TPM Study 2018: Becoming a Modern, Faster Organization

Read the full "TPM Study 2018: State of the Industry"

Q: For companies looking to improve their trade promotion performance, what are the most critical areas to address?
MURPHY: For trade promotion management to perform well, the data needs to be accurate and timely. While consumer goods companies are starting to achieve a greater level of data sophistication and availability, there’s still a lot of work to do to ensure the information is consistent and reliable across markets and categories.

Big consumer brands need to operate with speed by moving to become a modern operation. This requires them to operate as a “living business,” one that is more fluid, responsive and predictive to ever-changing consumer behavior.

Successful companies will be the ones who move from outdated price and promotion processes to arming account teams with the tools to organize products around how consumers are behaving in real time.

Consumer goods companies need to consider the bigger picture when considering the trade and consumer marketing spend. Reliance on technology and business processes alone will not yield improved performance. TPM can only truly be optimized if the skills of teams are augmented with the technology. 

Q: The need to improve the planning process by better understanding consumer demand has become critical. What’s the best way to accomplish this?
MURPHY: Companies must learn from the disruptors and agile incumbents that are focused on reinventing how they reach consumers in the digital age wherever they may be. And in today’s data-driven world, it all comes down to consumers. It’s about talking — and listening — to them, putting their needs and desires front and center in the planning process. It means acquiring the agility to flex the business quickly and responsively toward shifting consumer demand patterns. And it means capturing the value in the ongoing explosion of advanced technologies.

Companies can now achieve a greater level of sophisticated planning that can be organized around retailers and consumers alike. By identifying and mapping patterns and trends captured from performance data over time, account teams will have the ability to make better informed — and profitable — promotion and funding decisions.

Q: Looking ahead 10 years, is TPM still as critical to the consumer goods business as it is now? Why or why not?
MURPHY: Without question, TPM will remain critical to the consumer goods business. However, we can expect to see a change in the way trade funds are allocated, as well as in the tactics and mechanics deployed.

It is likely that TPM will remain an important part of a modern consumer enterprise. And while we are seeing a greater choice and availability of tools in the marketplace, the emergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence are enabling companies to get closer to predicting and anticipating demand — taking the ways in which account teams plan their trade spend to another level.