Today, Trade Promotion spending is the second largest item in the profit and loss (P&L) of the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies and has grown almost 2.5 times over the last two decades. This increase in trade promotion spend and the cobweb of multiple promotions across multiple geographies is making the CPG executives sit-up and rethink – Where's the trade promotion money going and what are the benefits derived from each promotion?

• To effectively plan, control and monitor trade funds to maximise ROI as trade margins are under pressure
  
• To analyse the promotion effectiveness (planned Vs. actual) To efficiently manage sales forecast due to additional promotional stock requirements
  

After having worked extensively in the trade marketing areas of the CPG domain, we have developed an excellent understanding of the global trade practices. This has helped us in developing an 8-step process framework encompassing the industry-best-practices for the trade promotion management. Our solution takes an integrated approach which can help the CPG companies to plan, execute and analyze their trade promotions efficiently.

A repository of trade promotion process maps and metrics, taken from industry-best-practices form the building blocks of the process framework. The framework ensures that there are integration points for internal and external collaborations.

The technology framework addresses the technology enablers around the business processes to provide an insight into the planning with reports and dashboards, clear visibility of funds movement and speedier execution & accurate settlement. In addition to this, the framework also provides a tighter collaboration across core IT systems, like ERP, CRM systems with clearly defined data point integrators.

• Better transparency in trade funds movement across brands, channels and accounts
  
• Provides real-time visibility with respect to funds utilization and promotion effectiveness
  
• Helps towards tighter internal and external collaboration resulting in reduction of OOS% and inventory pile-up in stores
  
• Optimize the trade promotion spending to maximize ROI