Category Manager Contact Lenses

GrandVision is a name well chosen. With 34 market leading eye care (r)etailers around the world, their mission is to help more and more people around the world realize their full potential in life by helping them see better. So far, the emphasis has always been on spectacles. They are now building a central department to unlock the untapped potential of the Contact Lens category.

Care about eye care

GrandVision is a global market leader in the categories sunglasses, prescription glasses and contact lenses and accessories. They have strong e-commerce platforms and over 6,400 stores in 44 countries worldwide. Listed at the Amsterdam stock exchange and backed by HAL Investments, it’s a highly performance-driven organization. Talent management is a key element of Grandvision’s success formula. The company is built by professionals who have experienced a variety of different roles in different locations and areas of the business. Bas Reintjes, for instance, joined GrandVision as a Business Development Manager. After a year in that position, he was offered the opportunity to dive into the supply chain side of the business in São Paulo. He returned to the GrandVision Global Support Center in Amsterdam as a Director in October 2016 to build the new Center of Excellence Contact Lens & Accessories.

“It’s about time we start focussing on Contact Lenses. This category has huge untapped potential. That’s why we decided to build the Center of Excellence Contact Lens & Accessories and hire a Global Category Manager Contact Lenses.” – Bas Reintjes 

The Center of Excellence will provide the operating companies with end-to-end category management for contact lenses, enabling each to gain a competitive advantage in their respective markets. Reintjes is currently recruiting top talent to build a department of 5 FTE. Together they will turn contact lenses into a great offer for consumers and an additional revenue stream for GrandVision.

The Role: Category Manager Contact Lenses

If GrandVision wants to become as big in contact lenses as it is in spectacles, all of their opticians should be able to select the right lenses for each customer and the difference between available options should be easy to understand for all consumers. That’s the challenge set out for the Category Manager Contact Lenses. The Category Manager is profit and loss responsible for the global performance of the contact lens category. The ambition is to double revenues within five years. The sphere of influence consist of the following three levels:

1. Overall category and assortment strategy for all retail formulas
2. Making product and assortment customer-centric
3. Creating training content and enabling store staff to promote contact lenses

Commercializing contact lenses starts with the right product offer. This will be created in close cooperation with the Concept & Brand Content Specialist, the procurement department and country organizations. The Category Manager will be a primary point of contact for the markets, partnering with the product managers, marketing directors and supply chain directors to understand their needs, optimize the local assortment and launch new products where needed. A strong ability to align stakeholders is essential to jointly realize the huge potential in contact lenses. The GrandVision way to create buy-in is by sharing key changes with stakeholders proactively at an early stage.

“Available information on contact lenses often is product-centric rather than customer-centric. By translating technical product characteristics into clear customer benefits, you’ll be able to make a huge impact.” – Bas Reintjes

The Category Manager will develop and deliver all materials to make opticians and store staff feel comfortable selling the products. This ranges from in-store materials and online content to a full-blown GrandVision Academy training program. To deliver the training program, the Category Manager can work with an external parties if required, but (s)he will also be hands-on involved in order to keep in touch with the business.

Personality

• Strong focus on delivering results
• A curious and flexible innovator
• Excellent listener, communicator & connector
• Willing to travel within Europe
• Customer-first decision taker

Experience

• At least 5 years’ commercial experience
• Sales or category management with P&L responsibility
• Expertise in the contact lens industry