Daily Research News Online no. 1826 - New Sales Management Tool

New Sales Management Tool

August 24 2002

ACNielsen U.S this week unveiled Sales Management Planner (SMP), a new Web-based sales management system accessed through the ACNielsen Answers Internet portal.

SMP gives manufacturers a whole new way of analysing their proprietary databases of product sales information, derived from the ACNielsen Scantrack retail measurement service, and communicating those decision-ready insights quickly to people across the organization. It is the second in a planned series of Web-based business management systems available through the ACNielsen Answers portal, following the successful launch of Category Business Planner, a tool that assists manufacturers and retailers in their joint category management efforts by organizing sales information according to individual retailers' category definitions.

John Petrakis, senior vice president, Marketing, ACNielsen U.S., said, 'The pace of business today demands that up-to-the-minute insights be available whenever and wherever decision-makers need them. Through the ACNielsen Answers portal, our manufacturer clients can access Sales Management Planner anytime, anywhere for the mission-critical insights that drive their businesses.'

Whereas Category Business Planner provides a common language between retailers and manufacturers when they collaborate on category plans, Sales Management Planner is designed specifically for manufacturers and their field sales organizations. Using the manufacturers' own proprietary product sales databases, SMP provides:

Scorecards that deliver a quick view of key performance indicators such as sales, market share, items carried, and more;
Insights Reports that provide more detailed analysis of key performance indicators, merchandising and promotion analysis, consumer analysis via the ACNielsen Homescan consumer panel, and custom analysis;
Alerts that are sent to users' desktops, notifying them of significant marketplace changes in brand share, volume, price, distribution and promotion activities.

The aim of SMP is to foster collaboration within the manufacturer's organization by making it quick and easy for them to share information. For example, a sales manager could set up reports based on criteria primarily relevant to the sales organization and then grant access to those reports to others in that organization.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.