Artículos

Por Ken Accardi

Resumen ejecutivo

Three quarters through the year, you’re in the midst of understanding performance and managing the headwinds and tailwinds you’ve encountered as you work to deliver annual targets. Managing trade promotion spending in this portion of the year is one of the most critical and complex functions within Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies. As actual sales and spending data has taken shape, CPG organizations must continuously refine and adjust their promotional strategies to ensure alignment with business objectives and profitability. This paper outlines the best practices for CPG brands to create a framework for effective trade spend management and collaborative retailer engagement.

In-Year Trade Promotion Execution & Management

Actual sales & spending is received from promotions. Integrating this data with plans is a feedback loop that enables a reconciliation process for brands to compare forecasted performance to actuals. As the months close, more actual performance information becomes available, and high-performing CPG companies use this to identify and manage gaps to target that may have developed and adjust promotions for the balance of year. The following best practices enhance the effectiveness of this process:

1. Account-level plan revisions at the event, SKU and retailer level 
   • Identify variances between forecasted and actual shipments, point of sale data, and overall event spending. 
   • Adjust promotion plans with updated assumptions around base volume, lift, and retailer execution. 
   • Prioritize high-impact accounts and events for adjustment. 

2. Previsión Accuracy 
   • Track plan accuracy across both base and incremental volume components. 
   • Monitor accuracy of both shipments and retail sales (POS).  
   • Use historical error trends to calibrate forecast assumptions moving forward. 

3. Trade Accrual Management 
   • Maintain alignment between forecasted/accrued trade expenditure and actual expenses.  Reconcile actual expenses to what you accrued. If actual spending will not consume the accrual, eliminate the open balance and close the promotion. 
   • Ensure Finance teams have real-time visibility into trade liabilities and unspent accruals. 
   • Use accrual data to validate profitability at customer and event levels. 

4. P&L and Total Cost-to-Serve Analysis 
   • Integrate non-trade costs (e.g., logistics, deductions, unsaleable) into account-level P&Ls. 
   • Assess true margin contribution by customer and product. 
   • Enable more accurate customer segmentation and prioritization. 

5. Cross-Functional Collaboration 
   • Facilitate monthly Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) process with Sales, Finance, and HQ Trade Strategy to align on current-year performance. 
   • Use technology to consolidate insights and support rapid decision-making.  Claw back funds or redeploy according to the overall trade strategy. 

Conclusión 

Effective account forecast and trade spend management is a year-round discipline that blends operational rigor with strategic foresight. Established and growing CPG companies stand to benefit greatly from best-in-class planning processes that integrate in-year management in everyday work.  By aligning functional teams, ensuring data accuracy, CPG teams can optimize trade spending and build stronger, more profitable retailer partnerships.

Sobre el autor

Con sede en Los Ángeles, Ken Accardi es el responsable de ventas en Norteamérica. Ken cuenta con más de 25 años de experiencia en el sector de los bienes de consumo de gran consumo (CPG), y está especializado en ventas, gestión comercial, gestión de categorías, estrategia de ventas y optimización de procesos empresariales.  Ken cuenta con experiencia en el ámbito interno de fabricantes, socios y proveedores líderes, como Bayer Consumer Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, Clarkston Consulting y Kantar Xtel. Ken ha dedicado la última década a colaborar con docenas de fabricantes de bienes de consumo en la identificación de soluciones, su implementación y el soporte técnico para las capacidades de TPM, TPO y RGM. En su tiempo libre, le gusta pasar tiempo con su hija y hacer senderismo por las numerosas rutas del sur de California.

Acerca de UpClear

UpClear es una empresa de software y desarrolladora de Blue, una intelligence platform utilizada por marcas de bienes de consumo. Ofrecemos una solución integral de gestión del crecimiento de los ingresos (Revenue Growth Management), que incluye funcionalidades de TPM, TPO, IBP y RGM. Nuestra misión es capacitar a las marcas para que maximicen el rendimiento de sus ingresos y la rentabilidad de sus inversiones comerciales mediante un software inteligente y colaborativo, que proporciona una única fuente de información fiable, una automatización optimizada e información útil para la toma de decisiones.

Blue , RGM Intelligence Platform, da soporte a los procesos integrales de gestión de ingresos, desde los brutos hasta los netos: planificación operativa anual, planificación de cuentas y ejecución. Las soluciones se integran con herramientas de análisis, inteligencia artificial intelligence y gestión de datos que conectan a los equipos y los sistemas empresariales.