ALEXANDRIA, VA -- NACS has announced the 2006 schedule for its category management program.

The NACS introduction category management program, “Turning Plans Into Action,” will take place June 28 to 29 in San Diego. Attendees will learn the “ins and outs” of implementing a category management program within their operation. "Turning Plans Into Action" also provides a refresher for those who looking to expand their awareness of consumer and product trends. Topics include analyzing performance of categories, determining category roles and developing, communicating and implementing a plan. This program is open only to first-time registrants and space is limited.

The NACS advanced category management seminar, “Turning Data into Dollars,” will be held April 3 to 4 in Chicago and address topics such as third party data resources, managing shelf space and the anatomy of a promotion. Registrants must have attended the NACS introductory category management seminar to attend and space is limited. Attendees are also encouraged to stay in Chicago for the 2006 NACS State of the Industry Summit in partnership with CSP immediately following the program.

For companies involved in the global marketplace, NACS will be hosting an international category management seminar on March 30 in conjunction with the Insight Research 2006 Global Convenience Benchmarks event in Dublin, Ireland. The seminar will allow international retailers to learn the basics of category management, as well as provide an overview of the NACS Category Management Framework.

“Whether your company has invested in data warehousing and business intelligence systems or whether you are using spreadsheets and other methods to create analyses, most retailers in our industry are still struggling with how to use their information in meaningful ways that will impact both their customers and their bottom line,” Elizabethe Bogart, NACS vice president of industry affairs and membership, told NACS Daily.

Bogart added that the NACS program will lead attendees to the next level of their category management skills and knowledge.

For more information about upcoming NACS category management seminars, log on to NACS Online or contact Alison Matys at (703) 518-4245 or amatys@nacsonline.com.  Space is limited for each event.