MARKET WATCH
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C.B. Powell Limited Enhances TPM Capabilities
C.B. Powell Limited, a buy-sell distributor representing several leading consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands throughout Canada, has added the AFS TradePro RetailTrade Promotion Management (TPM) solution to its existing AFS Discovery business intelligence solution and AFS GenWeb tool.
The addition is designed to enable the distributor to gain a more complete and complementary set of functionalities to further support and analyze trade spend practices among its main principles which include Hormel Foods, Reynolds Consumer Products and The McIlhenny Co. (Tabasco).
With an in-depth knowledge of the unique Canadian marketplace, C.B. Powell provides top brands with everything from sales and marketing services to logistics, distribution and administration. By integrating multiple solutions from AFS Technologies, the distributor aims to gain enhanced analytics and increased visibility into its business operations while improving brand positioning and profitability efforts for its principles.
Intelligent Clearing Network Adds Virginia Cargill to Advisory Board
Virginia Cargill, the highly-regarded industry executive, has joined the Advisory Board of the Intelligent Clearing Network (ICN), an innovative software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that provides a complete promotion management solution for automating complex promotions direct-to-card, digital, trade, paper, mobile and email. All promotions are electronically validated including paper and digital coupons and other incentives in real time at the POS in grocery, drug and mass merchant retailers.
Virginia Cargill has over 30 years of experience in consumer packaged goods, retail and in-store marketing, publishing and digital media as a client, service provider, and successful entrepreneur. Cargill is currently at Alerion Partners, a private equity firm in Darien, Conn. There she is a Venture Partner and was most recently the start-up CEO of Health Focus Media, a specialty focused healthcare portfolio company now managed by HealthBridge, Inc. She specializes in digital media and marketing as well as strategic product development. Other companies where has held positions include CBS Outernet, iVillage/NBC, News America Marketing/Actmedia, P&G and General Mills.
“Virginia Cargill brings a wide range of solid experience to our Advisory Board. We will benefit from her industry knowledge and insights,” said Gary Oakley, chairman and CEO of ICN.
Other members of the Advisory Board include: Robert A. Neslund, Managing Director of Scenarion International, offering senior-level consulting, marketing and management services for the global marketplace; and Don King, veteran of Procter & Gamble, where he was involved in all aspects of promotions, including couponing, sampling, premiums, and related tactics.
New Cloud Offerings from Dassault Systèmes
Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company and provider of 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, has unveiled V6 Release 2014, including availability of cloud industry and brand offers. It also brings a unified new navigational interface across the entire 3DEXPERIENCE platform available on premise, and on a public or private cloud.
“Today’s announcement is a pivotal moment in Dassault Systèmes history and the result of our commitment to bring innovative business value to our clients. It is, as well, a ‘cloud’ announcement, but the cloud is more than infrastructure and a delivery mechanism. The cloud is a way of working. It is where consumers voice their needs, their ideas, their feedback,” said Bernard Charlès, President and CEO, Dassault Systèmes.
“It is where innovation is fostered and ideas take hold. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform reveals and delivers that potential. It gives our customers a holistic, inclusive and unified view of their business and ecosystem to create better experiences for their end-consumers,” he said.
Promo App Launched for Distributors, C-Store Retailers
Southeast wholesaler Stewart Distribution is among the early adopters of a new smartphone application that enables distributors to push the latest deal or limited-time promotion to c-store retailers. The Verge Promote app from Verge Retail - built for Android and iPhone devices -can be deployed within 30 days, requires no IT integration and is branded for each distributor.
With the app, retailers can choose what type of promotions they receive and place orders for their stores directly. In addition, retailers can provide instant feedback to their distributor, which can then respond in real-time, as well as monitor ongoing order activity, with the platform’s intuitive analytics capabilities.
“In today’s fast-paced retail environment, it’s more crucial than ever that we find ways to stay connected with our customers and empower them to get what they want and need for their stores in order to improve their businesses,” said Kevin Barnes, Stewart Distribution general manager.
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