Global CPG Leader Saves Time and Boosts Margins with Agile Planning

"Kepion gives us the visibility and agility we need to plan strategically, grow revenue, and deliver on our mission to create products that make everyday experiences better for our customers and consumers across the globe."


VP of Revenue Growth
90%
reduction
in manual data entry and consolidation compared to Excel
4x
faster
forecast updates, what used to take weeks, is now complete in days
Minutes
vs days
Finance completes monthly trade-spend accruals in minutes
40%
improvement
in overstock or stockout due to more accurate demand planning

Meet CPG Global Leader

This Global CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) Leader, known for 25 iconic brands across 50 countries focuses on sustainable and innovative products that enhance everyday life. Given its global reach and priority for net revenue growth their Canadian Business Unit wanted a modern solution to help streamline the complexities and scale of Planning and Forecasting for CPG across Sales, Finance, and Trade promotion.

Industry

CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods), Manufacturing, Retail

Employees

400 in Business Unit, 5000+ Worldwide

Location

Canadian BU (Business Unit)

Use Cases

Demand Planning, Sales Planning, Financial Forecasting, Supply Chain Forecasting

The Challenge

As the Canadian BU of this multinational CPG conglomerate focused on growth, the limitations of Excel and its Oracle Demantra system became clear. Excel offered flexibility but couldn’t scale to handle increasing complexities, while Demantra’s rigidity hindered their ability to adapt.

“We reached a point where Excel was holding us back,” says the Director of Revenue Growth Management for North America. “We were spending more time managing spreadsheets than analyzing data to drive strategic decisions.”

They needed a solution that could integrate finance, sales, and demand planning into a cohesive, scalable process.

The Solution

After assessing several Planning leaders, they chose Kepion, a cloud-based planning platform built on Microsoft technologies, providing the flexibility and scalability they needed. With Kepion, the Canadian BU has transformed planning and forecasting across revenue management and trade promotions. This transformation has allowed for more detailed and precise approaches in several key areas:

Detailed Budgeting and Planning

With Kepion, this CPG leader can now plan at a granular level, from brand to SKU, for both large and small customers. This level of detail was previously impossible with Excel.

“We can now break down our plans to reflect the reality of our business. Whether it’s planning for a major retailer like Walmart or managing specific product lines, we can forecast at the level we need and update in real-time.”

Integrated Trade Promotion Management

With Kepion they forecast trade spend more accurately, link promotions with revenue forecasts, and align sales, finance, and marketing on a single platform.

We now have one system that captures all our trade promotions and helps us see their impact.”

Display Planning Integration

Display planning, once a manual and disconnected process, is now part of the broader planning ecosystem in Kepion.

We can adjust in real-time based on what’s happening in stores. Display planning is now seamlessly integrated into our overall strategy.”

Forecasting for New SKUs

They can actually create new SKUs in Kepion and begin forecasting even before they are added to the SAP system.

Being able to forecast for new SKUs before they even exist is a game-changer. We can plan for innovation much earlier, giving us a head start on product launches.”

The Results

Since adopting Kepion, this Personal Care CPG Leader has seen substantial improvements in Planning efficiency and accuracy, helping to drive the growth that the VP of Revenue Growth Management and his team were chartered to create.

Improved Efficiency

Automated data collection, plan, forecast, and reporting processes have drastically reduced the time spent on manual data management.

“Our finance team can now complete month-end trade-spend accruals in mere-minutes, which used to take days.”

Scalability

Kepion provides the flexibility to expand and scale planning efforts without additional headcount, managing complex scenarios like detailed trade promotions while allowing high-level planning for smaller customers.

“We can now scale across more dimensions—SKU, product, customer—without simply adding more people.”

Greater Forecasting Accuracy

With detailed planning by SKU and product, integrated display and trade promotion activities, and with real-time updates, they now achieves more accurate forecasts.

“We’re able to plan at a granular level, which has resulted in better alignment across sales, inventory, and marketing.”

Strategic Focus on Research

By automating administrative tasks, Kepion allows the institute’s team to focus more on intellectual and research-driven work, furthering their mission impact.

“From Sales to Finance to Marketing, we’re now able to connect our efforts and adjust in real-time,”the VP of Revenue Growth explains.“This visibility helps ensure our inventory levels align with demand and promotional activities, driving both net sales and margin growth.”

What's Next: Unleashing New Potential

Looking ahead, this Global CPG leader sees exciting possibilities with Kepion:

  • Automating Trade Spend Approvals could streamline promotion management and free up time for more strategic work.
  • Advanced Analytics and ROI Tracking hold the potential for deeper insights to optimize promotion strategies and improve returns.
  • Deduction Management Integration may offer real-time tracking of deductions, providing the finance team with more control and accuracy.
  • Innovation Forecasting could enable forecasting for new product grouping and SKUs even earlier, helping the company stay ahead of market trends.

The real potential isn’t just about a new tool—it’s about what our team, and our organization, can achieve with it.

- VP of Revenue Growth
90%
reduction
in manual data entry and consolidation compared to Excel
4x
faster
forecast updates, what used to take weeks, is now complete in days
Minutes
vs days
Finance completes monthly trade-spend accruals in minutes
40%
improvement
in overstock or stockout due to more accurate demand planning