I try to separate the brandcentric blog material from my job at DemandTec, but given the subject matter the lines often blur. AMR Research recently recognized DemandTec’s market leadership position in account planning and collaborative deal management for CPG manufacturers. This report (note: AMR client access only) was published earlier this month by Lora Cecere and Steve Steutermann at AMR — two industry analysts that have themselves held brand and sales management roles for some of the leading CPG companies.
This recognition was the result of three solid years of market momentum by DemandTec combined with two strategy sessions and countless briefing calls I held with Lora and Steve. Rewarding to know that a lot of hard work across the company has ultimately paid off.
As a related side note, it was recently announced that AMR Research has been acquired by Gartner. The transaction just closed today. I see this move as a net positive for the industry and look forward to working with the expanded Gartner / AMR team in the weeks and months ahead.
Day 1 of the TPMA San Francisco event just wrapped up at the Stanford Court hotel. Lots of focused, practical dialog around trade promotion optimization, collaborative analytics, funds optimization and the role of shopper insights. While attendance is on the lighter side, this conferences offers a set of rich discussions among industry peers.
Day 2 kicks off tomorrow at 8:30 AM, when Todd Bortel from Cannondale Associates and I will deliver our presentation titled “Trade Promotion Planning & Analysis: A Game that Needs Changing”. We hope to see you there.
Brett Goffin from Google spent some time with Bob Houk, Executive Director of Trade Promotion Management Associates (TPMA), discussing how and when the trade promotion discipline will adapt to the digital world. Some very interesting opportunities for sure.
As Bob and Brett discuss, the trade promotion discipline is deeply rooted around driving value for both trading partners — manufacturers gain more prominent placement for their products, while retailers monetize lucrative in-store marketing vehicles. This fair trade has taken place for at least the last century, and even more recently both parties have doubled down their investments to scale shopper marketing initiatives.
But taking this a step further, how do multi-channel retailers monetize available trade dollars in their online storefronts? Will manufacturers realize the same value from a “virtual” end cap as they do for a physical end cap? The industry consensus points to a resounding “yes”, and this model is starting to take shape. Don’t be surprised to see a case study or two on this subject at an upcoming TPMA event.
For a primer on trade promotion marketing, an overview of Bob Houk and the TPMA, and a quick history lesson on the Robinson-Patman Act, check out Part I of the video series.
Next Tuesday (April 7) I will share the stage at the Grocery Manufacturers Association conference in Miami with two DemandTec customers — Kraft Foods and Safeway — to discuss the business benefits of collaborative deal management. We’re expecting more than 250 attendees including CPG manufacturers, a few grocery retailers and a smattering of technology vendors, consultants and media pundits to join us for this session.
So what is deal management? In a nutshell, it’s how manufacturers and retailers agree to which in-store promotions make the calendar, at what terms, for which products and during which time periods. The traditional deal management process is pretty inefficient involving a combination of paper deal sheets, spreadsheets, faxes, courier deliveries and phone calls…resulting in a lot of wasted time and energy. Each retailer uses a proprietary deal sheet and deal term nomenclature, forcing the vendor community to adapt to 20+ unique processes.
Online, collaborative deal management offers a more efficient way for big retailers (like Safeway) and their entire ecosystem of manufacturers (including Kraft Foods) to bring sanity to the process. Paper deal sheets are now a thing of the past. Deals are submitted and negotiated online with deal status and comments fully visible to both parties. No lost deals, and no anxious vendors. Meaningful efficiency gains are realized by both parties, allowing everyone to focus on more strategic activities. DemandTec’s Deal Management software service leads the industry, with retailers accounting for roughly 33% of US grocery ACV using (or deploying) the software service.
So collaborative deal management is definitely a good thing for the industry. As more retailers migrate to an online, collaborative process life gets a little easier for everyone. And this is ultimately a good thing for consumers. As trade plans are entered and negotiated more efficiently, more working dollars can flow to the shelf to support an incremental program or two.
If you plan to attend the GMA conference, we’ll see you in Miami!
I try to separate the brandcentric blog material from my job at DemandTec, but given the subject matter the lines often blur. AMR Research recently recognized DemandTec’s market leadership position in account planning and collaborative deal management for CPG manufacturers. This report (note: AMR client access only) was published earlier this month by Lora Cecere and Steve Steutermann at AMR — two industry analysts that have themselves held brand and sales management roles for some of the leading CPG companies.
Next Tuesday (April 7) I will 
