Analysing the impact of sales drivers

Brand owners are continually faced with balancing & optimising their investments – firstly with communication directly to the consumer through mass media (Above the Line or ATL) & secondly with maximising the sales at the point of purchase or consumption through customer investments (Below the Line or BTL).

These BTL investments are typically made in a number of areas which might be expected to have an impact on sales revenue – we call these the Sales Drivers, and place them in 4 categories of DAVP - Distribution, Availability, Visibility & Promotions.

If ROI (Return On Investments) is to be optimised, the organisation must have a precise understanding at the individual customer level of the impact of each of its sales driving initiatives under these headings.

This knowledge must extend to an appreciation of differences between brands, skus, & combinations of those two elements by store type to incorporate insight about different shopper profiles and purchase/occasion drivers.

Ultimately the brand will be able to direct its attention to the sales driver with the greatest revenue or margin potential – an increase in Visibility of an sku (from 2 to 3 facings on shelf for example) may deliver a better return over 12 months than the temporary (& costly to execute) increase from a short term promotion.

Equally an intervention to improve Availability of a fast selling sku may provide a better improvement than gaining agreement of the Distribution of a slower selling sku
Meridian works with its clients to provide analysis & insight leading to better decisions on allocating investments across the DAVP options.

To find out how you can benchmark your approach to maximising ROI on Trade Investments at outlet level against CPG best practice click here