Trade spend management software to help you spend smart

Creating an outstanding, holistic pricing and trade spend strategy through actionable insights: that’s why leaders in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry choose Visualfabriq’s Trade Spend Master™. Enjoy rapid planning, see the volume and value impact of strategies immediately, and include syndicated data, all within an audit-proof approval workflow.

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Win-win trade spend management

Sales accounts gain more buying power through consolidation. Consumers are becoming less loyal and more price sensitive while cost prices are increasing due to market conditions. CPGs face harder negotiations, difficulty setting price points, and more frequent price discussions. Relying on manual input for trade spend management limits visibility on account profitability and margins.

 

Visualfabriq’s Trade Spend Master™ enables commercial teams to sustain long-term profitable growth through financial visibility of the impact of pricing and contract strategies through combination of relevant internal and external data sources. Plan and optimize contractual trade spend as well as trade pricing at any level of granularity and create win-win strategies, all covered by an audit-proof workflow. Drive profitable revenue growth, with minimum effort.

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Yes, I want to know more about Visualfabriq’s Trade Spend Management Software

Trusted by leaders in the CPG Industry.

Better pricing, more profitable deals with Visualfabriq

Save time planning and analyzing, win results negotiating through an advanced trade spend strategy

What’s so exciting?

Create contract and pricing strategies for sustainable growth
Understand how trade spend and trade pricing contribute to channel and category revenue through direct visibility of impact on the P&L.
Drive holistic pricing negotiations
Seamless combination of data sources generates visibility of both manufacturer and account profitability, at all levels of the gross-to-net.
Save time and spend on trade spend management
Plan and approve faster with Visualfabriq’s configurable workflow. Enjoy the control of effortless audit logbook creation.
Build scenarios and include uncertainties
Be ready for the unexpected using standardized input for risks and opportunities and create scenarios to model your plans.
Leverage pricing elasticity data
Use the coefficients of pricing elasticity studies to model the impact of your pricing plans, including own and competitor RSP changes.
Save time and spend on claim matching
Use Visualfabriq’s claim module to match and manage claims to contract accruals.

Game changers for trade spend management

Enjoy low total costs of ownership

Visualfabriq offers its software as a service (SaaS). All customers use the latest codebase, as maintenance and upgrades are included. This is what true SaaS is. This limited demand on the organization is paired with low implementation and maintenance costs: 100% configuration drives fast deployment and unlimited scaling capabilities allow constant growth of organization and data.

Improve efficiency through seamless data integration

There are many stakeholders in trade spend. With many relevant data sources, seamless integration of ex-factory data and external data sources (syndicated data, EPoS, etc.) is key. Through Visualfabriq’s unique data integration layer Bifrost, customers can control their data independently, driving more trust. The result of seamless integration? Improved forecast reliability the certainty that financial actuals are updated promptly and the ability to create win-win strategies that drive revenue growth for both manufacturer and account.

Remove manual work through advanced master data management

Changes in master data, especially assortment changes, take up much time within CPG organizations. Code switching is cumbersome and manual, having to be managed in demand solutions as well as promotion planning – often multiple times a year. Visualfabriq’s revenue management software features the Product Lifecycle, which handles all product switching and automatically applies it throughout the revenue growth software.

Drive efficiency with data alignment across the organization

The Visualfabriq revenue forecasting and optimization software is created as a single, integrated ecosystem, logically connecting the different solutions to the Revenue Plan and each other. This ensures full alignment of data, thus driving a one-number principle throughout organizations. Efficiency to the max, no need to duplicate administration or manually knit data together.

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Save time through removal of repetitive tasks

Manual administration, account proposal generation and audit trails take up too much time in CPG organizations. Advanced automation reduces reliance on manual work and frees up time to take those actions that make the difference.

FAQ

What is trade spend management?

Trade spend refers to the money a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) manufacturer invests in their accounts such as retailers, wholesalers, and distributors. This investment aims to enhance product availability, visibility and accessibility for consumers, whether the products are promoted or not. Trade spend management involves planning, managing and executing these investments. Typically, the sales team leads this process, working closely with the finance team.

What is trade spend optimization? 

