Digital Category Management Playbook

An 18-session course on operating like a senior CM.

Most category management content online is generic: frameworks lifted from MBA textbooks, advice that sounds smart but doesn't survive Monday morning.

This is the operator's playbook instead, built on lived experience running Home BU verticals at Flipkart, with real numbers, real case studies, and the diagnostic-first approach that separates a junior CM from a senior one.

By the end, you won't just know category management as a concept.

You'll operate it. You'll read any category P&L and find the highest-impact lever in minutes, diagnose a stuck category with a structured decision tree instead of gut feel, walk into a JBP negotiation knowing exactly what to ask for, and operate quick commerce with the same clarity as e-commerce.

You'll also know how to land the role: resume, interview, first 90 days, and the full career arc.

Who this is for: Aspiring Category Managers, MBA students, and professionals with 1 to 5 years of experience transitioning into category roles or senior category roles across e-commerce, quick commerce, and D2C.

What you get (18 sessions, ~15.5 hours, across 8 modules):

1. Foundations: what a CM actually owns, and how the role differs across Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho, Blinkit, Zepto, Nykaa, and more
2. The Financial Spine: the full P&L, from GMV to contribution margin, with real Flipkart Home BU data
3. Growth & Operations: the growth flywheel, selection and assortment, pricing and promotions, the festive event playbook, inventory and demand planning, and CX/ratings/returns
4. Marketing & Ads: the ads masterclass (Amazon, Flipkart, quick commerce) plus the full off-platform marketing stack
5. Negotiations & Stakeholders: the annual JBP cycle, vendor negotiation, exclusivity battles, and the internal politics no one teaches
6. Quick Commerce: the business model and unit economics, plus the day-to-day operator's playbook
7. The Seller's Lens: every deal seen from the brand's side of the table, the part that makes you ten times more effective in negotiations
8. Career Track: resume and interview prep, your first 90 days, and how to architect your career from CM to Category Head

Plus included resources:

1. Resume guide mapped to top employers
2. Interview prep guide with many questions and frameworks
3. Capstone project: build a complete category strategy, with a fully worked Skincare example covering P&L projection, growth bets, a 90-day plan, and success metrics
4. 140+ thumb rules you can screenshot and save
5. Access to all the decks used in the modules

Please note: 2 of these sessions (the P&L Masterclass - Session 3, the Growth Flywheel - Session 4) are also hosted by me live as standalone masterclasses on Topmate. They are fully included in this course too, so if you buy the full Playbook, you already have them. No need to attend those separately.

"You don't memorise category management. You operate it."

Built by Sanchit Goyal, Category Manager at Flipkart, MDI Gurgaon '22, ex-Zomato, and founder of the Category Decoded community.

Tools Used: Claude for PPT Design, VN Editor for Video Editing