Case Study: Merisant achieves faster sales planning and optimized promotional ROI with UpClear's BluePlanner

Merisant Leverages BluePlanner Software-as-a-Service Solution for Sales Planning & Trade Promotion Management

Merisant, the maker of tabletop sweeteners Equal and PureVia, faced an overwhelming planning challenge: managing 200+ customers and more than 1,000 promotional deals a year using Excel. After a delayed custom project and a two‑month audit in 2009, Merisant selected the BluePlanner system from UpClear to optimize promo spending, improve demand planning visibility, and support collaborative sales and trade promotion management.

UpClear deployed BluePlanner as a SaaS solution beginning in mid‑2009 (Sales Managers in July, brokers trained by September, UK users by November) and integrated it with Merisant’s SAP and financial/sales systems within three months. A 2011 addition of Nielsen POS integration for 51 top accounts enabled true ROI measurement, identification of forward buying and diverted sales, and improvements in accruals, budgeting and collections—delivering measurable trade‑marketing savings and faster reallocation of funds.

Merisant