How Smithfield Foods connected retail operations with TELUS Trade Promotion Management

Discover how Smithfield Foods transformed spreadsheet-based trade management into a unified, agile platform—integrating retail and deli while enabling scenario planning to navigate inflation-driven market shifts.

Executive summary: Strategic agility through integrated trade promotion management

Trade marketing managers face unprecedented pressure to respond swiftly to shifting consumer behavior, pricing dynamics and channel complexity. Traditional spreadsheet-based trade management no longer supports the agility required to optimise trade promotion ROI.

Smithfield Foods, a packaged meats company with a comprehensive brand portfolio spanning every price point and geography, faced this challenge. Managing complexity across channels while responding to inflation-driven market shifts required transforming their trade promotion management approach.

By partnering with TELUS Trade Promotion Management, Smithfield evolved from manual, spreadsheet-based planning to an integrated platform enabling scenario planning, cross-channel visibility and data-driven decision-making.

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Software used

TELUS Trade Promotion Management

• Unified platform: Integrated retail and deli onto a single platform, managing national, super-regional, value and specialty brands across trade promotion management, claims processing and pricing deals

• Operational efficiency: Achieved 71% auto-alignment of Circana events, freeing teams to focus on strategic analysis rather than manual data reconciliation

• Strategic agility: Enabled scenario planning to model pricing, timing and promotional strategies across a $24B NZD packaged meats business before budget commitment

• Cross-functional collaboration: Standardised best practices and integrated data accessibility across finance, sales and business management teams throughout the 32,000-employee organisation

About Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods is a $24B NZD packaged meats business with brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathan's Famous, Farmland, Armour and John Morrell. Operating across retail and deli, with presence at every price point and geography, Smithfield serves diverse consumer segments while managing complex distribution and promotional strategies.

The challenge: Spreadsheet limitations in a dynamic market

Before implementing integrated trade promotion management, Smithfield relied on spreadsheet-based planning that exposed critical limitations as market volatility intensified. Rising costs and shifting consumer behavior demanded greater agility and visibility.

Key challenges included:

• Limited scenario planning: Inability to model pricing strategies and timing before committing budgets

• Channel fragmentation: Separate systems prevented integrated visibility and standardised best practices

• Manual processes: Time-intensive spreadsheet planning limited market responsiveness

• Execution visibility gaps: Difficulty tracking performance and making timely adjustments

• Cross-functional silos: Disconnected data hindered collaboration between finance, sales and business management

The solution: TELUS Trade Promotion Management for unified, agile execution

TELUS Trade Promotion Management transformed Smithfield's approach to trade planning and execution, enabling systematic scenario planning, unified multi-channel management and comprehensive visibility.

Smithfield partnered with TELUS Trade Promotion Optimisation to leverage advanced scenario planning, modeling different futures, price points and timing before committing budgets. This proved essential for navigating inflation-driven market shifts while optimising trade ROI.

Key implementation features

The integrated platform provided Smithfield with:

• Advanced scenario planning: Model pricing strategies, promotional timing and market scenarios before budget commitment

• Unified multi-channel platform: Consolidated retail and deli, eliminating channel silos

• Enhanced execution visibility: Comprehensive tracking enabling quick adjustments

• Integrated claims processing: Streamlined deduction management across channels and customer segments

• Cross-functional collaboration tools: Standardised data accessibility supporting alignment between finance, sales and business management

• Ad hoc analysis capabilities: Flexible planning tools enabling rapid analysis

• Strategic partnership approach: Dedicated TELUS support providing responsive assistance and collaborative innovation

The results: Strategic agility driving business impact

Implementing TELUS Trade Promotion Management revolutionised Smithfield's ability to navigate market changes and optimise trade promotion effectiveness.

Strategic capabilities:

• Regular modeling of pricing and timing strategies before budget commitment

• Successfully integrated retail and deli onto single system

• Quick adjustments to promotional strategies based on market conditions

• Collaborative relationship driving new platform capabilities benefiting entire client base

Operational improvements:

• Evolved from manual spreadsheet planning to integrated, automated management

• Achieved 71% auto-alignment of Circana events, enabling faster, more accurate post-event analysis and course corrections

• Enhanced tracking of promotional execution and performance across channels

• Improved collaboration through integrated data

• Consistent processes across channels

• Faster promotional planning and approval processes

Organisational impact:

• Leadership embracing change and fostering transparency

• Champions of change across finance, sales and business management

• Shift from intuition-based to analytically-supported strategies

• Organisational capability to respond quickly, test approaches and scale what works

Implementation success factors: Partnership and change management

The implementation successfully transformed Smithfield's trade promotion capabilities through technology excellence and organisational change management. Smithfield and TELUS built their relationship through regular updates and quarterly business reviews addressing evolving pain points. TELUS served as a business adviser, offering industry insights and best practices while ensuring correct setup of master data, product and customer hierarchies and list price management.

Champions of change across the 32,000-employee organisation drove adoption:

• Finance team: Leading the transformation and ensuring financial discipline

• Sales team: Utilising the TPO system to support promotional planning and execution

• Business management team: Deeper insights to support strategic decisions and cross-functional collaboration

• Executive leadership: Providing top-down support demonstrating commitment to data-driven decision-making

Key takeaways for consumer goods companies

TELUS Trade Promotion Management transforms trade promotion capabilities by enabling:

• Strategic agility: Scenario planning supporting rapid response to market volatility

• Multi-channel integration: Unified platform eliminating silos between retail and deli

• Data-driven decision-making: Comprehensive visibility and analytics replacing spreadsheet-based processes

• Cross-functional collaboration: Integrated data and standardised processes aligning finance, sales and operations

• Innovation partnership: Collaborative relationship driving continuous platform enhancement

TELUS Trade Promotion Management delivers strategic agility for consumer goods companies

TELUS Trade Promotion Management helps consumer goods companies transform trade promotion effectiveness through unified platforms, advanced scenario planning and comprehensive execution visibility.

Ready to transform your trade promotion agility like Smithfield Foods?

Discover how TELUS Trade Promotion Management's unified platform and scenario planning capabilities can help you respond to market shifts with confidence, integrate multi-channel operations and drive measurable trade promotion ROI.