Revenue Growth Management Software: selection criteria
A consumer goods manufacturer and a retailer do not select revenue growth management software in the same way. For retailers, the pricing module (store-level pricing, simulation, compliance) is more important than the breadth of the suite.
The market consists of three types of publishers: pricing-first, those focused on promotion management, and all-in-one solutions. The total cost always exceeds the license fee, and no tool can replace cross-team governance.
The revenue growth management software market has developed in successive stages. Some vendors have a background in pricing, others in sales promotion management, and still others promise to cover everything from day one.
This guide distinguishes between the RGM of a manufacturer and that of a distributor, and then details the three market segments and the criteria that truly set publishers apart.
What is Revenue Growth Management (RGM) software?
Revenue Growth Management ( RGM ) software is a solution that enables you to manage the levers detailed in our RGM guide —pricing, promotions, product mix, and commercial terms—in a coordinated manner, rather than managing them with separate tools.
The term comes from the consumer goods industry. In the retail sector, the same words refer to a different profession.
RGM for a manufacturer (FMCG)
- Leverages: list price, negotiated promotional budget, product mix, terms and conditions.
- Management Unit: The Brand, the Retailer Account.
RGM of a distributor
- Key factors: shelf prices, promotions, product assortment, across the entire catalog.
- Control unit: the reference, the store, or the group of stores.
- Restrictions: no-loss resale threshold, Egalim promotional caps, Omnibus reference prices.
Source: Booper analysis, based on its retail pricing plans.
Our position: For a distributor, RGM software is judged first and foremost on its pricing module. A suite designed for a manufacturer’s promotional budget is no substitute for it.
The 3 Families of RGM Solutions
The market did not emerge all at once. Three major groups of publishers coexist today, each with a different starting point and different strengths.
| Family | Starting Point | Point to Watch For |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing-first | Starting with pricing, they added promotions and product mix | The promotion module may still be less mature |
| Origin: TPM | Originating in promotional management, they have added analytics | Pricing can remain a module added later |
| All-in-one | Try to cover all four levers from the start | Widening may come at the expense of depth |
Original TPM (Trade Promotion Management) solutions were designed for manufacturers. For a retailer, the risks involved are more significant.
The Pitfall of Superficial "All-in-One" Solutions
A platform that displays the four RGM levers on its homepage does not guarantee that each of its modules can be used on a daily basis.
Every module you actually use must stand up to comparison, on its own, with a specialized tool. The number of features covered says nothing about that depth.
In the "Pricing" section, our selection of retail pricing software compares the leading solutions side by side.
The features that really make a difference
Centralized data
Price, promotions, product mix, and margin must all be managed within a single system.
Configurable, not a black box
Decisions must be guided by rules that your teams understand.
Traceability of Decisions
Every change in price, promotion, or product mix must be tracked.
An expandable scope
Start with a single lever before expanding, rather than a forced full rollout.
These features are particularly valuable in a multi-brand and franchise network.
One price per store group, revised every six weeks.
The group used to manage several retail chains using Excel and manual processes. Now, prices are linked, simulated in batches, and applied by store group. Each pricing cycle starts from its own baseline.
- Issue
- Manage multiple franchise locations, each with its own pricing.
- What Has Changed
- Reference linking, batch simulations, suggested prices by store cluster.
by price cycle, simulated in batches across all retail chains.
Read more: The Limitations of Excel for Pricing
Pricing Management · Multi-brand franchise group. Case study written by Booper based on an actual client project; the client has been anonymized.
In this case, the starting point was neither the promotion nor the mix, but a pricing module capable of setting different prices for different groups of stores.
The criteria that truly set RGM publishers apart
A weighted scoring system is reassuring, but it primarily rewards the publisher that checks the most boxes during the demonstration. In our view, three questions are a better way to distinguish between publishers.
Can the tool maintain different prices from one store or group of stores to another, with limits (target, minimum, maximum), and trigger an alert when a local price falls outside those limits?
Is every change simulated before it is implemented—in terms of sales, margin, and inventory? Do your teams adjust business rules without needing to go through the vendor's support team?
You can verify the rest using your own data, not a demo version.
The total cost isn't limited to the license
Comparing software vendors based solely on license price is one of the most costly mistakes in an RGM project.
