Latest
Field notes from the category
The writing behind Commercial Trade Intelligence.
Commercial Trade Intelligence: Five Takeaways on Closing the Retailer–CPG Trade Gap
Five takeaways from our Commercial Trade Intelligence webinar with Progressive Grocer — why the constraint isn't trade spend, it's shared visibility.
The co-planning problem: why plans built on assumed dollars leak
Joint business planning has grown more sophisticated in almost every dimension except one: the moment when promotional dollars are first committed.
What is commercial trade intelligence, and why does it matter now?
Commercial Trade Intelligence is the operating system for the retailer-CPG relationship. Here is what it is, the problem it solves, and why now.
Five questions every commercial leader cannot answer about their trade spend
Five questions nobody can answer with real confidence about trade spend — not because the data doesn't exist, but because it sits in disconnected systems.
The $500B trade spend problem no one has solved
Trade spend is one of the largest line items in the global economy. More than $500 billion flows through it every year — and most of it underperforms.
How Mature Is Your Trade Fund Collaboration Strategy?
IDC research shows 55% of grocery retailers say insufficient CPG collaboration is their top supply chain gap. So how mature is your trade fund strategy?
Why Retailers Are Still Losing Margin Even After Modernizing Their Pricing and Promotion Stack
The era of the point solution in retail is over. Not fading. Over. The internal stack was never the whole problem.
Automation Is the Floor. AI Is the Ceiling.
The question is not whether AI matters in trade fund management. It's what conditions have to be in place for AI to actually work.
The Collaboration Gap Costing Grocers Margin
IDC asked 43 grocery retailers to name the supply chain gap most likely to hurt margin. The answer wasn't inventory, labor, or AI.
Forecast Accuracy for Promotions: The KPI Behind Trade‑Fund ROI
Forecast accuracy is one of those KPIs that every team claims to own and nobody fully controls — and the gap between versions is where ROI disappears.
Do You Know Where Your Margin Is Leaking? A Self-Assessment for Retail Leaders
Margin leakage rarely announces itself. It accumulates in the gaps between pricing decisions, promotional execution, and trade fund management.
The Margin Squeeze Playbook: 5 Takeaways Retailers Can Act On Now
Where margin pressure comes from, where leakage hides in the typical grocery operating model, and what it takes to shift from reactive to proactive.
From Email Chains to Execution: Standardizing Accept/Adjust
Most grocery retailers have an accept/adjust process. Very few have a standardized one. The issue is not effort — it is disconnection between systems.
Center of Pricing, Promotions, and Trade: How to Eliminate Margin Leakage at the Handoffs
Most retailers don't have a margin problem. They have a coordination problem — and it hides in the handoffs between pricing, promotions, and trade.
Where Margin Leakage Hides: The Handoff Problem Costing Grocers Millions
Margin leakage is one of those problems that shows up in the P&L long after anyone can do anything about it. It hides in the handoffs between systems.
The Grocery Margin Reality Check: Why 2026 Demands a New Pricing Model
Grocery has always been a thin-margin business. But the margin pressure retailers are navigating in 2026 is different in kind, not just degree.
Insights from NRF 2026
Volatile costs, tighter consumer spending, and rapid AI advances are reshaping how retailers and suppliers plan, price, promote, and collaborate.
Shaping the Future of Pricing and Trade Collaboration
Retail has always been a dynamic industry, but today's merchandising leaders face a new level of complexity — and technology is opening new opportunities.
Vendor Collaboration for Specialty Retailers: Protecting Margin Through Automation
If you're in Specialty Retail, chances are your vendor collaboration process is more complex and more manual than it needs to be. Automation can fix that.
Scale Pricing Success from Owned Stores to Independent Retailers
When wholesalers operate both their own stores and offer retail services to Independents, optimizing pricing across these models presents a unique challenge.
Master Pricing through chaos: Mitigating the impact of change from Tariffs
Recent tariff changes have created significant uncertainty for retailers, with shifting economic conditions making headlines across the globe.
Why it’s time to rethink your pricing strategies to ensure the price is right
For today's cost-conscious consumers, price matters. Why a rules-based pricing strategy helps retailers get the price right and earn customer loyalty.
Zero Missed Deals: Automating Trade Deal Collaboration for Success
Excellent trade deal performance crosses efficiency, effectiveness, and timeliness. In this final installment of our three-part series: timeliness.
Harnessing Consumer Demand Science: Driving Effectiveness in Retail Trade Deal Collaboration
Part 2 of three perspectives on excellence in retail trade deal collaboration: how consumer demand science brings greater effectiveness to trade promotion.
Why It’s Time to Revisit Advanced Pricing Technology
Getting prices right has always been a prime directive for FMCG retailers, but the stakes have never been higher than they are today.
Streamlining Success: Enhancing Efficiency in Retail Trade Deal Collaboration
Excellent performance in planning and managing trade deals crosses three dimensions: efficiency, effectiveness, and timeliness. Part one: efficiency.
The Pricing Puzzle: How FMCG Retailers Can Get It Right
Two decades on from advanced price optimization, many grocery retailers still struggle to master the pricing practices they need to stay competitive.
How to Counter the Price-Gouging Perception
Shoppers see red when they encounter evidence of inflation in rising prices and shrinking package sizes. Is your price image in jeopardy?
A Call to Action for FMCG Retail Leaders: Mastering Price and Promotion
There is a gap between retailers' opinions of the value of advanced pricing and promotion practices and their self-ratings of their performance.
Win at the Shelf: Adapting Your Grocery Pricing Strategy as Inflation Recedes
Consumer sentiment jumped 13% in the first month of 2024 to its highest level since July 2021. Food shoppers, however, have long memories.
NRF '24: The Retail Themes and Sessions We Have Our Eye On
The retail themes and must-see sessions DemandTec had its eye on at NRF '24 in New York City.
What’s Next for Retail Leaders: Orchestrating Frictionless Deal Management
For retailers and their supplier partners, positive intent is just the beginning. Results come when data is accessible and friction is minimized.
Four Ways Pricing Intelligence Helps Retailers Navigate the Inflation Challenge
Inflation may be slowing from its 2021 peak, but grocery shoppers remain worried, and many continue to carefully manage their food budgets.
What retailers need to know about the power of non-linear models for pricing optimization
Do all of your customers react the same way to the pricing changes you make? Why the choice of elasticity model shapes every price decision you make.
Three Tips To Boost Promotion Efficiency This Holiday Season
It's time for the larger retail market to embrace "precision discounting" — three ways to boost promotion efficiency as inflation reshapes shopper behavior.
How Retailers Can Maximize Profits With AI-Driven Price Optimization Solutions
Shifting consumer behaviors, competitor strategies, and economic uncertainty put pressure on retailers. Better data can increase loyalty and experience.
5 Price Optimization Considerations When Building a Business Strategy
Price optimization technology has been available for two decades, but recent industry shifts have accelerated retailers' digital transformation needs.
Read less. See more
The platform explains itself faster than any article. See both sides of a deal on one screen.