Separate the three economic layers
Variable unit costs rise with the modeled sales activity. Fixed campaign spending is an additional amount for running the event. Supplier funding is support earned under its own rules. SAP describes vendor funding as a vendor incentive for promoting products; the amount and eligibility still depend on the actual agreement.
Keep support separate when it is negotiated at campaign level. If a supplier allowance is already deducted from unit cost, adding it again as funding duplicates its benefit. Conversely, an unpaid contingent allowance is not automatically an earned contribution.
Choose an allocation rule before ranking products
Possible rules include directly attributable amounts, planned exposure, promotion units or promotion revenue. The appropriate rule depends on what caused the cost and what question the product ranking serves. Portfolio contribution is unchanged by a pure redistribution of a fixed total, but individual product conclusions can change.
Record the rule next to the campaign total. If the campaign includes €900 spending, the product rows must sum to €900. Do the same reconciliation for funding, using the contract's earned amount rather than its maximum possible payout.
- Directly attribute product-specific creative or display costs when known.
- Allocate shared amounts using a stated basis.
- Reconcile allocated rows to the event invoice or agreement.
- Retain unallocated amounts rather than quietly dropping them.
Worked allocation for two products
A campaign has €900 fixed spending and €2,400 earned supplier support. The reviewed allocation assigns two-thirds to Product A and one-third to Product B. The purpose is to preserve the event totals while showing each product's assigned burden and support.
| Row | Allocated spending | Allocated funding |
|---|---|---|
| Product A | €600 | €1,600 |
| Product B | €300 | €800 |
| Campaign total | €900 | €2,400 |
| Incorrect: full totals copied to both rows | €1,800 | €4,800 |
Use the allocated-funding worksheet
The two-row allocated-funding template preserves these totals. Use the spending and funding columns as row allocations, not as a second place to store a campaign-level amount.
| Economic item | CSV field | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Additional fixed cost assigned to SKU | promo_spend | Sum across campaign = source invoice |
| Earned support assigned to SKU | supplier_funding | Sum across campaign = earned contract support |
| Variable cost before this support | unit_cost | Do not net the same allowance twice |
| Campaign identity | campaign | Same event name on both product rows |
Distinguish contribution from collection
An earned allowance can improve campaign contribution while its cash arrives later. A threshold, eligible-SKU list, purchase-based rebate or cap can make a simple per-unit calculation inaccurate. Model the actual payout and keep collection timing separate.
A supplier-funded campaign can also shift sales away from another profitable product. Funding does not remove the need for a portfolio boundary and a credible baseline.
Frequently asked questions
Which allocation basis is objectively correct? There may be no unique answer for genuinely shared costs. Use a consistent decision-relevant rule and show how product rankings change under another reasonable basis.
Should maximum promised funding enter the worksheet? Use the amount the scenario qualifies for. If qualification is uncertain, show funded and unfunded cases rather than treating support as guaranteed.
Put it to work
Source context
Guide text and examples were prepared independently for MarginTrial. Sources provide the stated methodological or product context. They do not validate the hypothetical commercial outcomes.