IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) is calling on retailers and suppliers to move beyond category management and focus on leading categories to shape demand, warning that current practices are not fit for delivering sustainable growth.
IGD’s ‘2030 Blueprint for Category Success’ framework, which the insight provider developed in collaboration with 11 leading grocery suppliers, defines category leadership as prioritising changing shopper behaviour, strengthening long‑term category health, and driving value creation.
In contrast, IGD argues, organisations tend to be set up for short-term optimisation by managing performance, space or range efficiency, which limits growth potential at a time when many categories have flat or declining volumes.
“Category management has delivered consistency and control, but growth requires category leadership,” said Lucy Whittaker, Head of Consulting at IGD. “That means setting a clear direction for the category and prioritising insight, innovation, and collaboration over more executional work.”
Evidence points to misaligned priorities
A central finding from IGD’s category leadership work is a mismatch between category teams’ priorities for the future, capabilities, and where they devote their time.
Based on a survey of 300 professionals, IGD found that teams typically spend the most time in areas where they already feel capable, even when those activities are declining in future importance.
At the same time, activities expected to be critical through to 2030 are often those where capability is weakest and time investment remains limited. These include insight-led innovation, long-term category vision development, strategic retailer and supplier collaboration, omnichannel integration, and future-focused planning.
According to IGD, this imbalance risks holding categories back when leadership, not further optimisation, is required.
“The issue is not that teams are inactive,” Whittaker said. “It is that too much effort is still directed towards managing the present, rather than deliberately shaping the future.”
Leadership beyond job titles
IGD also stresses that category leadership is not confined to category managers. As categories become more complex, leadership must be shared across category, commercial, marketing, insight, and innovation teams, supported by stronger cross-functional collaboration and capability development.
This inclusive model challenges organisations to reconsider where category expertise sits and how leadership is enabled across teams.
IGD invites industry to become category leaders
IGD’s ‘Future of Category Leadership 2026’ event, which takes place on 23 June in London, will bring together retail and supplier leaders to explore category leadership in practice.
Attendees will gain practical insights on how to move from category management to category leadership, including how to prioritise effort, influence shopper behaviour, align more effectively with retailer expectations, and build the skills to support future category growth.