Challenges

An integrated approach to managing pricing remains difficult for many consumer goods manufacturers and distributors. Often companies separate the creation and maintenance of “list” pricing from the calculation of promotional price adjustments associated with an individual promotion event, customer contract, or channel relationship. Spreadsheets are common place, and manual updates to “master data” in multiple systems are required when updating base or contract prices, adding new customer locations, or modifying product packaging. The impact to the business can be significant and often poorly understood. Transaction errors related to incorrect pricing can vary between 0.3% to 2.3% of total order volume. Duplicating pricing rules in multiple systems can create audit compliance and maintenance issues related to downstream processes such as settlement of deductions and fees.

Features

• Rule-based pricing configuration supporting volume-based, percentage discount, minimum order quantity bracket, bundling, and other customer-specific adjustments
• Define list, contract, and promotional pricing in one environment for full visibility to all pricing changes
• Multiple effectivity dates based on qualified shipment, scheduled promotion events, and customer calendars
• Multi-dimensional hierarchy representation of customer segments, brand categories, and time horizons to address any unique combination of pricing instances down to the store, SKU, and daily levels.
• List price distribution in multiple formats including on-line price sheets, spreadsheets, documents, and promotion agreements
• Version maintenance and workflow and audit controls based on role and authority in the organization
• Audit and control pricing updates to multiple systems, including order management, handheld scan-based fulfilment, and financial management
• Provide “one statement of truth” related to all disputes and pricing inquiries or exceptions

Benefits

• Capture lost revenue associated with pricing errors, typically 0.3 to 2.3% of order volume
• Improve promotion event effectiveness with greater pricing configuration flexibility
• Reduce price planning and communication cycle time from weeks or months to days or hours
• Improve corporate compliance initiatives related to Sarbanes Oxley internal controls requirements
• Capture share related to competitive or market opportunities by increasing response time by 40-80%

Next Steps

To find out how Flintfox Trade Promotion Management can meet your specific needs, contact us. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your situation.