Promotions

Plan your promotions and forecast events, see them on a calendar, import them from a file, and decide when they change the forecast.

The Promotions module is where you manage every event that changes your demand forecast: promotions (price discounts, catalogs, featured placements) and forecast adjustments. You create them, review them, and decide when they start to count in the final forecast.

In the sidebar, go to Revenue optimization > Promotions. The module is available to all users.

Event types

When you create an event, you choose its Type:

• Forecast adjustment: an impact you enter yourself, with no promotion computation behind it. Use it for any known change in demand: a store opening, a tender, a one-off order.

• Price discount: a promotion based on a price reduction.

• Catalog: the products are featured in a catalog or a promotional leaflet.

• Featured placement: the products get more visibility through a premium placement.

• Other: any other type of promotional activity.

Forecast events you create from the Demand module also appear here, with the type Forecast adjustment, and so do the events created by the Co-planner.

Statuses

Promotions move through statuses, shown as tabs above the list:

• Planned: an idea for later, not under review yet. Shown for visibility only.

• In review: being prepared. Shown for visibility only. A new promotion starts here.

• Confirmed: validated. Its impact is included in the final forecast.

• Past: the end date is before today, whatever the status.

Only Confirmed events change the final forecast. A forecast adjustment is confirmed as soon as you save it.

How to create a promotion

1

Open the creation dialog

In Promotions, click Create new. The Create new promotion dialog opens on the Settings step.

2

Describe the promotion

Enter a Name, an optional description, and pick the Type.

3

Set the impact on the forecast

Under Impact on forecast, choose how the uplift is set. See How to set the impact below.

4

Set the period

Under Period, pick the Start date and the End date, then click Continue.

5

Choose the products

On the Select scope step, choose Manual selection to pick products with the search and filters, or Import from file to load a list of product references. Click Save.

6

Validate it when it is ready

The promotion is saved in the In review tab. It changes the forecast only once you validate it. See How to make a promotion count in the forecast.

How to set the impact of a promotion

1

Pick the lift method

Under Lift method, choose:

• Manual: enter the expected uplift yourself, in % or in Units.

• AI recommendation: Flowlity computes the uplift when you save, from the type of promotion and your past demand.

2

For a price discount, set the discount

With the Price discount type, you also set the Price discount: enter it in % (Manual), or let Flowlity recommend the discount that maximizes your revenue (AI recommendation). In that case the uplift is computed from the recommended discount.

3

Change it later if needed

The impact stays editable. Open the row menu of the promotion, click Edit, change the values and save.

How to add a forecast adjustment

1

Create the event

Click Create new and pick the type Forecast adjustment.

2

Enter the impact and the period

Under Impact on forecast, enter the change in % or in Units, for example -30% during a store renovation. Set the Start date and End date, then click Continue.

3

Choose the products and save

Select the products on the Select scope step and click Save. The adjustment is confirmed right away and applies to the final forecast.

How to make a promotion count in the forecast

1

Find the promotion

Open the tab it is in: Planned, In review or Confirmed.

2

Move it to the next status

Hover the row and use its action, or select several promotions and use the bar that appears above the list:

• Review moves a Planned promotion to In review.

• Validate moves an In review promotion to Confirmed. Its impact enters the final forecast.

3

Step back if needed

Discard moves a promotion back one status: from Confirmed to In review, or from In review to Planned. Its impact leaves the final forecast.

How to see your promotions on a calendar

1

Switch to the calendar

At the top of the page, click Calendar. Events show as bars on a monthly grid, colored by status. Click a status in the legend to hide or show it.

2

Check an event

Hover a bar to see its status, type, dates, discount and impact. Click it to open the promotion.

3

Change dates or create an event

Drag the start or the end of a bar to change the dates. To create a promotion that starts on a given day, hover the day and click +.

How to import promotions and forecast events from a file

1

Open the import

In Promotions, click Import. On the Upload file step, click Download example CSV to get a file with the expected columns.

2

Fill in the file

One row per product and event, with the Product reference, Event name, Event type, Start date, End date, and one impact column: Impact on forecast (%) or Impact on forecast (units). For a price discount, add the Price discount. Write percentages as whole numbers: 12 means 12%.

Rows with the same event name, type and dates become one event.

3

Upload and map the columns

Drop the CSV file in the upload area. On the Map columns step, match each column of your file to a Flowlity field.

4

Choose where and how the events apply

Next to Apply to:, choose Current site only or All sites of the company. Next to Promotions status:, choose In review to check them first, or Confirmed to include them in the forecast as soon as they are imported. Forecast adjustments are always confirmed.

5

Review and import

On the Review & validate step, check the rows. Rows with errors are skipped: click Download errors to see them, or Re-upload file after fixing them. Then click the import button, which shows the number of events (for example Import 12 events).

6

Undo if needed

The last step sums up the events created and the products affected. If you made a mistake, click Revert import: the events it created are deleted.

How to review the products of a promotion

1

Open the promotion

Click a promotion in the list. For promotions, the top of the page shows Discount (Avg.), Sales, Profit and Margin, with and without the promotion, and a chart of the period.

2

Find the products

Below, the table lists each product with its status. Search by reference or name, or filter by Tags, Suppliers or Sites. Use the columns settings to show prices, margins, stock or the next delivery date.

3

Fine-tune a product

For a promotion that has not started, type a new value in Impact on sales, or in Discount for a price discount with Promotions premium. The KPIs show the simulated result. Click Save to keep the changes, or Discard to drop them.

4

Include or exclude products

Select products and click Validate to include them in the forecast, or Unvalidate to take them out, without changing the rest of the promotion.

How to find and export promotions

1

Filter the list

Use Search by event or product name, Date range, Tags, Suppliers and Type. Pick Forecast adjustment in Type to see only your forecast adjustments. Click Deselect all to clear the filters.

2

Download the product lines

Open the row menu of a promotion, or select several, and choose Download in XLSX, Download in CSV or Download in TSV. The file lists the products of each promotion with their figures.

Good to know

• Promotions premium: the Promotions module is included for everyone. Price elasticity, the AI recommendation of the uplift and of the discount, and the price, margin and profit columns come with Promotions premium, sold together with the Pricing module. Without it, choose Manual. Ask your Customer Success Manager to activate it.

• Started promotions: the discount and impact of a promotion that has started can no longer be edited per product.

• In the Demand module: confirmed events show in the Forecast events row of each product. You can also create forecast events from there: see Create and apply forecast events.

• From the Co-planner: ask the Co-planner to create a promotion or a forecast adjustment in plain language, then check it here.

Related

• Create and apply forecast events: add events from the Demand module.

• Forecast events and demand adjustments: how events change the forecast.

• Pricing: sales, profit and margin with and without promotions.

• Demand: see the impact of events on each product.