Deductions are unavoidable in the Consumer Goods (CG) industry. In fact, most trade spend activities are settled between a manufacturer and a retailer in the form of deductions or charge-backs. With deductions being such commonplace, why does effective and timely deduction management continue to plague CG manufacturers? Perhaps the key to solving the tribulations surrounding deduction management needs to start by not asking how, but rather who.
In comparison to Excel® spreadsheets, Trade Promotion Management (TPM) software solutionsare too often viewed as constraints (at best) and distractions (at worst) by members of the Sales team. In reality, a cloud-based TPM platform provides Sales and the entire Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) organization with the workflow, metrics, business logic and analytics spreadsheets inherently lack.
Indirect sales between a Distributor and a Retailer, as opposed to the Manufacturer and the Retailer, cancreate a major blind spot for natural and organic manufacturers. Natural brands who can close the gap between direct and indirect trade promotion activities will be better positioned to enhance trade spend effectiveness among top Distributors, and ultimately increase sales.
The annual planning process is a ritual most CPG companies embark on each year. The process consists of evaluating current year progress and making projections for the coming year in terms of expected sales and level of investment with their retailer partners. Some companies take a “top down” approach, others take a “bottom up” approach and many doing acombination of both.
Not all Trade Promotion Management (TPM) reports are created equal. Highly-accessible analyticalreports designed to accelerate insights and drive profitable decision-making are generating a newcompetitive advantage among Consumer Goods (CG) manufacturers.
