Effective category management organizes spending into distinct categories of similarly related goods or services, enabling procurement to leverage their expertise to reduce costs and create more value across the supply chain. By developing unique strategies and approaches for specific categories, procurement can provide value beyond cost savings, significantly contribute to a more resilient and innovative supply chain, and take a more focused approach to things like ESG and risk management.
To implement best practices, procurement must combine deep category expertise, including market and supplier analysis or emerging trends, with their ability to build strong cross-functional collaborations with other categories and business units.
