Over the past 8 weeks, I have been getting a crash course in category management
By Jonathandalsop · October 22, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Over the past 8 weeks, I have been getting a crash course in category management, and here's what I've learned.
I learned I should have learned about it sooner.
But seriously. Before joining MANN+HUMMEL I didn't know anything about it. But as someone who has been building eCommerce brands for over a decade, it turns out that I was already doing a lot of functions of a category manager.
But back to the point: What is it, and why is it important?
Category management is really deep market analysis that you then turn into insights and recommendations. It's the glue that ties together everything from product development, to sales, to supply chain, finance, and even marketing.
Category management is also not solely an internal facing role. They also work hand-in-hand with retailers to help grow their overall share of the category.
So, if you've ever done a competitive analysis, launched campaigns to help increase market share, initiated a new product launch based on research for gaps in the market, or even recommended a price change to help grow within a core consumer audience, you got to experience a part of the category management journey!