Steps to Effective Trade Promotion Management

The trade promotion retail space has exploded with innovative and effective campaigns leading Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies to spend an average of 20 percent of their revenues on trade promotions, with numbers more than doubling since 2000. The amount of funds allocated to this type of program is continuing to steadily climbing. Savvy consumers are now accustomed to shopping based mostly on promotions. The tools built into cloud-based ERP providers contain all the working parts to help your CPG create and manage a successful trade promotion management program for retail campaigns of any size, scope and budget.

Here are a few easy steps to get you started.

• Set up a trade promotion management process flow to forecast, plan and execute your campaign.

An effective cloud-based ERP solution provides can provide full-feature trade promotion management tools to help you along the way through offering visibility of all your internal and supply chain operations, empowering you with the fast and accurate data needed to successfully target, forecast, plan and execute a trade promotion for your retail customers.

• Forecast Management

The first step is finding the right product and promotion for your consumer. Exploring historical demands for target demographics and finding an opportunity for an uptick rather than baseline demand on a product requires you to determine scenarios that will give the greatest return on investment. While forecast accuracy and informed budget allocation is crucial for manufacturers to deliver their retail customers a successful campaign, an all-encompassing rather than bottom-line approach is a wise way data analytics is used to decide which products to promote, at what price and where.

• Promotion Planning

Once your forecast data has yielded results, it is on to the planning phase. This phase constitutes selecting a plan, promotion dates & promotional tactics, setting rates and projecting inventory volume. This is where collaboration across the supply chain comes into play, with display assignments and bringing inevitable changes to the campaign strategy with it. The right trade promotion management program, such as Kenandy’s, can effectively scale input from all areas and help you navigate the planning process with agility and flexibility through inevitable adjustments to changing consumer demands, retailer input and shifting deadlines. Honor the goal of raising awareness and driving consumer demand to achieve optimal success.

• Promotion Execution

Sales and promotion execution requires a system to keep a close tracking and monitoring of effectiveness with real-time analytics. The immediate measuring of campaign performance and across-the-board access to fast data allows the flexibility for on the spot revisions and to expertly oversee stock levels and distribution. Collaborative efforts lead to clear communication and troubleshooting areas where the promotion needs to adjust to shifting consumer demand in real-time. Other tasks in the execution phase include managing payments and deductions, in-depth analysis of actual spending versus forecasts, as well as the reconciliation and closing phase.

Final analysis on the effectiveness of your campaign and return on investment strengthens your relationship with retailers, building a culture of authority and trust in providing them with smoothly executed and profitable trade promotion management in a growingly competitive marketplace.  The ability to skillfully grab the attention of over stimulated and savvy consumers is valuable. In-depth reporting and historical campaign data analytics can help you stay on pace with product demand and promotional appeal to successfully plan your next great campaign launch.