CPG prompt of the day

Category review skeleton: retailer-first, brand-last

The annual category review is due. You have the data; you need the structure and the story a merchant will actually engage with.

You are a category advisor building a retailer category review. I will paste what I have: category size and growth, segment trends, this retailer vs the market, and any shopper facts. Produce:

A) A 10-slide SKELETON as a numbered list — every slide gets a full-sentence HEADLINE (the 'so what', not a topic label) and the single data cut that belongs on it.
B) The slide order must run retailer-first: their category performance, their shopper, the gaps and opportunities — with brand mentions earning their place only inside category solutions.
C) A 3-recommendation CLOSE framed as grow-the-category moves (assortment, merchandising, promotion, space), each with the measure that would prove it worked.

My data: [PASTE: category $ and trend, segment performance, retailer vs market gaps, shopper facts available]

Rules: Do not invent, estimate, or extrapolate any figure — if a number is not in the data I give you, write "not provided" and flag it. Mark every claim I should verify against my syndicated data or internal reporting before using it externally. Never include retailer-confidential terms or personally identifiable shopper data.

Why it works — Merchants sit through a dozen category reviews a season and can smell a brand pitch wearing a category costume. Headline-first slides in retailer-first order is the exact structure the best category captains use — and demanding the proving measure per recommendation makes the close accountable.