The total cost of ownership includes at least three items that are often underestimated: technical integration and data migration, team training, and the internal time spent administering the tool and adjusting business rules.
A software solution with a lower licensing cost but one that takes an additional six months to integrate—or whose rules can only be adjusted through its support team—may end up costing more over three years than a solution that is initially more expensive but is truly self-sufficient for internal teams.
At a specialty organic retailer, importing point-of-sale data, pricing, and catalog information—without an API connector initially—made it possible to evaluate a switch to a new tool even with data that was still incomplete.
In an independent hypermarket, just two users are enough to manage price alignment. The amount of administrative time required depends primarily on the level of autonomy granted to the teams.
Booper Team, pricing projects for specialty retailers and hypermarkets
Ultimately, the cost is weighed against the tool's benefits.
Source: Interview with Hugues Lafitte, *Informations Entreprise*, September 15, 2026.
These benefits require that the tool be genuinely adopted by the teams.
Why Good Software Isn't Enough
Even the best software in the world won't coordinate anything on its own if the teams using it continue to work in isolation, each optimizing their own metrics without communicating with one another.
Without shared rules, the tool merely accelerates conflicting decisions.
A modular platform, not a rigid suite
BOOPER MPS is rolled out module by module (GENIUS Price for pricing, GENIUS Predict for product mix and demand, GENIUS Admin for governance), without requiring users to adopt everything at once.
Check out the platform on our MPS page —the Booper " Modular Pricing Solution ."
Need to get a clear picture before choosing your RGM software?
30 minutes with our team to objectively determine which lever deserves to be addressed first.
See also in this feature
- Strategic Pricing: Definition and a Comprehensive 7-Step Method
- Pricing Analysis: From Price Audits to a Costed Roadmap
- Retail Price Optimization: The Complete Guide (Methods, AI, ROI)
- Price Segmentation: Selling at Multiple Prices Without Cannibalizing Your Product Line
FAQ
A solution that enables coordinated management of pricing, promotions, product mix, and terms and conditions, rather than managing them with separate tools.
Three categories: solutions based on pricing, those based on trade promotion management, and all-in-one platforms.
By testing them on your own data rather than in a demo. For a retailer, three factors make all the difference: prices set by store or group of stores, a simulation before each change, and business rules that your teams can adjust on their own.
No. The total cost also includes integration, data migration, team training, and internal time spent on ongoing administration. Over a three-year period, these costs can exceed the cost of the license itself.
No. Without shared guidelines among pricing, procurement, marketing, and stores, the tool exacerbates conflicting trade-offs. The challenge is primarily organizational, not technical.
By choosing a modular platform that allows you to start with a single feature and then expand gradually.
The one whose starting point aligns with your top priority. RGM solutions stem from pricing, promotion management, or an all-in-one approach, and each remains strongest in its core area of expertise.
For a retailer whose profit margin depends primarily on regular shelf prices and promotions, a platform built around pricing is the safest choice.
For a brand that negotiates with retailers, the management of promotions and commercial terms carries greater weight in the decision-making process.
BOOPER MPS belongs to the first family. The platform covers pricing, promotions, demand forecasting, and decision-making governance, and is deployed module by module.
Before signing, ask for a demonstration using your own data rather than a sample dataset: that's when you can really see the true depth of a module.
Further Reading
Management doesn't approve a price; it approves a trade-off between margin, volume, and price image. Presenting a single recommendation means asking management to trust you. Presenting the cost of each option gives management the information it needs to make a decision.
A sound projection provides a range rather than a single figure, specifies what is being excluded, and anticipates the gap between the projected increase and the actual increase. When compared with actual results, it establishes the credibility of the next projection.
A franchisor cannot impose a minimum resale price: doing so is punishable by law; the franchisor may only recommend a price or set a maximum. A franchisee’s margin is therefore governed by a documented target, defined by network segment and applied uniformly across each segment.
The best indicator of this governance is not adherence to the suggested retail price, but the rate of compliance with it by segment. A suggested retail price that franchisees in a given area do not follow often signals a poorly set price, not a lack of discipline.
Optimix merged with Maxxing in July 2025, and PricingHUB was acquired by Akeneo in June 2026. For their customers, the question of the independence of the pricing roadmap has become a legitimate concern.
What sets a query apart in France isn't the processing speed: it's the native support for French rules, pricing by store or by zone, the validation process, and testing with your own data.