NEW YORK (September 19, 2012) – Interactive Edge, a leading provider of data analysis and presentation solutions, announced that it will be a sponsor of the Category Management Associations annual conference. The 2012 Category Management Conference is focused on Category Management strategies driven by integrated shopper insights. It demonstrates the associations mission to advance professional standards in Category Management and is being held September 26-28, 2012, in San Antonio, Texas.
This will be our fifth year participating in the Category Management Conference, said Zel Bianco, President and CEO of Interactive Edge. It is always an excellent opportunity for manufacturers and retailers to discuss the current innovations and trends in Category Management as well as how to integrate those practices into a thriving organization.
As a conference sponsor, Interactive Edge will feature XP3, the award-winning Category Management, data analysis, reporting and presentation solution. This years focus will be on combining Category Management with Shopper Insights. Bianco says this is an increasingly critical piece to delivering true collaboration between the manufacturer and the retailer. Shopper Insights are being generated at great cost but they are not making their way out to the sales organization in a format that is usable. XP3 solves this problem. Mr. Bianco will also be presenting a case study on Thursday afternoon entitled Effectively Delivering Category Management and Shopper Insights Content to your Mobile Sales Organization.
Advancing Professional Standards in Category Management
The 2012 Category Management Conference is open to all professionals who are in one of the many functions that make up Category Management. It is designed to connect trading partners and peers through industry panels, boardroom discussions, solution partner demos, training workshops and case study sessions. Topics covered will include: Channel Trends, Shopper Behavior, ROI of Category Management, Shelf compliance, Pricing and Promotion Strategies, Planogram Automation and SKU Rationalization. Participants will gain a better understanding of Best Practices, learn new ways of working together, and leave with actionable ideas.
About Interactive Edge
Interactive Edge is an industry leader in data analysis and presentation software for streamlining the retail selling process, Category Management and related disciplines. The award-winning XP3 platform is a set of business intelligence tools that are integrated with Microsoft Office and provide Category Managers and other business users the ability to quickly, efficiently and effectively leverage virtually any data source to create, distribute and apply best practice analytics in persuasive and intelligent Excel reports and PowerPoint presentations.
Because of its ease-of-use, open technology and powerful analytics capabilities, XP3 has become the standard for presenting any data, anytime, anywhere – directly in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint at some of the largest Consumer Goods companies in the world, including Anheuser-Busch, Boston Beer, ConAgra Foods, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Georgia-Pacific, Hormel Foods, Mars, and PepsiCo (Quaker/Tropicana/Gatorade). These companies save time and money while driving positive ROI on all of their data investments by leveraging the power of XP3 to deliver Speed to Insights.
About The Category Management Association
The Association was founded in 2004 in response to the need for formal training standards and certifications in the area of category management. While this remains the core mission of the Association, it has evolved into a global category management community connecting a broad range of strategic insights and planning functions from both manufacturing and retail, including consumer and shopper insights, analytics, marketing, in-store execution, merchandising, trade promotion and pricing.
To learn more about The Category Management Association and the Category Management Conference, visit www.cpgcatnet.org.