AFS™ Technologies Unveils Latest Upgrades to its Trade Promotion Management Retail Solution

PHOENIX - Aug. 19, 2015 - PRLog -- Phoenix, AZ – August 19, 2015 – AFS Technologies (http://www.afsi.com/), aleading global provider of software and services purpose-built for consumer goods companies, today announced the release of it upgraded AFS Trade Promotion Management Retail (https://www.afsi.com/solutions/afs-tpm-retail/) (TPM Retail). The latest upgrade features several key enhancements to support the annual promotional planning process, improved time to value and a strategic approach to managing trade spend.

“Based on three decades of experience working with consumer goods companies, we know that it is critical to a manufacturer’s profitability to follow a diligent promotional planning process each year that delivers the highest ROI. A poor plan also impacts production and procurement—and hinders its ability to service its retail customers in a way that could jeopardize stocked shelves and happy consumers,” said Chris Than-Win, General Manager, AFS Trade Promotion Management.

The latest upgrade features an enhanced interactive graphical promotional calendar, offering users a single portal and visual display for annual planning, including what-if promotions in “draft” status that can easily become ‘real’ promotions with a simple click of a mouse. The easy-to-use calendar enables users to create various promotional scenarios. The application then provides comparisons, making it easy to view and choose the best scenario for the organization. Empowered with effective scenario planning, consumer goods companies can quickly make better decisions regarding their annual promotional plans, and strategically manage trade spend activities to drive profitability.

Additional new features to save consumer goods companies valuable time include:

~ Mass update for promotions along with improved validations to prevent data entry errors
~ Advanced promotion approvals that minimize mouse clicks for approvers using configurable approval workflows that enforce critical financial controls

With a strategic eye toward advancing the science of trade promotion management reporting, the latest TPM Retail also features:

~ Three calculation options for Latest Estimate providing the best possible up-to-date financial forecast of trade spending through the entire life cycle of a promotion
~ The ability to monitor and manage spend liability in real time, starting day-one of each new financial period

Additional enhancement to what-if planning through the interactive calendar, allow users to easily overlay event strategies to required retailer events within a plan, and compare to multiple plans. Key enhancements also include the ability to: enter promotion lift as a percent, making entering incremental forecast more convenient, analyze spend by promotion and allowance, improve allowance creation validations, and features improved ETL reporting.

“We are committed to enhancing our Trade Promotion Management solutions to help our customers gain immediate business value. This latest upgrade features robust functionality purpose-built for consumer goods companies that reflect the advancement of this industry and emphasizes trade spend management technology as a future-proofed investment. By empowering key decision makers with critical insight into trade spend activities, we are helping our customers gain a competitive advantage, make better decisions in real time and maximize profitability,“ concluded Than-Win.

About AFS Technologies

AFS Technologies (AFS) is the leading provider of software solutions purpose-built for consumer goods companies. We are committed to generating improved outcomes at the point of purchase coupled with generating efficiencies in trade spend, retail execution and supply chain. With experience developed over its 30 year history, AFS serves more than 1,300 customers of all sizes in over 50 countries around the world. The AFS products are innovative, configurable solutions that are proven to optimize your potential with automated processes, improved productivity and rapid time to value.

To learn more about AFS, visit www.afsi.com.

Media Contact:
Jenna Beck
VP of Global Marketing, AFS Technologies
jenna.beck@afsi.com

602-424-8770