PRESS RELEASE: Aforza is Awarded Five Best-in-Class Distinctions in the Promotion Optimization Institute’s (POI) 2023 Enterprise Planning Panorama Report

NEW YORK & LONDON, September, 2023 – Aforza, the leading cloud and mobile solution specifically built for the consumer products industry that empowers businesses of all sizes to protect margins on every channel, was today awarded five best-in-class distinctions by the Promotion Optimization Institute (POI) in its “2023 Enterprise Planning (EPx) Vendor Panorama Report”. The distinctions were for Analytics Visualization, Internal Collaboration, External Collaboration, Field & Analytics Insights, TPx for Tier 2 & 3 Markets &/or Other Tier 1 International Geos.

The POI research team evaluated leading vendors to help their manufacturer and retail partners understand the technology and related service options that can help them improve promotional outcomes and drive profitable growth.

This year, POI were impressed with the advances that the vendor community has made; continuing to drive foundational technology to ease the burden of planning and drive promotion efficiency & effectiveness. They also noted how vendors have innovated with new technologies such as machine learning & generative AI in order to positively impact pricing, trade planning and deductions. This point was extremely timely for Aforza, given the highly anticipated “Summer of AI” campaign that took place earlier in the month.

In the report, the POI made specific observations on the fresh perspective Aforza brings to the market. They commented on how Aforza offers a fully integrated suite of Trade Promotion Management capabilities that connects planning and execution in real-time. They said that a key differentiator for Aforza is the ability to offer one true promotion-driven price on every channel and that having TPM & Retail Execution in one solution is unique and brings value. They also highlighted Aforza Studio and how the new platform helps Consumer Product companies to execute the most effective promotions at the lowest cost with the limitless use of digital assets.

One of the five best-in-class distinctions Aforza received was for TPx for Tier 2 & 3 Markets. This distinction highlights Aforza’s unique ability to templatise TPM processes and configuration for quicker implementations across Tier 2 & Tier 3 geographies. The POI noted that the sweet spot here is TPx capabilities that are fast to deploy and enable rapid time-to-value.

POI called out the strong roadmap for innovation and how they see Aforza continuing to grow their share in the market. They concluded the evaluation by sharing that they “see no reason to avoid Aforza”.

“This is our second year in the Enterprise Planning Vendor Panorama report and we are extremely proud to have received such strong endorsement with five best-in-class distinctions from POI, who we regard as a trusted partner for the industry.” says Dominic Dinardo, CEO & Co-Founder of Aforza. “The consumer products industry continues to battle with margin erosion, missed revenue opportunities and ineffective trade spend, but Aforza’s connected enterprise planning solution is designed to address these challenges head on. This recognition from POI really validates our connected approach and the value we bring to our customers.”

The POI recommends that manufacturers evaluate Aforza when they are looking for end-to-end capabilities including TPM, Advanced Analytics, Retail Execution and CRM.

2023 Distinctions: Analytics Visualization, Internal Collaboration, External Collaboration, Field & Analytics Insights, TPx for Tier 2 & 3 Markets &/or Other Tier 1 International Geos.

POI brings together manufacturers, retailers, solution providers, analysts, academics, and other industry leaders with the specific objective of collaboratively improving Enterprise planning and the promotion & distribution of consumer goods. This industry-wide effort of POI produces a roadmap on how trading partners can continuously improve their approach and profitability through real-time, relevant promotions.

To access the full POI 2023 Enterprise Planning Vendor Panorama report, receive complimentary passes to upcoming POI events (including the POI Fall Hybrid Summit, November 8-10 2023), have access to the quarterly POI Manufacturer Connect Share Group and much more, join POI as a member now: poinstitute.com/membership. For company/team membership, please contact Joanie Malin at jmalin@p-o-i.org. Teams receive a Certified Collaborative Marketer enrollment (value $5k) which is designed to develop the skills of leaders in the CPG Industry: poinstitute.com/certification-ccm.

The Aforza product works out of the box and can be implemented in weeks. The mobile applications work offline and deliver powerful on-device intelligence across Apple iOS and Android devices. Aforza is built on the Salesforce and Google Cloud Platforms which means we can scale fast and deliver continuous innovation with 3 releases a year.

Customer success is Aforza’s top priority, and we are proud to be trusted by CPG companies around the world; including leading breweries, food & beverage manufacturers, consumer healthcare companies and major distributors.

To learn more, please visit www.aforza.com