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Trade promotion management for CPG

Plan the promotion. Know what it actually cost.

Build your retailer calendar, set spend guardrails and connect each promotion to the deductions that follow. Use what happened to make the next funding decision.

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RevyaSample data
Promo CalendarBy retailer · Q1 2027
Sprouts
TPR 20%, Jan 6 to Feb 16
Whole Foods
BOGO 50%, Feb 2 to Mar 1
Kroger
Display, Mar 2 to Mar 29
Sprouts · TPR 20%Jan 6 to Feb 16 · $5.28 per case
Planned cases
4,000
Planned trade
$21,120

One promotion, from its planned funding to the deduction that follows.

Recreated from Revya’s Promo Calendar with illustrative records. TPR means temporary price reduction.

One plan for sales and finance to work from.

Keep retailer dates, planned volume and funding together. Then check the promotion against the charges that arrive, with the evidence behind each difference.

  1. Put the deal on the calendar

    Set the retailer, dates, promotion type and funding. Use your sales history and case costs to build the plan, with assumptions your team can review.

  2. Review the guardrails

    Compare planned trade spend, weeks on deal and margin targets by account. Keep promotions that need a decision visible before approving the plan.

  3. Bring actual charges back

    Match deductions to their promotion terms and supporting records. Separate volume changes, unsupported charges and spend that has no matching plan.

Worked example · illustrative data

A promotion is $3,289.44 over plan. What should you change?

A Sprouts promotion funds each verified case at $5.28. You plan 4,000 cases, but the scan report shows 4,200. KeHE then deducts $24,409.44, equivalent to 4,623 cases. One variance has two causes.

Planned trade spend4,000 cases × $5.28
$21,120.00
Spend supported by scan data4,200 verified cases × $5.28
$22,176.00
Amount deducted4,623 billed cases × $5.28
$24,409.44
Variance from higher volume200 additional cases × $5.28
$1,056.00
Potential overbilling423 unsupported cases × $5.28
$2,233.44

Fix the cause of the variance.

  • Update the volume assumption. The extra 200 verified cases explain $1,056 of spend above plan.
  • Review the 423-case difference. Compare the scan data and deal terms before approving a $2,233.44 dispute.
  • Keep recovery separate. $24,409.44 has been deducted. The potential $2,233.44 dispute is not recovered money.

Before repeating the promotion, compare its incremental sales with delivered costs and all promotion funding. This spend reconciliation alone does not establish ROI.

Check the math: $1,056.00 in volume variance + $2,233.44 in potential overbilling = $3,289.44 above the original plan. These are illustrative records, not a customer outcome. The example assumes the agreed $5.28 rate applies to each verified case and excludes other promotion fees.

How to validate a promotional deduction

See which promotions need another look.

Review funding alongside expected sales and costs. The product’s decision view brings a proposed change and the assumptions behind it into the same conversation.

Revya Needs a decision panel. A sample Northstar Market promotion has $13,500 in trade spend and a projected $1,050 loss, with a recommendation to reduce funding.
Actual Revya product component with sample data. The projection is an illustration, not a promised return. On a small screen, swipe across to inspect the details.

The calendar explains what you plan to fund. The retail portfolio brings account-level spend and costs together. Deduction evidence helps explain why actual charges differ, so a billing error does not become next year’s funding assumption.

Understand retailer-level costs and deductions

Trade planning, answered.

What is trade promotion management?

Trade promotion management is the work of planning, funding and measuring retailer promotions. For a CPG brand, that includes the calendar, agreed rates, planned volume, trade spend and actual charges. Revya connects those planning records with the deductions that arrive afterward.

How is trade promotion management different from optimization?

Management organizes the promotion calendar, funding and actual spend. Optimization uses historical performance and costs to decide which promotions to repeat, change or stop. Reliable decisions need a baseline for sales without the promotion and a complete view of its costs.

How should we measure promotion ROI?

Compare incremental contribution with promotion costs. Estimate sales above the no-promotion baseline, account for shifts from other products, subtract delivered costs and trade spend, then compare the remaining contribution with the investment. Sales lift or trade spend alone is not ROI. Review the baseline and cost assumptions before using a projected return.

Can we use trade planning without deduction recovery?

Yes. The planner can stand on its own. Connecting deductions adds the charges that distributors actually took, so plan-versus-actual review can identify unsupported charges and spend that was not in the calendar.

What data does Revya need for trade planning?

Your promotion calendar, retailer-level scan or shipment history, agreed funding and case costs. Remittances and deduction backup add actual charges. Review incomplete history and missing costs before relying on a forecast; a projection is only as useful as its inputs.

Does disputing an overcharge reduce the cash already spent?

No. A potential dispute, a submitted dispute and a paid recovery are separate states. Keep the amount deducted visible while a dispute is open. Only a confirmed repayment changes the recovered amount.

Follow the same records from plan to payment.

Explain the paymentMatch remittances to invoices and see how deductions account for a short payment.Review the chargeCheck a deduction against its backup and track approved disputes through to resolution.Understand UNFI MCB chargesLearn how manufacturer chargebacks relate to promotional agreements and retailer activity.

Put the next funding decision in context.

See how Revya connects your promotion calendar, actual trade spend and deduction evidence in one workflow.

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