Expo West 2023 Hosted Education Session (Key Moments)

EXPO WEST 2023

Hosted Education Session - Key Moments

Managing Growth Through Economic Turbulence

SPEAKERS:

Fred Schroeder

President & CEO,
Adesso Solutions

Nicolas McCoy

Managing Director & Co-Founder, Whipstich Capital

Clara Paye

Founder,
UNiTE Food

Tara Burkley

Strategic Business Development Director,
New Hope Network

At this Natural Products Expo West 2023 Hosted Education Session, Adesso’s President & CEO, Fred Schroeder joined Nick McCoy of Whipstitch Capital, Clara Paye of UNiTE Food and New Hope Network’s Tara Burkley for a conversation on how to strategically manage your business and understand your trade spend to grow responsibly.

During this session, moderated by Nancy Coulter-Parker, we shared expert advice and predictions for the future of CPG and outlined top tactics for staying ahead of economic challenges, technology shifts and retail opportunities.

We invite you to pick from key moments of greatest interest to you below.

Key Moments

Improving Efficiency is Key to Scaling

Nick suggests companies can become more efficient by pulling a few key levers on the P&L, especially trade spend, freight, and COGs (packaging, tolling & ingredients).

Getting Comfortable with Trade Spending and Working With Distributers in the CPG Industry

Tara reviews the New Hope studies, and how newer companies in the industry are scared to leverage trade spending to grow, which is a common pain point for the industry.

Understand the Level of Expense Trade Spending is for Manufacturers

Fred reviews the main expenses on the P&L, including the surprise to many manufacturers who typically  view their trade spending as 15-20% of their gross revenue on trade spending, but often it turns out to be 40% when they look back.

How is Settlement Process of Deductions Similar to "Doing The Dishes"?

Adesso addresses trade spending in a structured process that includes much more than deduction management. Following this process enables analysis, which enables the manufacturer to improve effectiveness and leverage trade to drive more revenue and volume.

What are the Challenges Small Brands Face When Dealing with Distributors?

Clara discusses Off Invoice deals (OIs), as a necessary part of doing business with distributors. But how do you address over-buying? How do you push back if you see they already have excessive inventory in the DC?

Adesso's Trade Spend Strategies for Maximizing Savings and Investing in Customer Relationships

Clara points out that Adesso addresses trade promotion management from a customer-centric perspective, as she and Nick discuss the importance of looking at the pain points of the customer and buyer to help them be better at their jobs.

Quantify Trade at Each Customer to Evaluate SKU Performance & Avoid Losing Money

Fred reviews an example where a company gave away a free case per store, but the product did not sell as quickly as expected. With additional allowances & deductions, this resulted in no revenue with a cost per case of $197 to give product away.

The Challenges of Coupon Accounting for Small Brands

Nick reviews the challenges a small company needs to watch out for from an accounting perspective, as well as what promotions will be effective spending once you add it all up.

The Impact of Covid-19 on Trade Margins for Companies

Nick discusses how smaller vs. larger companies were able adjust trade and pricing during the pandemic. 

How Can We Help You?

If you would like to have a conversation about how we can help make your trade spending more effective through trade planning and deduction management in the Flamingo TPE Solution.

Expo West 2023 Hosted Education (Full) Session

EXPO WEST 2023

Full 1:22 Hour Hosted Education Session

Managing Growth Through Economic Turbulence

SPEAKERS:

Fred Schroeder

President & CEO,
Adesso Solutions

Nicolas McCoy

Managing Director & Co-Founder, Whipstich Capital

Clara Paye

Founder,
UNiTE Food

Tara Burkley

Strategic Business Development Director,
New Hope Network

At this Natural Products Expo West 2023 Hosted Education Session, Adesso’s President & CEO, Fred Schroeder joined Nick McCoy of Whipstitch Capital, Clara Paye of UNiTE Food and New Hope Network’s Tara Burkley for a conversation on how to strategically manage your business and understand your trade spend to grow responsibly.

During this session, moderated by Nancy Coulter-Parker, we shared expert advice and predictions for the future of CPG and outlined top tactics for staying ahead of economic challenges, technology shifts and retail opportunities.

We invite you to watch the full hour and 22 minute educational session to the right.

Click to Watch Full Session

How Can We Help You?

If you would like to have a conversation about how we can help make your trade spending more effective through trade planning and deduction management in the Flamingo TPE Solution.

Martin & Pleasance North America Cites Revolutionary Benefits From Flamingo TPE Solution & Adesso Partnership

Rolling Meadows, IL. March 16, 2023 – We are proud to share recent feedback from the Martin & Pleasance North America team, enthusiastically shared with us at Expo West.  M&PNA has been a client for nearly a year & is beginning to recognize the true value of the Flamingo solution & Adesso partnership.

