Category Manager Accessories

The assortment and marketing strategy of 34 market leading eye care (r)etailers around the world is determined from the GrandVision Global Support Center in Amsterdam. The combination of a top notch centralized support center and a highly efficient way to roll out optimizations and innovations across different geographies and (r)etail brands has made GrandVision global leader in eyewear. They are now building a central department to unlock the untapped potential of contact lenses and accessories.

Care about eye care

All of GrandVision’s e-commerce platforms and 6,400 shops offer eye care products in the categories sunglasses, prescription glasses, contact lenses and accessories. Accessories includes ready readers with simple magnifying glasses, tiny screwdrivers, lens wipes, cloths, cords, contact lens cases and so forth. Basically, everything that you don’t expect to see on display in the shop window. Which is about to change. Until now, the management of the accessories business has been a local responsibility. There is no full global range of accessories. As joining forces is the key to GrandVision’s success in all other categories, this has been identified as a missed opportunity. To capitalize on this opportunity, Bas Reintjes has been appointed as a Director to build the new Center of Excellence Contact Lens & Accessories at the GrandVision Global Support Center.

“I see bright opportunities for fast growth in the accessories category. Take ready readers – their potential stretches far beyond our own store base. That’s one of the reasons why I’m on the look-out for a Global Category Manager Accessories.” – Bas Reintjes 

The Center of Excellence will provide the operating companies with end-to-end category management for contact lenses and accessories so that they can gain a competitive advantage in their respective markets. Reintjes is currently recruiting top talent to build the department of 5 FTE.

About the vacancy for Category Manager Accessories

The Category Manager Accessories will compose a full global range of accessories which will be a reason for consumers to visit the shop. In doing so, the Category Manager will create an additional revenue stream and margin growth for GrandVision. This role includes P&L responsibility for the global performance of the accessories category. To achieve that, the Category Manager develops the global category and assortment strategy for accessories and makes the commercialization a priority in all markets. To get a clear understanding of the requirements for accessories, the Category Manager will liaise with local management teams in all markets. The ensuing development of a complete portfolio of accessories starts with improving what can be found in stores today and how it is presented to consumers. The Category Manager will start with identifying and sharing best practices. This process will both yield great learnings and help bring all country organizations on board. Starting with the subcategory Ready Readers, the Category Manager will revolutionize the assortment and brand content in order to make it a commercial success. It’s key to be a keen trendwatcher and stay up to date with the latest innovations in the industry. For example, more and more people want tinted lenses to filter the harmful blue rays coming from screens. Applying this insight to the ready readers assortment could be the start of a new product development. Next steps would be identifying suppliers together with procurement, product launch, tracking performance to identify phase-in/out of products, enabling store staff to promote accessories, creating in-store content to commercialize the category, and keeping masterdata up-to-date and synced with the media center marketing tool. These responsibilities are at the core of this role.  As well as offering GrandVision’s own operating companies the instruments to further develop and commercialize the category, the Category Manager will also find ways to commercialize accessories through external channels. Building long-term beneficial partnerships will be a determining factor for success.