Category Manager – Food & Gourmet Gifting
Company Overview
Join Ventures, headquartered in Mumbai, India, is a global multi-category gifting company known for its extensive range of thoughtful gifts and exceptional gifting experiences. The company is dedicated to providing high-quality products, seamless delivery, personalization options, and fostering meaningful connections through the art of gifting. IGP, a brand under Join Ventures, offers meticulously curated collections including festival merchandise, gifts, fresh flowers, cakes, plants, gourmet foods, and personalized products. With a global footprint, IGP serves customers in over 100 countries and delivers gifts to more than 150 countries and 400+ cities in India.
Job Summary
The Category Manager – Food & Gourmet Gifting will lead and scale one of IGP’s most strategic growth categories. This entrepreneurial and commercially driven role requires strong e-commerce experience, proven profit and loss (P&L) ownership, and a track record of building and scaling categories from inception to maturity. The role involves driving category strategy, sourcing, merchandising, vendor partnerships, pricing, inventory planning, and customer growth to deliver sustainable revenue and profitability. The Category Manager will own the end-to-end business performance of the food and gourmet gifting category and play a critical role in establishing IGP’s leadership in this market.
Responsibilities
- Own the complete category P&L including revenue, gross margin, contribution margin, inventory health, and profitability.
- Develop and execute a multi-year growth roadmap for the Food & Gourmet category.
- Drive category revenue growth through assortment expansion, customer acquisition, and repeat purchase strategies.
- Build and scale food and gourmet gifting categories including dry fruits, chocolates, gourmet foods, snacks, sweets, bakery, festive hampers, and corporate gifting.
- Identify emerging consumer trends and new growth opportunities; launch and incubate new product categories, brands, and gifting concepts.
- Lead assortment planning and category merchandising across digital channels; optimize product mix, pricing, promotions, and customer experience.
- Build strategic relationships with national brands, premium manufacturers, importers, and regional suppliers; lead commercial negotiations and secure favorable trade terms.
- Partner with supply chain teams to optimize inventory investments and working capital; drive accurate demand forecasting for key occasions such as Diwali, Rakhi, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas, and New Year.
- Collaborate with Growth, CRM, and Marketing teams to drive category visibility, customer acquisition, festive campaigns, new launches, and promotional events.
- Work cross-functionally with Operations, Finance, Product, Technology, Supply Chain, and Customer Experience teams to ensure seamless execution of category initiatives.
- Build scalable processes and operating mechanisms to support rapid category growth.
Qualifications
- 10–15 years of experience in Category Management, Buying, Merchandising, Business Management, or E-commerce.
- Proven experience managing large-scale food, FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods), gourmet, gifting, or consumer categories.
- Strong e-commerce background with exposure to online category growth and digital merchandising.
- Demonstrated ownership of category/business P&L.
- Proven experience building and scaling categories from 0-to-1 and 1-to-10 stages.
- Strong commercial acumen and vendor negotiation skills.
- Experience managing large SKU portfolios and complex supply ecosystems.
- Data-driven decision-making mindset.
- Educational qualifications typically expected include a Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Commerce, or related fields; advanced degrees or certifications are a plus.
Preferred Skills
- Experience in Food & Beverage industry.
- Expertise in Gourmet Foods.
- Background in FMCG sector.
- Familiarity with E-commerce marketplaces.
Experience
- 10 to 15 years of relevant experience in category management or related roles.
- Proven track record in managing and scaling food and gourmet gifting categories.
- Experience in e-commerce and digital merchandising environments.
Environment
- Location: Mumbai, India.
- Work setting involves collaboration across multiple teams including Operations, Finance, Product, Technology, Supply Chain, and Marketing.
- The role demands a dynamic, fast-paced environment focused on rapid growth and innovation in the gifting industry.
Success Metrics
- Revenue Growth.
- Gross Margin Improvement.
- Category Contribution Margin.
- New Category Launch Success.
- Inventory Turns.
- Fill Rate & Service Levels.
- Vendor Performance.
- Customer Repeat Rate.
- Average Order Value (AOV).
- Market Share within Food Gifting.
What We're Looking For
A business builder who thinks like an entrepreneur, operates as a P&L owner, and can scale a category from concept to market leadership. The ideal candidate combines strong commercial instincts, analytical rigor, and execution excellence to create the most loved food gifting destination in India.
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