EXCEEDRA CASE STUDY: WEETABIX

Weetabix strengthen trade promotions process and systems to achieve visibility, control and ROI. Company Profile The company was formed in 1932 when it established its first production site at Burton Latimer and remained a family controlled company until 2003 when it was acquired by Lion Capital. Now 60% owned by Bright Food (Group) Co. Ltd, the UK based cereal manufacturer currently exports to 80 countries worldwide and is the second largest cereal producing company in the UK and number one cereal brand with a presence in over 50% of UK households. The Weetabix Group turnover stands at £418m with £382m in its domestic market and remains the leading cereal brand in the UK with a share of about 8%. It has maintained its position with product launches, especially in the healthy segment. These have included Oatibix Bites and Weetos Meteors. The latter variant is aimed at children and can be advertised directly to them because they are not classed as high in fat, sugar or salt.

Business Context The UK cereal market has become a dynamic and highly competitive marketplace in recent years with a surge in new breakfast alternatives. Whilst the cereal market Is valued at £1.6billion, the number of consumers eating a traditional breakfast cereal at home has declined by 0.8% in the past 6 months than a year earlier (Kantar) as consumers seek alternatives to meet their need for breakfast on the go, such as cereal bars, hot porridge pots, and breakfast biscuits. As such product innovation remains central to most marketing strategies and has been used extensively by brands fighting to maintain volume as cereals become increasingly price sensitive and promotional spend is high on the agenda for manufacturers.In this context, Weetabix has developed a maturity and excellence journey which it started in 2010 with the objective of achieving the greatest possible level of insights into their trade strategy and control over their promotional spend. At the beginning of this journey in 2010 the focus was on defining a framework for terms and investment comprised of guidelines and principles. This was bolstered later in 2012 by upgrading the incumbent promotional management system to Exceedra providing a closer fit between market changes and the needs of the company as well as providing the basis for unlocking and leveraging insights to cement Weetabix as industry leaders in promotional excellence.

The ChallengeTrade spend for Weetabix is, as for many manufacturers, the largest single budget in the business and as such there is a strong pressure to ensure it provides as much return as possible by reaching new consumers as well as securing consumer loyalty.The lack of clarity of controls and the very manual approval systems heightened the risk of getting it wrong whilst the lack of automation also hampered the efforts of the NAMs in developing relationships with customers and focus on sales. Weetabix had been working with a dated PIF (Promotional Input Form) System since the latter part of 2006. But as market conditions changed and trading conditions became more challenging, Weetabix required more up to date technology to elevate promotional planning to a more strategic planning process, as well as propose and evaluate promotional spend. The promotional volume should be a direct input into the company’s forecasting system and play an essential role in production planning for manufacturing.

The Project was Therefore Required to Deliver:

WeetabixWeetabix on track

with five year Commercial

Planning maturity plan

- Improved trade promotion efficiencies and effectiveness from planning to execution- Remove manual processes to allow NAMS to spend more time selling and with the customer.- Optimise profit, Return on Investment, promotional frequency, volumes and price points.- Explore alternative promotional strategies and solutions through scenario planning

Pg. 1

Why Exceedra- Exceedra has many relevant references that have been through very similar journeys and were willing to talk about their experiences and benefits achieved.- Exceedra provide a strong end to end solution rich in sub-processes functionality such as trade promotions management & optimisation. Alternative solutions often force companies to choose between single process functionality and the ability to support an integrated strategy; in turn falling short of delivering the full package.- Exceedra boast a strong consultancy arm whose level of expertise has proved instrumental in delivering projects on time and on budget. The team has a very pragmatic approach and in all cases seeks to simplify both processes and IT landscape.

Solution Processes before technology: Much ground work was done during the initial six months to ensure principles and framework were suitable for current and future business strategies. As such it was a priority to concentrate on developing more effective budget processes, streamline approval processes and faster change request processes. Only at that point did it make sense to search for a best in class technology solution.

Ownership: The commercial team have taken full ownership of the process and were instrumental in building-up the historical data. This process ensured they bought into the solution from the start, developed product knowledge and saw first-hand the level of visibility they would be able to achieve and how it would affect their decision-making.

Capabilities: The combination of the solution and the processes have provided a high level of visibility right from the automated approval process through to promotional performance comparison and evaluation, to the generation of invoicing and accruals. The breadth of functionality is providing real integrated business planning capabilities, which are fostering a truly collaborative process between the sales and demand teams. The NAMs are empowered by live data such as customer P&L, which impacts their ability to provide accurate forecasts. Individual are able to focus on their core competencies, and provide input for continuous improvements.

EXCEEDRA CASE STUDY: WEETABIX

Pg. 2

Results- Improved trade efficiencies and effectiveness with accurate planning, forecasting, tracking, delivery and evaluation- Improved promotional strategies and business decisions, through insights and information- Eradication of many manual processes allowing NAMS to spend more time with customers- Ability to explore alternative promotional strategies and solutions through scenario planning- Strengthen the Joint Business Planning process to enable more consistency and accuracy- Strengthen accrual management toshow a true position and allow for better informed decisions on further investment opportunities- Optimised profit and Return on Investment, promotional frequency, volumes and price points

Weetabix are now considering next steps which will be focused on further integration of trade promotional processes into the financial process, and improved category performance through the extended use of POS data.

ABOUT EXCEEDRA:

EMEA:Southbank House, Black Prince Rd London, UKSE1 7SJ

North America:508 W. 5th,Suite 100Charlotte, NC 28202 United States

Asia Pacific:Level 15461 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia

CONTACT:www.exceedra.comsales@exceedra.com

OFFICES:

At Exceedra, our mission is to provide best in class

Integrated Business Planning and Revenue Management

Solutions for Consumer Goods companies across the globe to

help our clients make better business decisions and deliver

better results. Our market leading solutions enable

greater visibility and control, more agile planning and

decision making, and a better total cost of ownership for our

clients. The Exceedra Integrated

Business Planning Platform includes modules for Trade

Promotion Management and Optimization, Customer

Business Planning & Joint Business Planning, Sales & Operational Planning and

Integrated Business planning, and can be deployed in the

cloud or on premise. We are a global company based in the

UK, with offices in the US & Australia.”