Consumer goods (CG) companies can unlock a bigger return on their trade spend investment if they can spot and scale their most profitable programs quickly. The answers lie in their data, but right now, promotions are so cumbersome to track that billions in spending goes unevaluated. In fact, 60% of businesses rely on spreadsheet-driven processes that don’t use real-time data, don’t connect with AI-driven analysis, and are difficult to manipulate at the account level.

To keep up in the face of stiff industry headwinds, businesses must keep their key account managers focused on building strategic partnerships instead of updating or investigating promotions. The good news is you can take control of your trade spend investment with the right digital tools.

• Challenges solved by digitizing TPM
• Enable finance to make fact-based decisions
• Empower sales to deliver higher ROI

Create transparency and add the value that retailers expect.

Even though trade spend is the second largest expense item — after the cost of goods sold — 60% of trade promotions go unevaluated because employees don’t have the tools or enough time. At the same time, margin-pressured retailers are demanding more visibility. CG companies want to maximize their return on billions of dollars of spend: They need to quickly replicate and scale the most successful programs, change or stop the unprofitable ones, and ensure they all stay on budget and within promotion guardrails.

Joint business planning enables CG companies and retailers to target investments at the store and channel level. That sounds simple enough. But the challenge for retailers and CG companies is that omni-channel selling has made the route to market much more complicated. Suddenly, CG companies aren’t just building a relationship with one buyer — they’re working with multiple partners across virtual and in-person teams. Using a spreadsheet to keep track of promotions in real time across regions, locations, and selling channels isn’t just cumbersome and slow — it’s impossible. Manual processes and outdated tools keep promotions from being as effective as possible, because organizations are unable to identify what’s working (and what’s not) without real-time, dynamic data.

To meet heightened retailer expectations and get the most value from their trade spend investments, CG companies should reevaluate their trade promotion management (TPM) capabilities. Through digitization, CG companies and retailers can meet TPM’s challenges head-on and create win-win promotions that maximize ROI.

Challenge #1: The route to market is getting more complicated

One-size-fits-all promotions don’t meet the needs of omni-channel retailers. Just like online promotions don’t always work in-store, other factors, like seasonality, play an outsized role. Today, companies that can target promotions by channel, region, or even store level will be best positioned to get their products in the hands of customers.

Digitizing TPM data enables companies to get more granular with the promotions they offer. Suddenly, retailers and CG companies can tailor trade spend to specific regional or seasonal needs, for example, offering a discount on beach towels in springtime.

Challenge #2: Manual tracking is cumbersome and inhibits collaboration

If you’ve ever spent time designing and populating a complicated spreadsheet, you know it’s a slow process. Limited file permissions means team members don’t have access to data when they need it. Updating is tricky because it’s easy to make mistakes. Because spreadsheets don’t dynamically populate with real-time data, the document is stale as soon as you hit save.

When you digitize trade management, you only have to enter in program parameters once. You can link real-time data across disparate sources and use the calendar view to deliver visibility to your full team, ensuring everyone has access to one single source of truth.

Challenge #3: Analyzing trade spend efficiency is too hard

CG companies are leaving money on the table by failing to learn which promotions drive top-line revenue and which don’t — or why some products might not need a promotion at all.

Digitizing TPM enables agility and smarter decision-making. Automating reporting with real-time data ensure you can quickly evaluate the efficiency of your trade spend programs. Analytics you can define and control yourself ensure key account managers can spot changes in demand or see at a glance which promotions deliver the biggest ROI. For example, why spend money promoting high-volume goods when you could allocate resources to products that drive bigger profits? The ability to pivot or scale quickly ensures you can target promotions on the right products in the right locations at the right times.

Challenge #4: Replicating successful promotions takes too long

With a spreadsheet, it isn’t possible to replicate trade spend models or easily find which are the most profitable. Instead, you have to start from scratch, resulting in rework that wastes time.

Digitizing trade promotion management means you don’t have to burn hours recreating the wheel. That frees up time for key account managers to build the strategies and relationships that enable joint planning and drive profits. It also enables AI-driven analysis and automated reporting, making it faster for account managers to discover high-performing promotions.

Get the insights you need to make smarter decisions with real-time data.

Does your finance team have the real-time data and analytical tools to thoroughly evaluate your trade fund programs for success now? For most business users (58%), the answer is no. That means companies industry wide are likely leaving billions of dollars on the table at the same time their finance departments are under pressure to make the most of every dollar.

Faster and more compliant trade planning and execution

Promotion compliance rates are only 55%. Tracking promotion data on a spreadsheet or a limited-use TPM program won’t prevent overruns. It also doesn’t empower finance to make quick decisions about where to allocate (or reallocate) assets.

By digitizing TPM on one connected platform, finance teams can:

• Gain visibility into real-time performance and funds availability
• Monitor and act on trade promotions across your entire organization

Instant visibility into trade spend effectiveness

Only 9.5% of companies are able to monitor promotions in-flight and reallocate ineffective investments. Real-time data enables finance teams to see at a glance how much they are spending on promotions, both in the aggregate and by product, region, or location. This helps finance instantly surface the most profitable products in the portfolio.

More accurate forecasting and post-event analysis

Industry estimates suggest forecast accuracy is only in the 60% range. Digitizing TPM enables finance teams to build a unified sales forecast that includes predicted volumes and revenue streams across new and run-rate business. Employees can customize formulas and metrics to generate reports that reflect the complexity of the business. You will understand the root causes of overperformance or underperformance with analysis of price, display size, location, seasonality, or timing. Armed with these insights, you can effectively direct production and delivery, and optimize existing promotions for the next iteration.

Give your sales team the tools they need to streamline account planning and execution.

Salespeople are the ambassadors working on the front lines of your joint business planning strategy. Promotions are a key part of that effort: That’s why 25% of a salesperson’s time is spent designing, implementing, and overseeing promotions. But when you consider that sales is also responsible for meeting revenue targets, managing contracts, and communicating with customers, it’s clear you need to empower them with tools that support the full spectrum of their responsibilities.

Streamline account planning and joint business planning

Real-time collaboration fuels alignment on a single platform. Manage account planning and execution with your internal team to efficiently set goals, track attainment, and scale (or pivot). Built-in analytics delivers an in-depth view into account health, sales metrics, growth opportunities, and field execution effectiveness.

Reduce trade overspend, deductions, and forward buys

Fourteen percent of sales are lost due to inefficient execution. View actual sales versus plan data in real time to prevent costly overspends, deductions, and forward buys. Nurture pay-for-performance strategies while avoiding the need to transfer funds to cover overages.

Streamline customer, distributor, and prospect communications

From one screen, give your sales teams the tools they need to efficiently manage relationships with distributors, customers, and end-consumer marketing. Centralize prospect management in one place so reps can source, score, and screen potential customers. Communicate with existing channel partners and build new channel relationships through targeted trade marketing. Deliver personalized marketing journeys and see at a glance which assets resonate the most.

Streamline the sales agreement lifecycle

Embed sales agreements and process renewals on a shared platform. Track account performance over time based on metrics you define. Ensure achievement of distribution goals by checking to see if retailers are carrying the right products.

Digitize TPM data for a connected, intelligent experience

Tighter margins means CG companies are laser-focused on profitable growth. Getting a higher ROI from the billions the industry spends on promotions is a key priority. But to close the execution gap, companies first need to understand the effectiveness of their promotions. With intelligent, data-driven TPM, companies can find and scale the most profitable programs fast — and that’s the win-win CG companies need to build stronger retailer relationships.