Sarah Tyler

When I first encountered the promise of artificial intelligence in trade promotion planning, I was skeptical. After fifteen years managing category strategies and trade spend for a major CPG portfolio, I'd seen plenty of technology platforms over-promise and under-deliver. Yet the persistent challenge remained: our trade promotion budgets consumed 20-25% of gross revenue, and we could confidently attribute positive ROI to less than half of our promotional investments. The margin pressure from private labels, coupled with retailers demanding more sophisticated activation strategies, meant we couldn't continue managing promotions with spreadsheets and gut instinct. What followed was a three-year journey implementing AI-powered promotion optimization that fundamentally changed how our organization approaches trade spending—and taught me lessons I wish I'd known from day one. The turning point came during a particularly brutal quarterly review when our VP of Sales demanded to k...

In the fast-moving consumer goods industry, procurement has evolved from a transactional function into a strategic capability that directly impacts gross margin return on investment and competitive positioning. With mounting pressure to optimize trade spend, improve promotional lift, and enhance supply chain agility, FMCG companies are turning to artificial intelligence to transform how they source, negotiate, and manage supplier relationships. The complexity of managing thousands of SKUs across multiple distribution channels while maintaining velocity and market share demands a procurement approach that goes beyond traditional methods. The transition to AI in Procurement requires careful planning and systematic implementation. Companies like Unilever and Procter & Gamble have demonstrated that success depends not on technology alone, but on a holistic approach that addresses organizational readiness, data infrastructure, process alignment, and stakeholder engagement. This compreh...