Hallmark Cards ANZ
Greeting Cards & Gifting Excellence • 8,000+ Store Locations • Australia & New Zealand
Cauself partnered with Hallmark to transform their complex Excel-driven sales planning process across 8,000+ stores. Our expert consultants delivered a tailored solution that streamlined workflows, improved visibility, and enabled data-driven product allocation decisions.
The Challenge
- ✗ Highly complex sales planning process across 8,000+ store locations
- ✗ Heavy reliance on Excel leading to limited visibility and manual inefficiencies
- ✗ Inflexible planning approach hindering optimal product allocation
- ✗ Increased workloads under tight seasonal deadlines
- ✗ Difficulty managing greeting cards, gift packaging, and gifting products across diverse retail channels
- ✗ Manual processes limiting planning agility and decision-making speed
Expert Sales Planning Solution
- ✓ Expert-led business process analysis and understanding of existing Excel-driven approach
- ✓ Tailored platform solution replicating and improving established workflows
- ✓ Streamlined planning workflows eliminating inefficient manual steps
- ✓ Enhanced visibility into product performance and store-level allocation
- ✓ Data-driven product allocation enabling deeper analytical insights
- ✓ Agile planning capabilities for seasonal product management
Integrated Sales Planning Benefits
Process Optimization
Expert consultants analyzed and improved existing Excel workflows, maintaining familiar processes while eliminating inefficiencies
Enhanced Visibility
Real-time insights into product performance across 8,000+ locations enabling better allocation decisions
Scalable Solution
Flexible platform designed to handle complex seasonal planning requirements with room for continuous improvement
Results Achieved
Streamlined
Planning Workflows
Enhanced
Planning Confidence
Improved
Decision-Making Speed
Clear Path
To Profitability
Dairyworks Ltd.
Dairy Manufacturing Excellence • Multi-Channel Distribution • New Zealand
This mid-sized New Zealand dairy manufacturer replaced Excel-based planning with Cauself's expert-led IBP transformation, delivering improved visibility, enhanced accuracy, and collaborative planning across grocery, export, and foodservice channels.
The Challenge
- ✗ Heavy reliance on Excel-based planning tools that the company had outgrown
- ✗ Limited visibility and reactive planning approach
- ✗ Lack of analytical rigor making accurate forecasting difficult
- ✗ Complex multi-channel business spanning grocery, export, and foodservice
- ✗ Difficulty distinguishing between market-driven trends and retailer behavior
- ✗ Silo-based planning preventing unified IBP process
Cauself IBP Solution
- ✓ Expert-led IBP transformation with FMCG specialist consultant
- ✓ Sales-integrated demand planning eliminating Excel dependency
- ✓ Advanced causal modeling considering up to 20 demand drivers
- ✓ Enhanced visibility to distinguish demand patterns from purchasing behavior
- ✓ Phased rollout with expert guidance: volumes first, then financials
- ✓ Collaborative planning process across sales, operations, and finance
Integrated IBP Platform Benefits
Demand Planning Integration
Causal models directly drive the forecast with 20+ demand drivers including seasonality, promotions, and market dynamics
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Sales, operations, and finance teams working from single source of truth with real-time visibility
Expert Implementation
Dedicated FMCG consultant providing hands-on training and ongoing optimization support
Results Achieved
Ahead of Schedule
Implementation Timeline
Under Budget
Project Delivery
Improved
Forecast Accuracy
Enhanced
Business Confidence
Expert-Led Implementation Approach
1
Expert Assessment
FMCG consultant evaluation
2
IBP Process Design
Integrated planning workflow
3
Platform Implementation
Causal modeling + training
4
Ongoing Optimization
Continuous improvement
Major Seasonal Stationery Supplier
Consumer Goods Excellence • Thousands of Products • Thousands of Store Locations
Cauself's integrated platform transformed their week-long spreadsheet-based TPM and IBP process into a streamlined operation, dramatically improving efficiency and planning granularity with expert consulting support.
