Content area
Abstract
Recently, a new trend has emerged in the sphere of category management. Retailers have started to outsource retail category management to a chosen category captain: a supplier on whom they rely for strategic recommendations and insights. Many retailers and manufacturers practice category captainship and report positive benefits. However, category captainship does raise important questions, especially those concerning potential conflicts of interest between competing manufacturers. The possibility that a category captain could take advantage of its position to disadvantage or exclude competitor manufacturers has prompted calls for antitrust investigations. To summarize, category captainship may reduce the average retail price and offer more differentiated products, thereby increasing customer satisfaction in the short-run. Retailers need to consider the long-term effect of relying manufacturers for category management.