Space Management as a focused discipline does not get the resourcing it deserves in building out content, creating common language and assessments, and sharing best practices that are technology agnostic. By being relegated to a CatMan tactic or a CPG’s go-to-market plan, critical practices go unexplored and too many retailers must reinvent the wheel to make progress.
The Charter tackles research, builds formal and informal networking and mentorships, creates a common language, and builds the process for advancing the maturity of a discipline that is recognized across the entire industry. We want to bring Space Planning as an industry to the same professional level as Category Management, Shopper Insights, Supply Chain and other recognized retail functions.
Elevate and advance the space planning profession
Create a safe space for collaboration to leverage shared experiences
Build communal resources for education, development and accreditation
In Planning.
While I think this is going to be good for us, what I really think is that this is going to be an orchard that we’re planting, so that the people coming up behind us have it better than we did in terms of resources, in figuring out what is at their fingertips and how to succeed in this industry.
This is some of the most exciting conversation I have had in a long time
A major gap in the industry is the lack of common language and standardized vocabulary; while some shared best practices exist, this is often a result of system implementations forcing organizations to adopt similar tools, with little objective information about industry-specific technologies and tools.