DELAWARE & LONDON, September 29 2025 – Aforza, the leader in Vertical AI, Cloud and Mobile solutions for the consumer products industry that empowers businesses of all sizes to drive profitable growth, was today presented with thirteen best-in-class category distinctions in the Promotion Optimization Institute’s (POI) 2025 Consumer Goods Enterprise Planning & Retail Execution Vendor Panorama Report. The POI research team evaluated 18 leading vendors and over 34 platforms to help manufacturer and retail partners understand the technology and related service options that can help them improve promotional outcomes and drive profitable growth.
This year, POI was impressed with the advances the vendor community has made across both foundational elements and into new technologies like Agentic and Generative AI, to positively impact every aspect of trade planning and retail execution. Aligned with these areas of innovation, Aforza received thirteen best-in-class category distinctions across Enterprise Planning (EPx) and Retail Execution (RetX).
Aforza received six Best-in-Class Category Distinctions for EPx for Connected Enterprise, Annual Operating Plan (AOP), Internal Collaboration, External Collaboration, TPMx UX and TPMx for Tier 2 & 3 Organizations & Tier 1 International Geos.
Aforza received five Best-in-Class Category Distinctions for RetX across RetX Mobile UI/UX, RetX Analytical Insights, RetX Data and Analytics Visualization, RetX Omnichannel Engagement (eCommerce/B2B/DTC/Tele-virtual) and Field & Analytics Insights.
Importantly, Aforza received two Best-in-Class Category Distinctions that apply to both EPx and RetX for Generative AI/Chatbot Assistant/Agentic AI and Data Management.
After several years of publishing two separate Vendor Panoramas, the POI combined the EPx and RetX reports last year, highlighting the importance of connecting the front & back office into one. The Aforza solution was designed this way from the start, providing an end-to-end solution from trade planning to field execution. We are particularly proud of POI’s acknowledgment here with our Connected Enterprise best-in-class category distinction.
In this year’s report, the POI recognised Aforza’s deep consumer goods expertise and its integrated suite of applications, which effectively close the loop between Trade Promotion Management and Retail Execution by providing end-to-end capabilities that connect planning and field execution in real time. The report highlighted how Aforza’s Vertical AI (Ava) seamlessly embeds multi-modal AI across all aspects of trade planning and sales execution, delivering valuable insights and recommended actions throughout the process. Unlike traditional AI that only suggests, Ava also takes action: creating visits, raising orders and driving execution in the moment. She interprets multi-modal inputs such as photos and videos to assess share of shelf, stock availability and promotion compliance.
In addition, the POI noted how the Aforza Studio platform stands out as a key differentiator, linking HQ plans with field execution while simplifying and enhancing field image capture. The integrated suite further enables distributors to submit claim images quickly and accurately, strengthening collaboration and execution across the value chain.
“This is our fourth year in the Panorama report and we are proud to receive thirteen more best-in-class distinctions from POI, a leading analyst and trusted partner for the consumer goods industry,” says Dominic Dinardo, CEO & Co-Founder of Aforza.
“We have always thought about Enterprise Planning and Retail Execution as an end-to-end solution, and we are particularly proud to receive the Connected Enterprise distinction to acknowledge our leadership here. With Ava, our instant-on multimodal Vertical AI, we go beyond suggestions: Ava actually takes action by creating visits, raising orders and driving execution in the moment. That is why we are especially honoured to be recognised with the Agentic AI distinction, which highlights how Ava is redefining the role of AI across every front office role in consumer goods.”
Aforza’s connected solution has rapidly become an international standard for consumer products leaders around the world. Esteemed brands such as L’Oréal, LEGO, Suntory Global Spirits, Edrington, Heineken, and many others partner with Aforza to drive profitable growth across their global operations.
POI suggested manufacturers evaluate Aforza when they are looking for an end-to-end solution, including Vertical AI, TPM, Retail Execution, Advanced Analytics, Photo Automation and CRM. Also, to leverage Aforza’s connected suite of applications to manage and continually improve promotion execution.
Aforza will be attending the POI Fall Summit in Dallas on November 12–14, where attendees can experience these award-winning innovations first-hand. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the Aforza team, see live demonstrations of Ava, Aforza’s instant-on multimodal Vertical AI, and explore how the connected suite empowers consumer goods companies to plan smarter, execute faster and drive growth across every front office role.
About POI
POI brings together manufacturers, retailers, solution providers, analysts, academics, and other industry leaders with the specific objective of collaboratively improving Enterprise planning and the promotion & distribution of consumer goods. This industry-wide effort of POI produces a roadmap on how trading partners can continuously improve their approach and profitability through real-time, relevant promotions.
To access the full POI 2025 Consumer Goods Enterprise Planning & Retail Execution Vendor Panorama report, join POI as a member. See membership details here. Reach out to Joanie Malin, jmalin@p-o-i.org for more information and questions regarding POI Membership.
About Aforza
Aforza helps Consumer Product companies grow confidently & protect margins in uncertain times through a suite of Vertical AI, Cloud & Mobile apps built for the industry. Aforza connects trade planning and field sales teams together to solve the problems of margin erosion, missed revenue opportunities and ineffective trade spend.
The Aforza product works out of the box and can be implemented in weeks. The mobile applications work offline and deliver powerful on-device intelligence across Apple iOS and Android devices. Aforza is built on the Salesforce and Google Cloud Platforms which means we can scale fast and deliver continuous innovation with 3 releases a year.
Customer success is Aforza’s top priority, and we are proud to be trusted by CPG companies in more than 50 countries; including leading breweries, food & beverage manufacturers, consumer healthcare companies and major distributors.
To learn more, please visit www.aforza.com
For any press inquiries or interview requests, please contact press@aforza.com
SOURCE Aforza Inc.
Access POI’s Evaluation of Aforza
To access POI’s full evaluation of Aforza and the details behind why we were awarded thirteen best-in-class distinctions in the 2025 Consumer Goods Enterprise Planning & Retail Execution Vendor Panorama Report, download the full Aforza vendor overview now.