Trade spend optimization is the continuous process of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of trade spend, driving plan account and assortment profitability. It is a continuous loop: after executing a contract or promotion, learnings are captured to enhance future trade spend investments.

 

In the past, this was often a labor-intensive process. Today, trade spend management software like Visualfabriq’s Trade Spend Master supports sales teams by integrating data sources that were previously combined manually, such as ex-factory volumes, syndicated data, and electronic point of sales (EPoS) data.

 

The Trade Spend Master enables users to review the impact of trade spend and define alternative scenarios. Understand the impact on account, channel, brand, and assortment profitability and take action.

Can I integrate the Trade Spend Master with my ERP system? 

Absolutely! Integration between Visualfabriq and your ERP system is a standard part of our deployment approach. Visualfabriq aims is to eliminate all manual administration, ensuring that the trade spend management software becomes your one-stop shop. Simply plan and approve to trigger a message.

Is Visualfabriq trade spend software secure? 

At Visualfabriq the security of clients’ data is paramount. We are fully certified for ISO 27001, SOC 1, and SOC 2, ensuring top-notch security standards.

What sort of data can Visualfabriq integrate in the trade spend management software? 

Visualfabriq seamlessly integrates with all ERP systems, enabling a two-way flow of information. The software pulls in master data and sends out pricing, conditions, and volumes.

Additionally, Visualfabriq integrates in-market data such as syndicated data (Nielsen, IRI) and electronic point of sales (EPoS) data. Even better, you can create formulas that combine multiple data sources to understand plan account margins, gaining insights and delivering value across the entire chain.

Can we assign guardrails, e.g., floor prices, minimum retailer invoice prices?

Absolutely! Setting thresholds for prices and discounts is crucial for maintaining a minimum level of profitability. Visualfabriq supports floor price management and can incorporate floor prices into warning messages and approval flows.

Can Visualfabriq supply a full logbook of adjustments and approvals for audit purposes? 

Governance and compliance are crucial in the CPG industry. Visualfabriq’s Trade Spend Master captures all relevant changes in a logbook, which is available within the software to track actions. This ensures there are no surprises. The software features a role-based workflow, allowing organizations to determine who is authorized to perform specific actions. Additionally, approval rules such as thresholds can be added to ensure that every action on the platform is entirely audit-proof.

Can we assign approval limits by role (reflecting the sales organization's approval hierarchy)?

Yes, Visualfabriq’s trade spend management software has a role-based workflow. This allows organizations to determine who is authorized to perform specific actions. Approval rules, such as thresholds, can also be added to ensure that every action on the platform is entirely audit-proof.

Does Visualfabriq’s software allow me to settle claims for my trade spend?

It definitely does! The Trade Spend Master fully integrates with the Visualfabriq Claims module, allowing you to handle all claims for non-promoted spend, such as contractual investments.

What if I have a risk or an opportunity, can I capture those too?

Of course! Visualfabriq understands that certain things shouldn’t be in the ERP yet but need to be represented in the revenue forecast. It enables commercial teams to capture and make risks and opportunities visible throughout the software. This is crucial for revenue forecasts, whether it’s an opportunity to increase prices or an account threatening to submit an additional claim.

Does Visualfabriq support volume impact calculation from pricing elasticity on different product levels?

Yes, Visualfabriq’s trade spend management solution supports the use of pricing elasticity models. You can easily add coefficients from regression models to the volume prediction model and start building scenarios for price changes.

Does Visualfabriq offer a connection to external sources of data?

Absolutely. The unique Bifrost data integration layer enables customers to load data into the software and extract reports for use in external solutions.

Can I define a percentage of increase for COGS to simulate a new pricing scenario?

Yes, Visualfabriq’s trade spend management solution includes core functionality for creating scenarios. You can add a COGS change and start simulating the pricing adjustment needed to maintain profitability.

Does Visualfabriq allow to define RSPs (retailer suggested prices) in its trade spend management solution?

Yes, RSPs are managed centrally in Visualfabriq’s software. They can be used throughout the software where relevant.

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“What we see now is that (AI) predictions are better than Manual predictions”

Data Scientist | Global Brewing Company

The Trade Spend Management software for the CPG market

We work with leaders in the CPG industry.

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Unilever
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Heineken