CPG Performance Authority · Private Equity & Mid-Size CPG

Command your margins.

Stop reacting to the market. Start shielding your P&L. Nempathy Solutions brings 35 years of CPG commercial operating experience — inside Procter & Gamble, Ralston Purina, Ralcorp, Dean Foods, and PwC — to turn trade spend from a reactive cost into a real-time financial instrument.

See The Margin Shield → About Kevin

The dual threat

Supply chain forces and retailer gatekeeping are squeezing CPG margin from both sides.

COGS volatility, inflationary pressure, and unpredictable input costs push from one side. Retailers capture 15–24% of gross sales through trade spend, pay-to-stay mandates, and slotting fees routinely hitting $30,000+ per SKU, on the other. Retailers are increasingly using shelf space as a direct profit center — and it is severely eroding manufacturer margins.

$200B+
U.S. CPG trade spend every year — the second-largest P&L line behind COGS
72%
of trade promotions fail to turn a profit — most promotional dollars are lost to inefficiency
59%
of total trade budget commonly wasted — the leakage the Margin Shield is built to reclaim
60–90
days for a list-price increase to clear retailer negotiations — the window where margin bleeds

The Margin Shield

List price is slow. Live accruals are instant.

When a cost shock hits — a tariff, an ingredient spike — base list prices are rigid and take 60–90 days to clear retailer negotiations. Relying on that as a primary margin defense guarantees massive profit leakage. Trade spend accruals can be adjusted in real time. Dynamically shifting promotional depth and frequency instantly offsets the cost spike and neutralizes the leakage window — while the slow list-price mechanism catches up.

Walk through the full mechanism →

The customer segmentation framework

Turn your customer list into a profit engine.

The starting discipline of every engagement: segment the customer base by true profitability, growth trajectory, and cost-to-serve — not instinct.

DRIVERS

Growth Engine

High priority. The accounts that actually move the needle — invest here first and with the most discipline.

CONTRIBUTORS

Solid Support

Sustain and grow. Reliable performers that don't yet warrant Driver-level investment, but reward attention.

MAINTENANCE

Stable

Optimize cost-to-serve. Steady accounts where the opportunity is efficiency, not growth spend.

REPOSITION

Strategic Reassessment

Realign or exit. The accounts costing more to serve than they return — the ones most companies never examine.

This sits alongside a fuller set of commercial disciplines — segmentation, GTM, organizational alignment, leadership development. See Our Approach for the full picture.

“Command your margins. Stop reacting to the market. Start shielding your P&L. Build the Pull.” Kevin Nemetz · Nempathy Solutions, LLC
Run the numbers on your own business →