Whilst consumer goods companies have learnt to develop stronger relationships with their retail partners, this is still an opportunistic practice. Manufacturers and retailers remain focused on their own sales, margin and revenue performance, resulting in plans that are disconnected from a common goal and do not address the consumer needs. The absence of a holistic view of the trading plan results in the lack of commercialization, making the true costs and margins hard to control and optimize.
For those retailers and manufacturers that have started the practices of Joint Business Planning (JBP), the lack of structured processes and tools make it a time consuming and resource hungry activity with limited benefits.