Does Promax PX have the ability to access multiple budgets, FY budget and x+x Forecast?
Promax PX allows for the creation of multiple versions of budgets.
Presently there are no reports written to compare different versions, but this could be easily managed using Promax Analytics
How does Promax assist in budget development?
The Promax PX solution can assist the business in streamlining the budget development process. The solution removes the reliance on Excel for developing the budget. The Budgeting functionality allows the user to develop a detailed budget that considers a variety of factors such as cost changes, price changes etc. The budget can be developed at a high-level (eg total division) and spread down the account hierarchy and the aggregated back up.
The Distribution of Sales in FMCG / Grocery
80:20 it is not!
About 12 years ago, in 1987 to be precise, I read an article written by Porter Henry, President of Porter Henry & Co. In an article entitled ‘The Important Few – The Unimportant Many’ he mentioned in passing that the 80:20 distribution with which we all are so familiar, does not describe the distribution of things in FMCG. In his original article he used data to construct calling plans for a territory, and to illustrate how easy it is to over-service small customers – and thus by definition under-service the few big ones who count. In fact Porter Henry did not make a big song and dance about the fact that 80:20 does not fit grocery, so I will address that issue now.
The 80:20 rule is so well known because it does describe distributions which fit many situations in business. In fact it describes accurately the distribution of sales in industrial selling, where one or two big customers will dominate your orders. But wherever consumers play a large part, there is a different distribution. In this situation the sales are far more evenly spread.
So if you are looking to:
- optimise your sales territories, and ensure your merchandisers or sales reps allocate their time efficiently
- determine if your sales are adequately distributed across a territory
- find out if your product range is too deep
- find out if you should expand your product range
Download the full article The distribution of sales in FMCG / Grocery Case Study PDF
Allocating Time to Customers
The important few – the unimportant many
This article first appeared in print sometime around 1986. It was written by Porter Henry, President of Porter Henry & Co. This is an exact reproduction of the original article, although obviously the tables and charts have had to be recreated. Reproduction here is not intended to infringe the copyright of the original author or the unknown publisher of the original article. Attempts have been made to contact Porter Henry and Co, and the original publisher is unknown, as the photocopied article has no identifying marks.
Theoretically, for every customer, there is a call frequency that will give you your maximum volume, or profit, per call. There is a bell-shaped curve for every customer – a little curve for a little customer, a big curve for a big customer. The maximum return per call might be realized from 3 calls per year for one customer, 6 for another, and 17 for another. It’s just not practical to establish a different call frequency for each customer, however, so we advocate using a short-cut. Presented here is an accurate method of allocating your time based on both your present and your potential business. This method, which requires you to divide your customers into three categories, is based on a principle we call ‘IFUM’ – the Important Few and the Unimportant Many.
Composition of Incremental Lift
This is a precis of a research paper entitled ‘The Decomposition of Promotional Response: An Empirical Generalisation’ by David R. Bell, Jeongwen Chiang and V. Padmanabhan, published by Marketing Science.
This very interesting paper based on research conducted in 1999, studies 173 brands in 13 categories in the USA over a 52 week period, based on the household expenditure of 250 families and 3 stores. The overall conclusion is that the percentage of promotional lift attributable to brand switching is an average of 75%, which is somewhat below previous studies. In 1988 Gupta measured this at 84%, and A.C.Nielsen more recently (precise date unknown, but published in 1996) at 80%.
Of even more interest is the category by category variance. Categories were selected to encompass both those that are known to expand consumption, as well as those that are ‘storable’ or ‘necessities’.The balance of the lift not attributable to brand switching was also analysed into the two components of category expansion (genuine additional incremental volume) and accelerated purchase (reduction in expected inter-purchase interval). A determination was also made of the relative impact of brand factors, category factors and consumer factors to identify which is the most significant. All in all, they are able to explain 70% of the actual promotional response. One of the significant findings is that category effects are more significant than brand effects, and consumer effects (i.e. demographics) are quite minimal.
Download the full Composition of incremental lift Case Study PDF
Controlling Trade Spend
So you have done your promotional planning, does that mean no more problems? Unfortunately not. It is still quite easy to end up with a severe overspend situation. This is because most promotions have no limit on the amount the chain may wish to buy. Why this should be so is one of those things that has become ‘part of the way we do business’, and has no basis in logic. It is just as illogical as extended buy periods, for businesses where there is perpetual motion and a pipeline of product! But it causes very real problems. Even with the most careful of planning, unless you monitor the trade spend during the year, you will almost certainly get a big surprise at the end of the year. Planning alone will not control trade spend. In this section we are not concerned whether the trade spend is worthwhile, only with keeping the total costs within predefined boundaries.
In budgeting, we must have the flexibility to allow for realignment of business rules on an as needed basis. Can Promax help?
The Promax PX solution is designed so that it scalable and flexible and can therefore adapt to the business requirements as required. For example, the solution allows the user to modify the accounting structure, deal type, calendars and other elements using standard functionality