Cost per net unit

Trade spend on a promotion at an account divided by the net lift it produced there. The figure that decides where next year's trade spend goes.

DefinitionTrade spend on a promotion at an account divided by the net lift it produced there. The figure that decides where next year's trade spend goes.

Ranges widely

The same mechanic at four accounts can cost $2 and $90 per net unit. The account view, not the mechanic view, is the plan.

Measured on sell-out

Shipments show the retailer stocking. Sell-out shows the shopper buying.

How it is computed

Trade spend on the promotion at the account divided by net lift in units, where net lift is promotional sales less baseline less the dip afterwards.

Example

A promotion cost $4,500 and produced a net lift of 1,800 units: $2.50 per net unit, against a margin of $1.10. It lost $1.40 on every additional unit it created.

Where it goes wrong

Divided by gross lift. The same promotion looks like $1.25 a unit and marginally worth repeating.

Articles that use this term

Territory, capacity and quota planning · FMCG and CPG brands

Promo lift per account against the account's own baseline

How a CPG brand measures the uplift from a promotion per retail account from sell-out data: the account's own pre-promo baseline, the lift during, the dip after, the net lift that remains, and the accounts where a promotion moved volume forward rather than adding it, so that trade spend goes where the lift is real.

16 Sept 20262 min read Wallet share and penetration · FMCG and CPG brands

Ten questions a CPG commercial director asks, and the table that answers each

The ten questions a consumer goods commercial director puts to the sales and trade marketing teams, where are the distribution voids, which stores stopped selling a SKU on a Tuesday, which promotions moved volume and which moved it forward, which retailers are building inventory in the channel, which chargebacks are disputable, what is range penetration by channel, which accounts are under the range norm, what is the weekly gap list per store, what did trade spend buy per net unit, and what changed, each with the table from the sell-out, shipment and deduction files, and the answer to send back.

16 Sept 20263 min read Territory, capacity and quota planning · FMCG and CPG brands

Net lift on one promotion at one account: the whole arithmetic on one page

The complete promotional net lift calculation on one SKU at one retail account over sixteen weeks, small enough to check by hand: the eight pre-promotion weeks and their median as the baseline, the two promotion weeks and the gross lift, the four post-promotion weeks and the dip, net lift, trade spend, cost per net unit, the same mechanic at a second account for comparison, and the assertion that the account's weekly sell-out sums to the retailer's total, so a reader can reproduce every figure and then run it on their own sell-out files.

17 Sept 20262 min read How-to guides

The worked examples: every measure on ten rows you can check by hand

A hub for the worked-example pages on this site: each core measure computed in full on a book small enough to check by hand, ten accounts, ten deals, ten invoice lines, five clients, four territories, with every intermediate figure shown and the identity at the end. This page lists them by measure with what each example demonstrates, so a reader can reproduce the arithmetic before running it on their own export.

17 Sept 20268 min read