Trade Promotion Management

With Wall Street's insatiable demand for profitable growth in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, CPG companies must ensure that every asset at their disposal is faced off against the consumer in an effective manner.

Making better use of retail data to reduce cycle times and inventory

How to drive value from integration, forecasting and new product development

In trade promotions management technology, integrated analytics tools that provide for precise tracking of promotions dollars are currently drawing the most attention from consumer goods (CG) companies, analysts say.

There is no doubt that 2004 proved to be a more than challenging year for consumer goods (CG) companies.

Technology that helps consumer goods (CG) manufacturers manage promotions and get a clearer picture of consumers who use their products are the hot CRM items of the moment, say analysts, who also predict expanding investment in CRM technology by CG companies in 2005.

As the retail sector consolidates and the larger players grow stronger, a rising number of consumer goods (CG) firms, such as Adolph Coors Company and Molson Inc., Hershey Foods Corporation and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. are executing merger or acquisition strategies.

The No. 2 sports apparel and equipment maker in the world, adidas-Salomon Canada, uses the IBM eServer iSeries platform to gain a competitive edge in its market.