Gita Wright Email & Phone Number

Company: Owned by a private equity company Kainos, who focus on the food and consumer sector. Role: Sole Category and Insights Manager reporting to the Commercial Director. Leading the category agenda and providing strategic direction and opportunities within Slimming Aids. Budget responsibilities £250k. Responsibilities• Managing range and category strategy with our trade partners to unlock future category growth. • Influence and build ongoing strong customer relationships with an understanding of their key performance indicators and visions.• Monthly category reports using a variety of data sources highlight risks, opportunities and future growth. • Lead and manage external agencies ensuring accurate delivery of monthly reports, ad hoc projects and briefs to meet the needs of SlimFast business. • Listen and respond to internal and external customer needs with the ability to manage and prioritise multiple demands.Achievements• 24% increase in distribution and 21% gain in space for the SlimFast range in Asda, equating to additional sales of £1.4m for the brand and 1.2% market share gain for Asda. • Preventing sales loss of £1.3m, protecting the SlimFast range in Superdrug which was under threat. • Successfully increasing secondary sites in Tesco by providing the importance of the category, uplift in sales of 60% for the SlimFast brand. • Participate in Sainsbury’s Wellness trial leading to incremental listings of the SlimFast Vitality range.• Deliver Slimming Aids promotional strategy which has led to improved return on investment for the brand. • 8% increase in distribution, 20% gain in space for the SlimFast range in Tesco. • Call out by Asda and Tesco for best in class category reviews on Slimming Aids. • Accurate data provider from a variety of sources as part of the selling process. • Automation of reporting, faster delivery of easy readable reports which are used company wide.

Responsibilities• Category leader for Gum worth £261k, developing trade relationships and maximising opportunities with front of store activation and at fixture.• Delivering impartial category recommendations, opportunities and range review analysis to Gum and the wider Confectionery category. • Lead the category management agenda, delivering and converting data into actionable insights. Achievements• Created and provided monthly scorecards to internal and external customers. • Lead the IRI and Wrigley relationship, prioritising briefs and reporting to ensure the best return on investment.

• Central source of data analysis and recommendations, working across multiple European countries. • Set up revenue management, bringing all reports from the individual countries in a uniformed way. • Develop a detailed understanding of data sources across the Western European countries.

Newbury

• Present and deliver sound impartial category advice and actionable insights which are aligned with the retailers’ category strategies to unlock incremental growth• Influence and build strong customer relationships with an understanding of their key performance indicators and visions.• Provide quality range reviews highlighting space, flow and layout of the fixture based on shopper insight, including gap analysis to drive additional sales. • Develop, implement and review category plans to optimise category and brand performance to drive long term growth. • Collaborate with the commercial and brand teams building compelling selling trade stories for new products launches. • Deliver category trade stories including trends and growth opportunities as part of the annual brand plan process and externalise plans for each retailer. • Effectively manage Dunnhumby and Brandview contracts to meet key business needs• Lead, formulate and brief shopper research to meet the needs of the business and present findings to key accounts.• Identify the big wins and risks for the Bayer brands and prioritise using multiple data sources. Key Achievements• Created and delivered Digestive Health category vision, first in the Bayer business which is setting the standard and used by several other countries. • Category team award from Superdrug for providing sound category advice for Gastro category. • Changing the Asda relationship to a trusted Category Advisor resulting in Asda sharing their “retail link data” and building plans in their merchandising centre. Engaging with the wider network.• Bayer award for the successful launch of (NPD) Canespro into the UK market. • Successfully launched several NPDs in different categories providing sound category selling stories. • Positive feedback received from Head of Operations of Alphega in assisting in WIH trial for Customer Excellence.

Key ResponsibilitiesDelivering sound unbiased category recommendations on Other Bakery category which consist of 33 sectors across all major multiples highlighting opportunities and key business issues with resolutions. Seasonal category reviews to internal and external customers to assist with planning for the following year to deliver additional revenue. Delivering and providing accurate up to date monthly reports highlighting areas of opportunities and areas of under or over performance by account, Monitoring new products developments by creating benchmarks and ensuring targets are met, working with the Account Managers to devise the best launch plan.Providing quality range reviews highlighting space, flow and layout of the fixture based on shopper insight, including gap analysis to drive additional sales. Presenting monthly reviews to the Sales and Marketing team to ensure they are up to date with the current trends. Strengthening rapport with the internal teams and customers. .Key AchievementsSuccessfully launching four Hovis Toasting lines (Crumpet, Pancakes, Teacakes and English Muffins) in a saturated market to key accounts. This led to the most successful launch. Annual Hot Cross Bun review has achieved category captaincy in all major accounts. Delivered category review to major retailer which led to creating and presenting a business case to the Head of Category and above. The outcome led to additional incremental sales for Hovis and the retailer. New shopper decision hierarchy led to plan o grams and a movie on what "good looks like" for the Bread and Other Bakery fixture including space, flow and layout, which is used as part of the range review process with customers. Instigated the new launch process including minimum benchmarks for new products to ensure the best execution in store.Provided a Rolls review to a customer in clear and succinct manner in a very short time line, which received positive feedback.

Key Responsibilities Advising and making recommendations to the client on the Ambient Desserts, Cooked Sausages, Frozen Snacks and Bottled Water categories worth £940m per year. Identifying and meeting key business issues with suitable products and services. Manage and delegate workloads across the four categories. Deliver accurate category and brand reports to the client on a monthly basis. Key AchievementsReceiving the employee reward for turning around the issues with Nestle Waters. Excellent feedback from European Manager on Quarterly review for Waters. Developing accurate new reports for all the food categories which were more informative.Successful Ambient Dessert category review which was positively received and was sent out company wide.Unilever May 2006 - May 2007Key Responsibilities Advising and making recommendations to the client on the Household category worth £534m per year. Analysing, presenting and recommending key findings on important business issues to deliver added value and maximise return on investment. Servicing and maintaining an excellent working relationship with the client. Liaising with other agencies to ensure tight deadlines are met. Identifying new revenue streams and achieving set targets. Key Achievements Presenting SWOT analysis on a competitor brand and identifying opportunities to launch a new product.An assessment of a new successful launch identifying additional sales worth £1m per year.Creation of new automated brand tracker, which saved manual work and time. Used as a template for other reports. Successfully organising the Quarterly team meeting Running accurate monthly reports for the board. Achieving the team reward