Here’s a truth the procurement world doesn’t say out loud often enough: most spend categories lack a defined category strategy and not because the value isn’t clear, but because Category Managers simply don’t have the time.
It’s not a question of importance, category strategies are powerful tools. But Category Managers are overwhelmed by constant firefighting, stakeholder demands and transactional tasks, therefore strategy gets pushed to the bottom of the list.
What Is a Category Strategy?
A category strategy is a medium-to-long-term plan that guides how an organisation manages and delivers value from a specific spend category for categories such as IT, marketing, logistics or professional services to name a few.
An effective category strategy typically includes:
- Category definition and scope
- Spend analysis and market trends
- Supplier landscape and risk assessment
- Stakeholder needs and demand levers
- Strategic goals: cost savings, innovation and sustainability
- Sourcing approaches and negotiation plans
- Supplier collaboration and performance metrics
In short, it’s the blueprint that transforms procurement from reactive to strategic.
Why Aren’t More Category Strategies in Place?
Here are the real challenges Category Managers face:
- Time constraints: Category Managers are constantly pulled in every direction whether it’s urgent sourcing events, supplier escalations, contract renewals or reporting cycles. These immediate priorities consume the majority of their time and energy leaving little room for long-term strategic planning. As a result strategy development is often deprioritised or delayed indefinitely.
- Lack of visibility: Creating an effective category strategy requires access to accurate spend data, supplier performance metrics and market intelligence. In reality, many procurement teams operate with fragmented systems and incomplete data sets. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to make informed, evidence-based decisions.
- Stakeholder complexity: Category strategies often need alignment from multiple internal stakeholders across departments. Building that consensus takes time, negotiation and political capital, all of which are in short supply. Without buy-in, even the best strategy may never be implemented effectively.
- Changing priorities: Organisational goals, budgets and leadership direction can shift rapidly sometimes even quarterly. In this environment, a two or three year strategy can feel risky or even obsolete before it’s completed. This uncertainty discourages long-term planning in favor of short-term adaptability.
- Insufficient tools: Many organisations still rely on outdated systems, spreadsheets or ad hoc documentation for category planning. Without purpose-built platforms and guided frameworks or even access to external market data; Category Managers are left reinventing the wheel each time. This lack of enablement slows down the strategy process and reduces consistency across categories.
The Strategy-Firefighting Loop
No strategy ➡️ More firefighting
More firefighting ➡️ Even less time for strategy
It’s a vicious cycle and it’s holding procurement back, this ironic loop is obviously causing problems.
Strategy shouldn’t be an afterthought, it should be a core part of every Category Manager’s role. Without a clear category strategy, procurement stays in reactive mode, constantly responding to short-term issues instead of driving long-term value.
If you’re a leader in procurement, operations, or finance. Ask yourself:
- Are we enabling Category Managers to focus on strategic work?
- Do they have the tools, insights, and support to build a category strategy?
- And when a strategy exists, do we ensure it’s executed and measured?
Because the truth is that a well-crafted category strategy doesn’t just manage cost, it drives innovation, strengthens supplier relationships, reduces risk, and aligns procurement with business goals.
It’s time we treat strategy as a core part of the job, not a nice-to-have ‘when there’s time.’
Agentic AI: Transforming Category Strategy Creation
Enter Agentic AI: a new frontier in procurement technology.
Agentic AI has the potential to become a true co-pilot for Category Managers, not by replacing their judgment but by accelerating the strategic process. Imagine an AI agent that automatically gathers and analyses supplier and market data.
It can surface patterns, flag risks and identify consolidation or innovation opportunities across the category. From there, it can draft the foundational elements of a category strategy, SWOT analysis, sourcing levers, price drivers and even tailored negotiation playbooks which are all aligned to company objectives and policies.
Instead of starting from scratch, Category Managers can start from 70%, then apply their expertise and stakeholder context to shape a strategy that’s not only informed, but actionable.
