White paper: Comprehensive Trade Management (PDF) - Oracle

programs on gaining and retaining customers, while recognizing
retailers’ needs to enhance their own image.
Manufacturers are increasingly conceding to retailer-driven
programs because retailers have become far more intelligent about
their shoppers, and the retailers simply have more power in the
relationship. Manufacturers need to improve their understanding
of retail data to regain a seat at the table.
One response manufacturers have made is to create dedicated
cross-functional account teams. While a capitulation of sorts to
customer consolidation, the increased focus of a dedicated team
gives manufacturers the opportunity to become more attuned to
retailing realities. So far, this fundamental shift in resources has not
yet been matched by changes in companies’ functional
organization / power structure, nor their IT environment. (For
example, there is no “system of record” today for the strategic
account team.) A new paradigm is required for management of the
trade channel relationship.
The Case for Collaboration
With the channel often driving the direction, tactics, timing and
funding, it is easy to believe that the manufacturer has little or no
authority to make well-intended promotion recommendations. But
to attract the loyalties of the consumer and garner ongoing
prominence among the trade channel retailers, manufacturers are
continuing to escalate the role of trade channel execution and
promotion.
The reality is that both partners have a common goal: motivate the
consumer to enter through the doors and hold their loyalty once
they do. Attracting the consumer is nothing new, of course. But
today’s consumers sophisticated demand that promotion strategies
evolve from art to science – bordering on rocket science.
Industry initiatives such as VICS Collaborative Planning,
Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) have demonstrated that
retailers and manufacturers can work together to reduce
inventories. Next they need to collaborate to address trade
management challenges.
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