Salesforce Certified Consumer Goods Cloud Trade Promotion Management Accredited Professional – Complete Winter '26 Guide

Trade Promotion Planning & Fund Management

Trade Promotion Management (TPM) in Consumer Goods Cloud helps CPG companies plan, execute, and settle promotional spend with retail partners. Trade Funds define the budget available for promotions — split by account, territory, or brand. Fund Commitments allocate budget to planned promotions. Promotion Templates define the type of promotional activity (off-invoice discount, lump sum, scan data deal). Volume Planning forecasts the expected sales lift from a promotion. Baseline Volume represents the expected sales without promotion. The AP exam tests how to configure trade funds, allocate fund commitments to promotions, and calculate expected ROI from volume lift vs. promotional spend.

Promotion Execution & Tactics

A Trade Promotion consists of a header (account, time period, objectives) and one or more Tactics (specific activities: feature, display, temporary price reduction). Each Tactic has its own funding, targets, and conditions. Conditional Deal Logic applies different payout rates based on achieved performance tiers. Calendar views show overlapping promotions for a customer to prevent conflicts. Promotion Approval workflows route high-value or unusual promotions to managers. The exam tests how to configure a multi-tactic promotion, how conditional deals work, and how the calendar tool prevents promotional cannibalization.

Settlement & Claims Processing

Trade Promotion settlements reconcile the planned spend against actual retailer claims. Proof of Performance (POP) — scan data, invoices, photos — is required to validate claims. Deductions are amounts the retailer takes off payment; they must be matched to a promotion or flagged as unauthorized. Claim Management workflows route deductions for approval or dispute. Auto-settlement rules can automatically approve claims that match within a tolerance of the plan. Overpayment recovery processes handle situations where the retailer claims more than the agreed amount. The exam tests the settlement lifecycle, how to configure auto-settlement rules, and the deduction-to-promotion matching process.

Forecasting & Baseline Analytics

Accurate baselines are critical for measuring promotion ROI. Baseline models use historical scan data to project what sales would have been without the promotion. Lift measurement compares actual sell-out to baseline during the promotional period. Post-promotion dip analysis identifies forward-buying behavior that depresses post-promo sales. CRM Analytics TPM dashboards provide pre-built analysis for fund utilization, promotional effectiveness, and customer P&L. The exam tests how to configure baseline generation, how to interpret lift analysis, and how to use analytics insights to optimize future promotional spend allocation.

Integration with ERP & Retailer Data

TPM data flows to and from external systems: ERP (SAP, Oracle) for financial settlement and accrual accounting, retailer portals for scan data feeds, and demand planning systems for volume forecasts. Integration patterns: scheduled batch (daily scan data imports via SFTP), near-real-time (API-based deduction feeds), and event-driven (settlement approval triggers ERP accrual). Data quality is critical — duplicate promotions or mismatched scan data lead to over/under-accruals. The exam tests how to design data integration for a TPM scenario, what data must flow in vs. out of Salesforce TPM, and how to handle data validation errors in incoming scan data feeds.

Trade Promotion Planning

Know how to create and manage promotions: promotion types (display, price reduction, bonus case), promotion calendar management, and how promotions link to customer (retailer) accounts.

Fund Management

Know how trade promotion funds are structured: Fixed Amount vs. Percentage of Net Sales (PONS), fund allocation across accounts, and how to track fund consumption vs. budget throughout the promotion cycle.

Account Planning

Know how Account Plans define annual volume and spend targets by account. Understand how promotions are created against account plans and how planned spending rolls up to the account plan.

Promotion Settlement & Claims

Know the settlement process: deduction matching (linking retailer deductions to promotions), claim approval workflows, and how to handle disputes and short payments in the settlement process.

Analytics for TPM

Know the key TPM reports: ROI by promotion type, fund utilization rates, compliance rates (actual vs. planned), and post-event analysis. Understand how CRM Analytics dashboards visualize trade spend effectiveness.