The Category Management Software market is in trends by optimizing retail operations. Category Management Software offers retailers analytical capabilities to manage product categories, improve pricing decisions, optimize shelf space allocation and promotions based on customer purchase behavior and demand patterns. By leveraging AI and machine learning technologies, Category Management Software enables retailers to gain insights into category-level sales performance, identify out-of-stock problems, and recommend assortments aligned with consumer preferences to increase basket values and margins.
The Global Category Management Software Market is estimated to be valued at US$ 1.71 Bn in 2024 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 10% over the forecast period 2024 to 2031.
Key Takeaways
Key players operating in the Category Management Software are Aptos, LLC, Board International S.A., Cognizant, IBM Corporation, INTERACTIVE EDGE, Infor, Mi9 Retail, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Retail Insights, Retek, Revionics, SAP SE, Softvision, and Symphony RetailAI. Key players are focusing on introducing advanced AI-enabled solutions to help retailers make optimal category-level decisions.
The growing demand from food and grocery retailers to streamline assortment optimization, shelf management and pricing is a key factor driving market growth. Category Management Software Market Share enables grocery retailers to organize and prioritize categories coherently based on affinity groups which helps improve basket size and average bill value for retailers.
Major retailers are also adopting Category Management Software Market Demand solutions to support their global expansion plans and operations across multiple geographies. The solutions help streamline category and assortment coordination between regional and local buyers to maintain consistency of product catalogs and pricing globally.
Market Key Trends
Adoption of cloud-based SaaS offerings is gaining traction as retailers are increasingly preferring subscription-based licensing models over traditional perpetual or on-premise licenses. SaaS deployment allows retailers to leverage advanced software capabilities with minimum upfront investment and operational costs. Vendors are also investing in AI and machine learning-powered predictive analytics capabilities in their solutions. Category Management Software powered by AI helps predict demand patterns, right-size assortments and optimizes pricing dynamically based on real-time data. This is emerging as a key trend as retailers look to gain competitive advantage through increasingly data-driven decision making.
Porter’s Analysis
Threat of new entrants: Medium, as setting up and maintaining networks requires large investment and established players have economies of scale.
Bargaining power of buyers: High, as buyers have many vendor options and hold more bargaining power.
Bargaining power of suppliers: Low, as there are many substitutes that can replace suppliers.
Threat of new substitutes: Medium, as switching costs are moderate for buyers. New entrants continuously innovate with new technologies.
Competitive rivalry: High, as top players continuously compete on technology, pricing and services to gain market share.
Geographical Regions
North America currently holds the largest share in the category management software market, valued at US$ XX million in 2024. Presence of major vendors and faster adoption of advanced technologies among retailers drive the market in the region.
Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period, projected to grow at a CAGR of XX%. Rapid growth of the retail sector, growing e-commerce sales, and digitalization of supply chains will boost the demand for category management software in Asia Pacific. Countries like China and India offer huge untapped growth potential.