Top 5 Capabilities to Look for in a Trade Promotion Management (TPM) Software

What is trade promotion management (TPM)?

Trade promotion management (TPM) is the process of planning, executing, and measuring the effectiveness of promotional activities and other marketing initiatives. These activities drive sales and increase customer loyalty, often focusing on specific products, brands, or markets.

Let's take a look at the capabilities you should look for in Trade promotion management (TPM) software.

What is trade promotion management (TPM) software?

TPM software is a tool that helps companies manage their promotional activities more effectively.

This type of software provides a consolidated view of all promotional activities, streamlines promotional processes, reduces costs, and improves efficiency. This technology can also help companies better understand their customers, identify trends and optimize their promotional strategy through data analysis.

Therefore, it is no surprise that TPM software implementation is becoming increasingly important. In fact, the global trade promotion management software market size is expected to grow from USD 1.04 billion in 2021 to USD 2.15 billion by 2028.

TPM software is an essential tool for companies looking to improve the effectiveness of their promotional activities, but what features should a TPM software offer? Let’s look at the capabilities you should look out for when deciding on a TPM software provider.

Capabilities to look for in a trade promotion management (TPM) software

1. Planning and budgeting tools

A planning and budgeting feature enables companies to develop plans for their promotional campaigns, including the types of promotions used and the expected results.

By accurately and quickly seeing post-promotion analytics, businesses can look at trends and forecast the expected return on investment (ROI) for each promotional activity, thus improving the efficiency of their budget allocation. 

That’s not all, a TPM software with account planning and budgeting capabilities can help improve productivity as sales users will be able to spend less time re-entering promotions and more time with their customers. This capability to improve planning efficiency can help companies optimize their promotional strategy and achieve better business results.

2. Base and lift modeling

Base and lift modeling is a feature of trade promotion management software that helps companies analyze the effectiveness of their promotional campaigns. Based on the idea that promotions can have both a "base", which is the change in sales that would have occurred without the promotion, and a "lift", which is the additional change in sales attributed to a promotion.

Base and lift modeling is essential for trade promotion optimization because it gives manufacturers a deeper understanding of the impacts of pricing and promotion on sales.

3. Shipment forecasting

Shipment forecasting is an important feature of any TPM software because it can accurately help companies predict future demand for their products.

Companies can use shipment forecasting data to optimize their inventory levels and ensure they have the right products in stock to meet customer demand. This forecasting data can also help companies identify growth opportunities and increase sales. 

Furthermore, accurate forecasting has the potential to help companies ensure that they have the right products in stock at the right time. By being better equipped to meet customer demands they can also reduce the risk of over or understocking.

4. Deduction management

Deduction, settlement, and reconciliation management are essential features of TPM software because managing these processes can be challenging and time-consuming.

Furthermore, there is always a risk of settlement errors or disputes that can be both costly and time-consuming. However, by utilizing a deduction management software feature and automating the process, companies can improve the accuracy and efficiency of their trade promotions.

This will ensure that all parties involved in the promotion receive the proper credit or payment.

5. Ongoing user support

User support is an important feature of any suitable software, let alone TPM software.

There are a number of ways that user support can be provided, including documentation, training materials, and customer support teams. These resources help users learn to use software, troubleshoot any issues they may encounter, and get help when they need it.

The reason why good user support is particularly important for TPM software is that it is often used by a wide range of users within an organization, including sales, marketing, finance, and IT staff. It is likely that each of these users has a different level of technical expertise and may need different types of support depending on their responsibilities.

Nevertheless, with effective user support, all users should be comfortable using the TPM software, thus getting the total value out of it.

Innovation is the future of trade promotion

Over the last few years, trade promotion management software vendors have made significant progress in improving their products with a wide range of features and functionalities. However, it is crucial to not only choose a vendor that meets your organization's needs but that also looks to take advantage of the latest revenue growth management capabilities through innovation.

Innovation is what sets vendors like CPGvision apart from many other trade promotion software vendors.

One factor to consider is the vendor's in-house artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities. Machine learning uses historical data to make accurate predictions for future promotions, which can then be used to optimize functions like supply chain forecasting and supply chain optimization.

Even if you are not ready for advanced capabilities now, choosing a vendor that is looking to offer them in the future is important.

In conclusion, having an effective trade promotion strategy can lead to an increase in sales and customer loyalty. It is, therefore, crucial to find a solution that doesn’t just provide technology, but also helps overcome general business problems.

Are you looking for best-in-class trade promotion management software for Consumer-Packaged Goods? Contact us at CPGvision and revolutionize the way you manage trade promotion.