McClatchy Retail Network  ·  Category Growth
The First 90 Days
PREPARED BY MATT IRBY
AUGUST 2026

How I'd spend the first 90 days: building trust with the people who run this business today, seeing it from the ground floor, and turning what I learn into a roadmap we shape together.

01
DAYS 1–30
Lay of the Land
Build trust and understand the business.
  • Map the vendor landscape across all categories
  • Build relationships with category managers, retail HQ sales & field merchandising
  • Pull real planograms & reset processes and validate the manual pieces
  • Begin early store visits to build field instinct
Checkpoint
Informal state-of-the-business view with fragmentation by category, what's working, what's not
02
DAYS 31–60
Ground Floor
See the business the way shoppers and store teams experience it.
  • Visit stores across footprints from small-format, grocery, mass / club
  • Talk with store leads & associates about resets, stockouts & fixture conflicts
  • Cross-check field reality against HQ assumptions
  • Test planogram tooling against one category's real data
Checkpoint
Point-of-view review with manager — prioritized read on what's working and sequencing
03
DAYS 61–90
The Roadmap
Turn ground-truth into a plan worth resourcing.
  • Build short-term (process & tooling), medium-term (first VOR pitch), long-term (category expansion) roadmap
  • Set explicit success metrics & resourcing needs at each horizon
  • Present findings, priorities & asks to manager and leadership
Checkpoint
Written roadmap along with potential long-term resourcing asks

An approach, not a fixed promise — built to flex against what we learn together.

or load sample dataset
This prototype isn't a prescribed solution. It's an example of how AI lets us quickly test and iterate on what actually meets business and customer needs. The right solution would be shaped around McClatchy's existing tools, retailer needs, and field-team input.
The ShelfSpec prototype is designed for desktop. Please open it on a larger screen for the interactive experience.
Independent concept prepared by Matt Irby for discussion. Not an official McClatchy product.