That way, we get a much better view of the expected sales and we can calculate which impact promotions have on the turnover.
Promotions are essential in the detergent market due to heavy competition. This also applies to the Laundry & Homecare division of multinational Henkel, which launches numerous actions at different resellers in the Benelux every month. The company, however, felt an increasing need to improve monitoring of those actions and related budgets and to reduce their administration. In order to realise all this, Henkel wanted to improve the existing Lotus Notes 5.0 database of its Belgian site and roll it out to the Benelux. IBM Business Partner Inter Access came to their aid.
Henkel is active in 125 countries with divisions for laundry and homecare products, cosmetics and personal care products, adhesives and sealants and technologies. The laundry and homecare products account for approximately 35% of the entire turnover. Persil, Witte Reus, Bref, Silan and Fleuril are some well-known Henkel brands. No less than 80% of the turnover in these types of detergents can be traced back to promotions.
Together with an external consultant, Henkel formulated a blueprint for the required solution for the management of special promotions. The new system had to be user-friendly, provide extra information and contain a flexible reporting tool. With these principles, Inter Access developed an application based on Lotus Notes 6.5. The solution has been in use at the Laundry & Homecare division since November 2005. “The added value is obvious,” says Olivier Bragard, Trade Marketing Manager Benelux at Henkel. “The system has a clearer interface and is much less complex in use. Already as early as during the demonstration of the system the users were enthusiastic. This is enormously important, because user friendliness for entering data correctly can make or break the value of an application.” With this new application, Henkel has central access to all data regarding current promotions. Which promotions run at the different retailers’, what are the colours and scents concerned and what are the discounts? The results can be recorded in detail per retailer.
Jorden Rasquin, Demand Planner Customer Services at Henkel: "Previously, we used different, non-integrated tools and as a result, inconsistencies often occurred. All functionality is now bundled into one integrated solution. Thanks to the improved insight, we can plan our stocks better. Moreover, with this system we can generate financial forecasts and manage budgets excellently.” The division is still working on the integration of the reporting tool Crystal Reports. Rasquin: “That way, we get a much better view of the expected sales and we can calculate which impact promotions have on the turnover.”
A major benefit of the new application is that Sales representatives spend much less time on administrative tasks. Bragard: “They record important details faster and more efficiently. This way, they can almost completely focus on their main activities: selling and providing service to our customers, because, in the end, retailers also benefit from better planned promotions and a higher level of service.” Besides Sales, the Logistics, Finance and Marketing departments also use the application. Rasquin: “The form in which these departments can consult the information has improved enormously compared to the earlier non-integrated tools. Previously, they often had to search for the required information in extensive Excel-tables. Now, they are served with the required information directly. Moreover, the tables can be exported quickly and you can see at a glance which promotion runs for which customer via a brand and account matrix.”
Henkel is very content with the course of the project. “Inter Access’ proposal was very detailed and provided an answer to the majority of our questions. During the project, one contact person on our side kept working together with one contact person on their side. This was very efficient”, says Rasquin. Henkel has positive future expectations regarding the application. “This will serve our purposes perfectly for the time to come. After some time, we will also benefit from a learning curve. We gather more and more information on the progress of promotions and can deduct from that which approach has the best chance of success. This enables us to achieve more and more successes, stay ahead of the competition and, last but not least, improve our service to our customers.”