Promotional Efficiency (URMS)

Promotional Efficiency Dashboard (Lift Analysis by Market)

Overview

The Promotional Efficiency Dashboard focuses on how effective promotions are across different markets or segments for a given product or category. Unlike the broad comparison of tactics in the previous dashboard, this one typically takes one product (or brand or category) at a time and compares promotion outcomes (like lift and efficiency) across multiple markets or retailers. It helps answer: “Where are our promotions performing best? In which regions or accounts do we get the highest lift from promotions, and where are promotions less effective? How do different markets compare in terms of promotional share and discount depth for this product?” By analyzing promotion metrics side-by-side for each market, you can optimize your trade spend and tailor strategies to each region’s responsiveness.

Metrics Compared Across Markets

Imagine selecting your brand (or a specific SKU) in this dashboard and seeing a table or chart where each row (or bar) is a Market (could be a specific retailer, a region, or market as defined by syndicated data). The columns or plotted values would include:

• % Sales on Promotion: What percentage of that product’s sales in the market are sold on promotion (volume on deal). This indicates how promotionally driven the sales are in that market. For example, Market A might have 50% of sales on promo, Market B only 20%. This could be due to retailer strategy differences – some retailers may run your product on sale frequently, others keep it at full price more often. A high number suggests either frequent promotions or consumers only buy when on sale. This metric shows promotion presence.

• Average Discount (Depth): The average % discount off base price in that market for your product’s promos Perhaps one retailer typically runs 10% off sales, while another might do occasional 30% off. This affects consumer behavior; deeper discounts often yield bigger lift but lower margin. Seeing this per market helps you understand retailer pricing tactics – e.g., Club Store might not discount much (EDLP), whereas Grocer might do periodic big cuts.

• Incremental Lift (% or Lift Volume): The promotional lift achieved, usually expressed as a percent increase over baseline sales during the promotion. If available by market: e.g., Market A: +50% lift, Market B: +20% lift, etc. This is the efficiency indicator – how well did promotions perform in generating extra sales. A higher lift means the promo drove a bigger relative jump. Markets with low lift might indicate that promotions aren’t resonating (maybe due to lower feature/display support or a shopper base less responsive to deals). It’s essentially telling you bang-for-buck in volume terms.

• Promotional ROI (if data available): In some cases, if you have access to trade spend by market, you might also consider ROI ($ incremental sales per $ trade spend, or even profit). But in syndicated data alone, you often just stick to lift%. If the dashboard is syndicated-data only, ROI in dollars may not be available (since cost info is needed). However, efficiency as % lift serves as a proxy – higher lift suggests better ROI assuming similar costs.

• ACV % on Promo: Another metric could be % ACV on Promo – the share of total store ACV in that market where the product was promoted (i.e., how broadly the promotion ran in that market). If a promotion only ran in half the stores in a region, the ACV on promo would be 50%. Comparing this tells you if promotions were executed chain-wide or just in select accounts in each market.

• The dashboard might visualize this in a combination of ways: perhaps a bar chart for lift% by market, with color coding or labels showing the other metrics like % sales on promo. Or a table where you can sort markets by each metric to easily see where you get the highest lift, where you promote the most, etc.

Interpretation & Action

• Identify Best and Worst Promo Markets: First, note which markets have the highest promotion lift for your product. For example, if Northeast region shows +60% lift on promo, and Southwest shows only +10%, that’s a stark contrast. It could mean that in the Northeast, your brand has a lot of latent demand that gets activated by promos (or the retailer execution is great – endcaps, ads, etc., really drive volume). In the Southwest, perhaps your brand is either everyday low priced (so promotions don’t change volume much) or the consumer base is less responsive (maybe you already have a high base sales so lift is minimal, or competitor promos overshadow yours). High-lift markets indicate where promotions are particularly effective – you might consider investing more there or ensuring those promotions continue, as they’re yielding strong returns. Low-lift markets might require a different approach: maybe promotions need to be rethought (different depth, different timing) or maybe a focus on base building is better there if promos don’t move the needle.

• Examine Promotion Intensity vs Lift: Look at the relationship between % sales on promo (how much you promote) and the lift achieved. Ideally, markets where you promote a lot should yield high lift – otherwise, you’re giving away margin for little gain. Conversely, maybe some markets you barely promote but still get decent lift when you do (meaning there could be untapped potential if you promoted more). For example, if Market C only has 15% of sales on promo but whenever you do promote you get a 40% lift, perhaps you should promote more often there because consumers respond well. If Market D has 60% on promo but only 10% lift, that implies heavy promotion has diminishing returns or is simply needed to maintain sales at all – a concerning scenario, indicating promotional dependency. That market might be very competitive or saturated with deals (common in some grocery channels) where promotions just shift timing of purchase with little incremental volume.

• Tailor Regional Strategies: If you find a certain retailer/market doesn’t respond to your usual promo mechanics, consider tailoring the promotion. Maybe in that market, a simple price cut doesn’t excite shoppers, but a multi-buy (e.g., 2 for $5) or a display might. Use this data in conversations with your retailer partners: “We notice that our promotions in your stores yield only a 15% sales lift, compared to 30-50% elsewhere. Perhaps we can try a different approach – like a secondary display or a deeper discount during a key week – to engage your shoppers. It may be that current promo execution isn’t catching their attention.” This turns a tough conversation (low performance) into a collaborative problem-solving with the retailer.

• Resource Allocation: Promotional budgets are limited. If you have a certain number of promotion events you can run, allocate more to markets with better efficiency. Markets with high lift and good ROI deserve continued or increased support. Low efficiency markets might get fewer events, or you might run smaller scale tests to try boosting efficiency before allocating large funds. For internal planning: “Our trade spend is better spent in Retailer X (60% lift) than Retailer Y (10% lift), so we will shift some funding accordingly.” That said, you also have to consider strategic reasons to promote in low-lift markets (like defending shelf space or supporting a key partner), but at least you know the cost of doing so.

• Investigate Outliers: If any market’s metrics look odd (e.g., extremely high % sales on promo or extremely low), dig in. Sometimes data anomalies or unique local situations (like a regional chain doing an aggressive seasonal promo) can skew numbers. Or maybe a certain club retailer in one region causes weird averages. Use filters if available – perhaps focus on a particular channel at a time (grocery vs mass vs club) to make apples-to-apples comparisons.

• Competitive Context: While this dashboard is about your product’s efficiency, remember that competitor behavior in each market influences these metrics. If a competitor heavily promotes in one region, your promo lift might suffer due to competitive promotions drowning yours out (or forcing you to also promo frequently). Conversely, in markets where competitors don’t promote much, your promotions might shine. It might be useful to overlay or cross-reference competitor promo data if you have it, to fully explain why a market is high or low lift for you.

By regularly reviewing the Promotional Efficiency Dashboard, you ensure that you’re not treating all markets the same when it comes to promotions. It guides a more nuanced, data-driven allocation of trade spend and helps maximize the return on promotions by playing to each market’s strengths. In summary: promote where it counts, rethink where it doesn’t.

This sets the stage nicely for the next tool – the **Promotional “Bump Chart” Dashboard – which goes even more granular, helping you analyze the week-by-week impact of specific promotions for a product in a single market.