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Today UpClear announces enhancements to Trade Promotion Optimization (TPO) capabilities in BluePlanner to support “Scenario Planning” use cases.
The enhanced Scenario Planning capability improves how BluePlanner supports and bridges work between the AOP and Account Planning business processes. It facilitates faster and smarter creation of account plans at the right level of detail for the right time in the process.
Perhaps the most important enabling factor is that Scenario Planning, like everything else in BluePlanner, is part of one platform. Thus, listings, prices & costs, terms, and base volume forecasts are already present and do not require separate maintenance. In many other cases, this is a stand-alone capability which often leads to differences between systems and difficulty with administration. BluePlanner is one platform that natively contains all modules, features, and functionality.
BluePlanner’s new “Simulation” stage of promotions puts the information that’s most important when you’re strategically planning customers front-and-center. Details needed for execution are saved for later. The focus here are the ways shoppers will see your products (on-shelf, off-shelf displays, and advertisements), the ways you discount price to incentivize purchase, and the sales lift those promotion tactics deliver. BluePlanner then does the work to calculate revenue, cost, and profitability.
Promotions that already exist in BluePlanner are present and can be part of your scenarios. This new approach to promotions- with an emphasis on quick creation and copy- enables the assembly of an entire promotion catalog in less than an hour for an average brand.
Promotion Simulations are presented on an interactive calendar and can easily be compared in BluePlanner. The calendar facilitates fast, easy creation and adjustment of your simulations. The module also enables you to compare promotion simulations as you work.
A scenario in BluePlanner is a complete plan that rolls up to volume and P&L KPIs. In each scenario, you specify the promotions to include. The existing pricing, terms, and base volume already in BluePlanner are used to create the scenario. BluePlanner automatically calculates the volume, revenue, cost, and profitability of the scenario as you work to determine the mix of pricing and promotional activity that will achieve your objectives. Promotion simulations can be included in multiple scenarios. Like the promotion simulations, scenarios can be viewed in a comparison mode, showing the side-by-side projections of different scenarios.
Along with this new way to plan scenarios, we’ve made BluePlanner even more helpful with AI to help you optimize scenarios. SmartAgent asks you what you want to optimize then goes to work to produce the best combination of promotions to meet the objective.
When the time comes to move promotions in a scenario from strategic to operational planning, BluePlanner seamlessly move from the TPO “Simulation” status, to TPM where it becomes an operational promotion and details like pricing mechanics (e.g. Billback, Off Invoice, Scan) and spend reasons are added, and relevant workflow approvals are made.
The new Scenario Planning functionality helps improve decision making and increase productivity by reducing the need for spreadsheets that require separate inputs, administration & maintenance. UpClear’s mission is to continually add capabilities that add automation, collaboration, and intelligence to BluePlanner.
UpClear provides software solutions that help Consumer Goods brands improve gross-to-net revenue management. Sales, Operations, Finance, and Accounting from companies in different stages of growth use UpClear’s BluePlanner integrated platform for planning collaboration, visibility, automation, and intelligence. Capabilities for annual operating planning, account planning, and execution help them manage promotions, use trade spending effectively, and understand their business more comprehensively. This helps them succeed in a rapidly changing business landscape.
