5 Internal Relationships Every Category Manager Needs ❤️
You can’t do it all on your own.
You can crunch the numbers, build great insight, and spot opportunities, but you can’t make things happen alone.
As you settle back after the summer, now is the perfect time to check in on your internal network.
Strong partnerships make your strategy land, help others do their job better, and give you a bigger impact with the retailer. Plus, it’s more fun when you’re not doing it all solo.
Here are five teams category managers should collaborate with to achieve more.
1. Sales & Account Teams 🤝
Account Managers own the commercial relationship, so they spend the most time with customers.
You can genuinely help your sales team by sharing your category knowledge, shopper insights, and what matters to the retailer. When you do, their decisions are smarter and your category strategy actually lands. Everyone wins, both internally and with the retailer.
Your insights make their job easier, their relationship helps you, and together you make a bigger impact.
2. Marketing & Brand Teams 📣
For marketing, working closely with the category team helps keep the shopper front and centre.
You can share your category knowledge and shopper insights, making sure their campaigns, product innovation, and pack design actually work for the category.
In turn, they can help bring your strategy to life in the market. When you work together, brand plans remain practical and more successful.
3. Revenue Management & Finance 💷
Category managers are often the first to spot changes and opportunities around pricing, packs, and promotions.
You can help finance and revenue management by showing the potential impact of your ideas and the reasoning behind them.
In return, they help make sure your recommendations are commercially viable and deliver profitable growth. Working together means your clever insights actually turn into results, not just nice ideas on paper.
4. Supply Chain & Demand Planning 🚛
The insights you uncover as a category manager can have a direct impact on production and stock levels.
You can help supply chain teams by sharing what shoppers want and how the category is performing. If something’s going to be out of stock, you can advise what shoppers might buy instead.
When you work together, stock runs smoothly, shelves stay full, and everyone wins.
5. Innovation & R&D 🔬
Innovation and R&D teams often work years ahead of trends. You can help them by sharing your category knowledge and shopper insights, so new ideas are practical and will actually succeed in the market.
They can also inspire and challenge you with fresh thinking and long-term opportunities.
When you work together, you spot gaps early, make launches smoother, and bring clever ideas to life.
You could be the best category manager in the world, but you can’t achieve anything alone.
Great category managers connect, collaborate, and amplify the voice of the shopper for the wider business.
Strong internal relationships help your insights land, make other teams’ jobs easier, and deliver better results with retailers.
Why not reach out to a colleague you don’t normally work with to discuss how you can make each other’s jobs easier and have a bigger impact?
If you want to get even more out of your internal network, we can help.
Whether it’s running a training session or facilitating a cross-functional strategy workshop, reach out to us and let’s explore how we can support you.
September 2025