Natural products CPG manufacturers share the day-to-day frustration of managing distributor deductions & attempting to make sense of the pages & pages of backup documentation.  This administrative burden, along with recognizing lack of control of this spending, is typically the initial reason brands recognize the need for a trade solution.  However, companies quickly realize a trade solution addresses the critical need to gain a complete & detailed view of their trade spending at every customer at a granular level.  With this visibility, along with their deduction admin time dramatically reduced, the key benefit is they are now able to analyze & evaluate the effectiveness of each promotion, which provides the advantages of tailoring trade plans to eliminate ineffective promotions that do not drive sales & customer loyalty, thus utilizing trade spending more strategically to grow the business.

Richard Pollock, President & CEO at Martin & Pleasance North America said, “Partnering with Adesso & their Flamingo solution has truly been revolutionary for our business.  Of course, deduction management was the first issue, but we quickly moved to analyze which deals were working & which were not.  We have made major changes to our spending based on the information in Flamingo, as well as recommendations from Adesso leadership.  These folks know the business in and out, have been successfully leading natural companies for years, listen to us & are real partners.  In my opinion, if you are an emerging manufacturer & have a need for a partner to assist with these deductions & trade, I’d definitely call the Adesso team.  As recently as Expo West, they have been sharing new areas they are addressing for future benefit – they are here to make us successful!”

“We highly value the partnership we have with the M&PNA team,” said Fred Schroeder, President & CEO at Adesso.  “It is an extremely bright & diligent group of people, and their setup process quickly led to their Flamingo solution generating a recognizable return on their investment.”

To learn more about Flamingo TPE, Adesso’s complete trade solution for natural-specialty & small-midsized CPG, please contact us at info@adesso-solutions.com or AdessoSolutions.com/Contact.

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Bare Bones Selects Adesso’s Flamingo TPE to Optimize Trade Results & Save Trade Management Time

Bare Bones BrothRolling Meadows, IL. December 1, 2022 – We are excited to welcome Barebones Ventures, LLC, a San Diego-based food company and tastemaker of healthy pantry staples for cooking & sipping, to Adesso’s client community. As a leading innovator in the bone broth space, the company offers a full line of nourishing broth products in traditional liquid and instant powder formats.

Being able to analyze promotion effectiveness to enable continual strategic improvement of promotion planning was a key objective of Bare Bones, typically one of the main challenges CPG manufacturers experience when initially managing trade using spreadsheets. The Bare Bones team selected Adesso’s Flamingo TPE solution as it will immediately enable full visibility into their trade spending and significant time savings when settling deductions.  Additionally, having all trade data in the system ultimately leads to powerful analysis, which empowers their team to optimize trade spending for improved results.

Katherine Harvey, Cofounder & CEO at Bare Bones said, “Trade spend in this industry is notoriously difficult to control and leverage effectively, so we’re excited to partner with Adesso, a solution provider that understands the natural products space. I’m confident their tools will enable us to drill down to analyze and understand exactly what we are spending, and where we can improve promotion effectiveness to grow the business.”

“Our Client Effectiveness team is passionate about our client partners’ success, and we have been working closely with the Bare Bones team to guide them through their setup process,” said Claudia Winegar, Sr. Director of Client Effectiveness at Adesso. “We were excited for another rapid setup & assisting them in making a significant change to their business very quickly. That is our mission here.”

To learn more about Flamingo TPE, Adesso’s complete trade solution for natural-specialty & small-midsized CPG, please contact us at info@adesso-solutions.com or AdessoSolutions.com/Contact.

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Five Emerging Natural Products Companies Among Many Who ‘Get’ the Value of a Trade Solution & Are Taking Action Now

Rolling Meadows, IL. June 9, 2022 – We are extremely proud to announce the addition of five new emerging natural products companies who have joined the Adesso TPE Community!  We welcome Daily Crunch Snacks, Farin’UP USA, Flackers, Lisa’s 1973, and OLYRA Foods – adding to the natural brands we help relax: amazing superfood infused sprouted nuts snacks, quick & easy premium baking and breakfast mixes, delicious nutrient-rich Flaxseed crackers and seed crisps, ultra-clean dressings, as well as organic & nutritious breakfast biscuits.

Although manufacturers typically understand the need to better manage trade spending, the number two expense item on their P&L, they are now beginning to recognize that waiting to act only postpones the year-1 savings, and the opportunity to use trade dollars more strategically to grow their business. 

Flamingo TPE addresses all opportunity areas within trade spending and deductions for emerging CPG companies. With a new setup process that guides the clients through a logical journey, the connection to QuickBooks is quick, and Adesso’s new Setup Wizard takes all the stress out of getting the key information into the solution to be live and gaining value from their investment. Additionally, it enables Adesso’s Client Effectiveness team to work closely with each partner to ensure that each step was successful and that they are ready to proceed with the next. 

“We’ve focused extensively on the natural segment over the last 10 years from a solution and process perspective, and more and more companies understand the importance and urgency to address trade,” said Fred Schroeder, President & CEO at Adesso Solutions. “We look forward to assisting these five new clients and sharing their results with the community.”

To learn more about Flamingo TPE and our thorough, rapid approach for emerging natural products companies, please contact Karin Souren, Director of Marketing, at ksouren@adesso-solutions.com or call 847.342.1095.

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