The Challenge
- ✗ Heavy reliance on Excel for integrated business planning across thousands of products
- ✗ Managing ranging and promotional planning for thousands of store locations
- ✗ Disconnected TPM and demand planning processes
- ✗ Tight planning deadlines with high error risk
- ✗ Numerous reworks and non-value-adding activities
- ✗ Limited granularity resulting in sub-optimal product ranging
Integrated IBP + TPM Solution
- ✓ Expert-led analysis of existing Excel-based business processes
- ✓ Integrated IBP and TPM platform eliminating spreadsheet dependency
- ✓ Flexible design using agile development methodology with consultant guidance
- ✓ Custom solution replicating and improving established workflows
- ✓ Significantly improved visibility and planning efficiency
- ✓ Enhanced granularity for optimal product ranging and promotional planning
IBP + TPM Integration Benefits
Unified Planning Process
Integrated demand planning and promotional planning eliminating disconnected Excel processes
Expert Process Optimization
FMCG consultant-led workflow analysis and improvement using proven methodologies
Scalable Platform
Flexible solution handling thousands of products and store locations with continuous evolution capability
Results Achieved
55%
Time Reduction
Week→Hours
Process Acceleration
Enhanced
Planning Visibility
Optimized
Business Performance
National Beverage Manufacturer
Beverage Industry Transformation • National Distribution • Thousands of Outlets
Cauself's expert consultants uncovered hidden demand drivers across thousands of diverse outlets using advanced IBP and RGM capabilities, providing strategic insights into weather, holidays, and operational factors affecting each location.
The Challenge
- ✗ Understanding demand drivers across thousands of diverse beverage outlets
- ✗ Each location affected by different factors: weather, holidays, demographics
- ✗ Complex interactions between asset distribution, client count, and pricing
- ✗ Hidden patterns not visible with spreadsheet-based analysis
- ✗ Lack of strategic revenue growth management capabilities
- ✗ Operational mechanisms impact unclear
Expert IBP + RGM Analysis
- ✓ Expert-led in-depth causal analysis across all market segments
- ✓ Advanced IBP modeling incorporating weather, holidays, and seasonality
- ✓ RGM strategic scenario planning for revenue optimization
- ✓ Asset distribution and demographic correlation analysis
- ✓ Multi-factor demand driver identification with consultant expertise
- ✓ Operational impact assessment and strategic optimization
IBP + RGM Strategic Integration
Advanced Causal Modeling
20+ demand drivers including weather patterns, seasonal effects, and promotional interactions
Revenue Growth Strategy
Strategic scenario planning connecting demand patterns to revenue optimization opportunities
Expert Industry Knowledge
FMCG beverage specialist providing insights into market dynamics and operational optimization
Results Achieved
Hidden Drivers
Demand Insights Uncovered
Rapid Analysis
Expert Delivery
Multi-Factor
Causal Modeling
Strategic RGM
Revenue Optimization
Mid-Sized Health & Beauty Company
Health & Beauty Innovation • Retail Channels • Evolving Product Range
Cauself's integrated TPM and RGM platform provided advanced analytical capabilities to respond quickly to market changes. Expert consultants helped transform decision-making about packaging, pricing, and promotions from gut-feel to data-driven strategies.
The Challenge
- ✗ Heavy reliance on Excel for sales and demand planning
- ✗ Limited flexibility in data manipulation and promotional analysis
- ✗ Poor visibility into sales trends and promotional effectiveness
- ✗ Lack of strategic revenue growth management capabilities
- ✗ High risk of errors due to manual data entry
- ✗ Evolving market requiring agile responses to changes
Expert TPM + RGM Solution
- ✓ Advanced TPM analytical capabilities for market change analysis
- ✓ RGM strategic scenario planning for pricing and promotional optimization
- ✓ Expert consultant guidance on data-driven decision making
- ✓ Flexible data manipulation and trend analysis
- ✓ Automated planning processes reducing manual errors
- ✓ Real-time visibility into sales and promotional performance
TPM + RGM Strategic Benefits
Promotional Intelligence
Advanced TPM analytics revealing promotional effectiveness across channels and customer segments
Revenue Optimization
RGM scenario planning for pricing strategies, product mix, and market positioning decisions
Expert Strategic Guidance
FMCG consultant providing ongoing optimization and strategic planning support
Results Achieved
Data-Driven
Decision Making
Improved
Market Responsiveness
Enhanced
Product Strategy
Optimized
Promotional ROI