Know which promotions actually made money

Forecasting uplift, not guessing it

Promotional uplift is one of the largest sources of forecast error, and most tools handle it badly by treating it as a flat multiplier. Sofco models uplift by event type, retailer and region, using the history of comparable promotions to produce an uplift forecast that is credible rather than aspirational.

Because the uplift is modelled separately from the baseline, your statistical forecast stays clean. The next planning cycle is not distorted by a one-off spike, and you can compare like-for-like promotions rather than fighting noisy data.

Trade spend visibility

Trade spend is often the second-largest line on a supplier's P&L, and the hardest to see clearly. Sofco brings promotion budget, accruals and actuals together with the volume and margin impact of each event, so finance and commercial can see the true cost and return of every promotion rather than just the invoice line.

That visibility lets you reallocate spend toward the events and customers that deliver the best return, and hold back from the ones that do not. Promotions become a managed investment, not a routine cost of doing business.

In-flight management when plans change

Promotions rarely go exactly to plan, and the ability to react in flight is what protects the outcome. Sofco's in-flight management gives commercial and supply teams a live view of how an event is tracking against forecast, so adjustments can be made early instead of after the event closes.

When demand runs ahead or behind, supply can be re-prioritised and the next event's plan can be adjusted before it is too late. The promotion is managed as a live decision, not a set-and-forget plan.

Post-event evaluation that closes the loop

Most organisations evaluate promotions too late and too shallowly to learn from them. Sofco's post-event evaluation compares actual uplift, spend and margin against the plan, with the factors that drove the variance captured so the next forecast starts from the lesson, not the same assumption.

Over time, that feedback loop is what lifts promotional ROI. Each event makes the next one easier to plan, because you are building on evidence rather than repeating last year's plan on faith.

Promotions that fit the whole plan

A promotion planned in isolation is a supply problem waiting to happen. Sofco's trade promotion management connects the promotional plan to demand and supply, so the volume an event will generate is reflected in the production and procurement plan before the event goes live.

That integration is what prevents the classic failure of a successful promotion that the supply chain cannot serve, turning commercial success into a service-level failure. When the supply impact is modelled in advance, the event can be supported, re-priced or re-sized before it causes damage.

After the event, the evaluation feeds back into the baseline and into the next promotion's plan, so promotional planning compounds in accuracy rather than each event standing alone. Over a year, that is the difference between a promotion calendar and a promotion capability.

Promotion planning that earns its budget

Trade spend is under more scrutiny than ever, and promotional plans have to justify themselves in margin, not just volume. Sofco's promotion management gives commercial and finance a shared view of the true return of each event, so promotional budgets are directed where they genuinely earn back.

That shared view is what aligns the two functions that most often disagree about promotions. Finance sees the cost and the return; commercial sees the volume and the customer. With both on the same numbers, promotion decisions become a discussion about return rather than a negotiation about budget.

Over a full year of events, that discipline compounds. Each promotion is planned against the lessons of the last, the portfolio is balanced for return, and trade spend becomes a managed investment that the business can defend and grow.