Now it all adds up for Sofidel
Tissue paper producer transformed trade terms into strategic profit drivers with Vistex
"Vistex has provided Sofidel with numerous benefits, foremost among them the complete transparency in the analysis of trade terms spending.""
Cristian Quartaroli
Group Customer Services Manager, Sofidel
Overview
Sofidel's exponential growth over the years has required the adoption of strategic solutions to manage commercial investments related to contracts. This growth has resulted in the opening of direct offices in many countries across Europe and the United States.
However, this expansion in both geographical presence and product portfolio introduced greater complexity in managing relationships and negotiations with retailers. Sofidel faced operational challenges from adding new retailers, increasingly significant international negotiations, balancing investments among various brands and mounting pressure to boost trade terms spending.
To help overcome these challenges, the company sought to standardize and automate the contract management process across different countries, accelerating and improving the accuracy of the accrual and settlement process. Most importantly, Sofidel wanted to achieve a comprehensive, detailed and shared view of the allocation of commercial investments and the impact on profitability.
Solution
To address its complex and expanding commercial investment landscape, SAP margin optimization solutions by Vistex was implemented. The solution integrated natively with Sofidel’s SAP ERP, ensuring seamless data alignment between commercial functions and financial systems, and allowed Sofidel to manage trade terms across 15 countries for more than 10 brands and multiple routes to market, including Modern Trade, Distributors and Away From Home.
Results
Post implementation, Sofidel has significantly enhanced visibility into trade spend across markets, brands and channels. Standardized workflows have reduced errors and manual effort, while tighter collaboration between commercial and financial teams ensures everyone operates from a unified source of truth.
The company now benefits from real-time tracking of accruals and actuals, improving its forecasting capabilities. In addition, Sofidel has streamlined the creation of agreements and strengthened its ability to evaluate trade investments. With a centralized, integrated platform in place, it is now better positioned to assess ROI, optimize spend and make more informed decisions.
Other critical benefits realized:
- Gained the ability to use multiple calculation methods to structure trade terms
- Increased flexibility to meet diverse market requirements
- Reduced total cost of ownership
- Ensured compliance with company’s segregation of duties policies
- 100% integration of promo costs with accounting and net contribution margin calculation
- Enabled large-scale copy of budget and variables agreement at the beginning of the year
- Eased management of progressive and standard scale option to check the calculation basis for each agreement
About
The Sofidel Group
The Sofidel Group, headquartered in Porcari (Lucca, Italy), is one of the leading manufacturers of paper for hygienic and household use worldwide. Established in 1966, the Group is active in 13 countries, 12 in Europe and the United States (11 States), with over 9,000 employees and a production capacity of 1,852,000 metric tons per year (these numbers also include the acquisition of ST Paper and CLW Tissue in 2024). In 2023, the Group had net sales of 3,129 million Euros. “Regina,” its most well-known brand, is present on almost all the reference markets. Other brands include: Sopalin, Le Trèfle, Hakle, Softis, Nalys, Cosynel, KittenSoft, Nicky and Papernet. Sofidel is committed to reaching Net-Zero carbon emissions by the end of 2050.
Headquarters: Porcari (Lucca), Italy
Industry: Consumer Products
Products: Tissue Paper
Revenue: 3,129 Mio EUR
Locations: Italy, US, UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Greece, Hungary, Romania
Employees: 9000+
Solutions implemented:
SAP margin optimization solutions by Vistex
- SAP Paybacks & Chargebacks by Vistex