The state of play of Category Management: Launching the 2024 Category Management Report

September tends to bring a wealth of tasks to Procurement practitioners. Planning how to deliver value in 2025 and beyond will be high on the list for many. This month, we'd like to highlight evidence from our latest global survey on the scale of untapped opportunities that optimising category management still presents for most organisations.

Far from being done, or dead(!), our research has consistently shown over six cycles and 12 years, that progress has been limited and building a procurement function that fully captures the opportunity remains a challenge - only 7% of our survey respondents in 2024 were classified as “Leaders” in category management.

In this edition of Future Purchasing Insights, we want to share some inspiration and concrete recommendations on how to drive the necessary improvement to reach Category Management excellence. Enjoy the read!

The 2024 Category Management Report is now available

For the 6th time, Future Purchasing, in cooperation with Henley Business School, has asked procurement leaders to share insights on the maturity of their Category Management processes and practices. The 2024 Global Category Management Report is the world’s most comprehensive source for benchmarking and actionable insights around Category Management in Procurement. DOWNLOAD REPORT

Webinar explained key findings of the 2024 CatMan Report?

To launch the 2024 Category Management report, Mark Webb and Marc Day, Professor at Henley Business School , discussed the key findings of the report, the progress since the last report, and the value that is still on the table. The webinar highlighted the main implications for today's Procurement leaders and provided actionable advice on how to increase the maturity of Category Management in Procurement.?WATCH RECORDING

New podcast explores the untapped opportunities of Category Management

Philip Ideson Ideson of Art of Procurement interviewed Mark Webb b on the current state of Category Management and what's ahead. Next to acknowledging the progress Procurement has made in the last decade, there are still various untapped opportunities available for both, category management veterans and new starters. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Optimising category management at BP

Mark Smith , bp 's VP Procurement Digital & Talent Supply, shares his perspective on how a lean Category Management process can play a large role in helping an organisation reach its performance goals. In our interview he shares how shaping Procurement around business objectives and creating a flexible operating model was key for unlocking value from Category Management.? READ INTERVIEW