The RGM Dilemma
Revenue Growth Management has become one of the most used and most misunderstood terms in FMCG. Almost every major manufacturer now has an RGM agenda sitting somewhere near the top of their commercial priorities. And yet, across the industry, a quietly uncomfortable question is going largely unasked:
Is your RGM agenda actually driving category growth, or is it just a more sophisticated form of margin defence?
RGM often focuses solely on maximising supplier profitability in the areas they control: Pack, Price and Promo. Real growth however is unlocked when the RGM agenda is integrated with category factors suppliers can often only influence: Distribution, Layout and in-store experience.
When facing into our current commercial landscape, suppliers often pull every lever available. Take pack size reductions: shrinkflation is rational from a cost-per-unit perspective, but when a shopper notices, and they do, the ‘Trust Damage’ isn’t contained to that brand. It can make the whole category feel like a place where you have to watch yourself. That’s not a category-building move.
The same logic applies across price increases, promotional pullback, and SKU rationalisation: all make commercial sense internally, but can be in direct conflict with both shopper and category agendas.
Why You Need a Category Lens
The underlying risk of executing an RGM agenda without a category lens is growing a brand’s share of a shrinking pie. You win the battle for margin, but lose the war for category growth — which is the war all retailers care about most.
You win the battle for margin, but lose the war for category growth — which is the war all retailers care about most.
A category lens within RGM isn’t a rebrand of the same approach. It’s a genuinely different starting point. You begin with the shopper mission, the desired shopper behaviour change, and the category role, then work back to the commercial levers. The questions asked are different:
| Standard RGM Question | Application of a Category lens |
| What price can we move to? | What price points are driving or blocking penetration in this category? |
| Where do we invest promotion spend? | What promotional mechanic serves the category occasion and builds long-term value? |
The Integration Imperative
The best RGM solutions aren’t solely brand or category led. They embrace both — it’s an evolution of traditional RGM built from a common foundation. The businesses winning right now are those that have done the harder work of integrating their commercial and category strategies:
- Pricing decisions are tested against the category value ladder
- Promotional architecture is anchored to shopper missions rather than trade mechanics
- Pack price hierarchy is built to serve the full spectrum of shopper needs, not just the high-margin end of the portfolio
If your RGM team and your category team are working from different plans, that gap isn’t just an organisational friction. It’s where the value leaks out.
