiencies, so accurate execution is crucial to drive expected business performance."
- 24/7 Operations: "The real beauty of these tools is that they can work while we sleep. There are countless times where the team can kick off multiple automation tasks and have it run after hours. That way the team can hit the ground running in the morning."
Most importantly, Pagliani emphasized the cultural impact of automation. "I think mundane and tedious tasks are what can cause a lot of burnouts for employees, and it's not uncommon to see this kind of burnout specifically in category advisor work when teams are having to manage through drawing thousands of modulars day in and day out. Automation has been a breath of fresh air for the team and allowed them to work in a more innovative way which is energizing and motivating for everyone!"
Consistent Storytelling at Scale: Danone's Approach
Rob Ahern, Director of Category Leadership at Danone, shared another critical element of category leadership: storytelling. At Danone, automation isn’t just streamlining workflows—it’s transforming how insights are communicated across the organization and with retail partners.
"Storytelling for Danone is a critical skill for us to deliver thought leadership for the categories and customers we serve, and we knew we had an opportunity to do so more consistently across teams," Ahern explained. "Aligning our insights, opportunities, and the way we communicate with our customers transforms the noise into a harmony and, ultimately helps us achieve our goal of becoming our customers' first call."
We started small—with a core team embedding the technology and refining our approach. Then, we took a leap: we rolled it out to our Category Commercial team. At first, there was hesitation—change is hard. But once they saw how much time they were saving, momentum took over. Soon, our total sales team—400 users—were on board, and adoption keeps growing because of the speed, consistency, and impact of this tool.
Before automation, 30 teams often spent hours manually reworking centrally created presentations—sometimes trimming 100-page decks into just a few usable slides.
"Now? With the push of a button, they generate a tailored, insight-driven deck in about 90 seconds. That means more time spent on strategy, less on formatting."
Beyond time savings, automation also supported Danone’s broader efficiency initiatives.
"Danone, like many companies, continuously reviews its organizational structure. We were challenged to find efficiencies, and our ability to standardize storytelling played a crucial role in achieving those efficiencies. By virtue of standing here today, you can infer we achieved our goals."
This shift has had an impact beyond just Danone’s internal teams—it’s changed the way they engage with retail partners.
"The expectation isn’t just data—it’s actionable insights. Our retail partners no longer just want numbers; they’re asking, 'What does this mean? What should we do next?' And with automation, we’re answering those questions faster and more effectively than ever before."
The Future of Category Management
As the session concluded, each panelist was asked what excited them most about the future of category management.
Erin Martin emphasized the potential for more strategic partnership with retailers. "We're moving away from being data reporters to becoming trusted advisors who can help shape the future of categories through predictive analytics and shopper-centric strategies."
Lisa Pagliani highlighted the democratization of advanced capabilities. "Automation is allowing even smaller teams to deliver category excellence that previously required much larger resources. It's leveling the playing field."
Rob Ahern pointed to the power of consistent, compelling storytelling.
"As we continue to standardize how we communicate insights, we strengthen our position as trusted advisors to our retail partners. That's the future of category management—being the first call when retailers need strategic guidance."
As our panelists made clear, automation isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about enabling category managers to be strategic advisors, drive growth, and build stronger retailer relationships. Whether it’s retail analytics, planogram automation, or data-driven storytelling, the future of category management is here. Interested in learning more about the success these category leaders have achieved through automation? Watch the full session recording below or schedule a call with one of our experts.
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