The Promax PX approach
The Promax PX Trade Promotion Management (TPM) solution has been designed in collaboration with our clients and as a result follows a logistical flow for inputting, managing and analysing promotions and trade spend. From the planning phase through to the review of results, Promax seamlessly automates all phases of the process.
The solution map below describes how Promax PX solves the trade promotions planning problems at three distinct levels being Strategic (Orange), Tactical (Yellow) and Review (Green).
Promax Solutions Map
Strategic
Firstly there is a set of tools that enable the strategic plan to be constructed and tested against a business objective. The powerful modelling environment allows the development of sophisticated mathematical relationships between product pricing, volume uplift and product profitability. With these models, the Promax planner can manipulate the business drivers to optimise the mix of product, frequency and price strategy to achieve the profit, market share and sales objectives.
This strategy can then be implemented as a time phased high-level promotion plan with full financial analysis of profitability. During the planning process each scenario can be saved and compared to assist in the arrival at the desired objective.
Tactical
The final scenario from the strategic planning phase can be used to automatically create a template for the next period’s promotional plan. The detailed promotion planning functionality in Promax PX is a highly graphical and flexible environment that enables the rapid creation of detailed trade promotion plans. The authorisation of these trade promotion plans follows a workflow that the user defines with hierarchical jurisdiction of user trade spend levels. The interactive collaboration within Promax PX allows for automatic transmission of promotional activity to the field force through a number of third-party sales force automation systems.
The flexible business interface capabilities of Promax PX mean that the business systems are updated with accurate accruals for each promotion which are then linked to claims for payments that can be authorised through Promax PX directly. Changes to accruals can be communicated on a daily basis with daily granularity. Write backs for underspent promotions are automatically dealt with ensuring that the business has a current view of trade spend at all times and optimising working capital.
Trade Promotions are monitored as they proceed through the interaction with the business system and the importation of consumer demand through scan data. The performance of customers, account managers and individual promotions can be tracked and monitored through alerts and business intelligence windows.
Planning for the demand of each trade promotion is dealt with automatically within Promax. Each trade promotion effects the baseline demand and Promax creates a forecast of ex-factory sales that can be used by the demand planning and business systems to ensure product is available in the right place at the right time.
Review
Feedback is the key step in any business process and trade promotions management is no exception. Evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of trade promotions in each stage of the planning process is key to the efficient use of trade funds. Promax PX has powerful tools to assist you in evaluating your trade promotions. Managing the categories is also key to ensuring products are available and baseline pricing is correct. The range management tools in Promax PX assist with setting category parameters, implementing price increases and introducing new products. Budgeting is always a challenge for the Account Manager. Promax eases this burden with powerful budgeting tools that enable the quick and efficient establishment of budgets from past sales and promotional activity or through importing data from other business systems. Budgets for volume, sales and trade spend can be created for each company, division, product and each customer.
What does the Promax PX TPM solution offer?
Given the cost of trade spend, it’s no wonder companies get caught up analysing what worked, what didn’t and why not? But bottom line, there’s a planning deadline looming and those numbers are yesterday’s news. The future is where it’s at and that’s where the Promax TPM solution will take you. The Promax PX software system gives you the ability to quickly model multiple promotion scenarios – adjusting causal drivers on the fly – to engineer the business outcome you want.
With many FMCG companies juggling hundreds of promotions each year, the Promax PX solution with its Strategic Optimizer functionality, enables you to assess promotions from a bird’s view perspective.
Learn more about how Promax PX enables you to Track, Predict & Optimize your promotions.
