Sales & Marketing

With the economic downturn, many consumer goods companies have put improvement projects on hold, with a handful of exceptions. One such initiative is Trade Promotion Management, which continues to be a priority industry-wide.

To maximize the impact of a consolidated field sales team, Heinz identifies stores with the greatest sales opportunity and focus on driving products with the greatest sales potential.

How globalization -- coupled with the current tumultuous economic environment -- is affecting the marketing practices at leading consumer goods companies.

A fire ant infestation ignited sales at Scotts Miracle-Gro, demonstrating the power of leveraging customer insights for highly effective sales and marketing efforts across the enterprise.

Compressing the amount of time between when a marketing campaign is defined and when the product reaches store shelves is a key strategic objective. The business benefits are clear: accelerating the time to market in a repeatable and reliable way allows companies to recognize revenues faster, increase market share and enhance brand image.

As a result of significant market growth and the doubling of its sales force, Ruiz Foods, the nation's largest frozen Mexican food manufacturer, recognized that it needed to invest in a technology that would ultimately help capture more value from promotions.

As the recession continues to put pressure on the consumer goods industry, trade promotion investments are coming under intense scrutiny. Here are the prerequisites for the successful adoption of trade analytics.

CGT Editor Ali Ackerman gives you a sneak peek into the trends and topics discussed in this month's issue.