Aligning Shipments and Consumption:
The Ship Scan Process
The Alignment Problem:
If you have made it to this page you probably work for a CPG company and are researching into whether or not it is possible to align shipment and consumption data.
You may be aware of the enormous potential benefits of properly aligned data. You may even be to the point where you or others in your company have tried to do it manually, probably for a handful of customers as a proof of concept.
If this is the case, you have probably come to realize how difficult it can be to try and manually align the data
and then manage the process going forward even for those few customers in your test group. Now try doing it
for ALL of your customers, including indirect customers. Trying to match shiptos to
consumption market areas, using manual methods and intervention, spin reports, heresay from sales
and/or brokers, tacit knowledge and other crazy methods like these do not work.
Shipments and consumption are NOT created equal and care should be taken to align these two data sources. Shipment data is based on shipments distribution
centers whereas consumption data is market or customer centric. Determining where shipments go into either a Nielsen or IRI defined trading area after being
shipped to a distribution center is virtual impossible to do and even harder to maintain without a proven, automated and fact based methodology like ours. We
believe our solution is the best in the CPG industry.
Reasons why manual alignment processes fail:
- Distribution centers not aligned with consumption market definitions
- White space
- Consumption is a subset of shipments
- Geographic overlap
- Market changes
- Syndicated data definition changes
- Internal client hierarchies not representative of marketplace
If you get only one thing from this page,
make sure it is that you should not use incorrectly aligned data as described above, it is very
likely to be wrong and may result in poor and costly business decisions.
The Solution:
PDM Business Solutions is one of the few if not only firms in the CPG industry to offer a complete solution for aligning shipment and consumption
data. This process, also referred to as Ship Scan, aligns either Nielson or IRI consumption data with client shipment data solving all the inherent
alignment issues mentioned above. PDM utilizes TDLinx data to align data and manage the process going forward and is an authorized TDLinx alliance partner.
Contact us today to learn more about our solution and how we can customize it to fit your company's unique needs.
The Benefits:
Properly aligned shipment and consumption data can be leverage in many areas to drive profitability:
- Identify and shut down diverting
- More effective promotion planning and evaluation
- Understanding and measuring indirect customers
- Quantifying forward buying
- Inventory management
Contact us today to learn more about how our solution can drive profitability for your company.
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