Trade promotion spending is one of the most complex activities a foodservice organization will pursue. Our customers invest in AFS Trade Promotion Management Foodservice (AFS TPM Foodservice) because it is purpose-built to better manage their trade investment with hundreds of distributors, buying groups and operators to settle claims and deductions, keeping their business on track.
After customers start using the software and become experienced in its functionality, I am often asked by them, “Are we maximizing our return on investment?” I reply, “What insights are you leveraging to better manage your business?” This question promotes critical thinking.
I can tell you from experience, there are five insights that can make a significant impact on your business’ profitability.
- Greater Visibility. Make sure you have transparency into your contracts and commitments at the field level. AFS TPM Foodservice removes the burden of manual compilation and provides visibility into your trade spending for the entire value chain. At a minimum, you should be able to not only quickly audit and validate customer claims and deductions, but also establish an accurate record of your trade spending accruals and liabilities.
- Price Deviation Analysis. The complexity of managing multiple pricing strategies (via multiple “middlemen”) can be overwhelming. AFS TPM Foodservice can highlight whenever price variations and list price deviations fall outside of the contract parameters. This capability can help you protect against margin erosion.
- Multi-dip Alerts. Managing incentives negotiated with various group purchasing organizations and knowing whether claims are being accurately submitted can be extraordinarily difficult. AFS TPM Foodservice enables you to identify (and eliminate) multiple and erroneous claims from single operator customers.
- Spend Analysis. The fundamental purpose of any trade promotion management solution is to help companies optimize their trade spending. The key to optimization, in turn, is analytics. With AFS TPM Foodservice, you can analyze data in a way that produces relevant and actionable insights, such as helping to determine whether your trade tactics (and outcomes) are consistent with your strategy (and business case).
- Insights That Drive Profitability. Given that trade promotions typically represent your second-largest spending category after cost of goods, even a relatively small improvement in trade spending efficiencies can yield considerable bottom-line payback. Using AFS TPM Foodservice, you can find opportunities where efficiencies can be gained. It also helps you develop customer-level profit-and-loss statements to better target opportunities that will drive profitable growth.
To streamline your foodservice trade spending, maximize your ROI and add efficiencies to your business, contact AFS today to talk with our solution specialists.
Sheryle Blasko
Enterprise Account Director, Foodservice
Sheryle.Blasko@www.afsi.com
Direct: 647-969-4528