Aforza is Awarded Thirteen Best-in-Class Category Distinctions in the Promotion Optimization Institute’s (POI) 2026 Enterprise Planning & Retail Execution Panorama Report
Recognition spans Enterprise Planning, Retail Execution and AI, including new distinctions for Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, RetX Guided Selling and RetX Retail Activity Optimization
DELAWARE & LONDON, September 28 2026 – Aforza, Go-To-Market AI for Consumer Goods, today announced it has received thirteen Best-in-Class Category Distinctions in the Promotion Optimization Institute’s (POI) 2026 Consumer Goods Enterprise Planning & Retail Execution Vendor Panorama. The POI research team evaluated 20 vendors and 35 platforms to help manufacturers and their retail partners understand the technology and services that can improve promotional outcomes and drive profitable growth.
This year’s distinctions recognise Aforza across trade planning, field execution and vertical AI, reflecting a platform built from day one to connect headquarters planning with execution at the shelf.
Enterprise Planning (EPx)
Aforza received five Best-in-Class Category Distinctions in Enterprise Planning: Connected Enterprise, Internal Collaboration, External Collaboration, TPMx UX, and TPMx for Tier 2 & 3 and International markets.
Retail Execution (RetX)
Aforza received six Best-in-Class Category Distinctions in Retail Execution: RetX Mobile UI/UX, RetX Analytical Insights, Field Analytics & Insights, RetX Guided Selling, RetX Omnichannel Engagement, and RetX Retail Activity Optimization (RAO).
Data & Artificial Intelligence
Aforza received two Best-in-Class Category Distinctions in Data & AI, spanning both Enterprise Planning and Retail Execution: Generative AI / Chatbot Assistant / Agentic AI, and Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning.
Aforza achieved ten of these category distinctions for the second consecutive year, including Connected Enterprise, Generative AI / Chatbot Assistant / Agentic AI, TPMx UX and RetX Mobile UI/UX.
New Distinctions for 2026
Three distinctions are new for Aforza in 2026: Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, RetX Guided Selling and RetX Retail Activity Optimization (RAO).
The distinctions reflect how Ava, Aforza’s Vertical AI, is changing the work of every commercial role in consumer goods. New for 2026, Ava’s Realtime Next Best Action engine continuously scores every account, promotion, store, order and claim against live signals and surfaces the highest-value action to the right person at the right moment.
Trade planners use Ava Scenario Planning to test promotional levers, spot where a plan breaches margin or budget guardrails, and choose the mechanic, depth and timing most likely to deliver. Key account managers use Ava Skills to build joint business plans, quarterly business reviews, customer scorecards and promotion proposals directly from live Aforza data, turning days of work into minutes and walking into every buyer meeting with a plan grounded in real performance. Commercial finance teams see deductions matched automatically against approved promotions and proof of performance by the Ava Claims Agent. Field reps are guided to the right stores, the right tasks and the right order. Every planner, KAM, finance lead and rep works from the same plan and the same intelligence. Unlike AI that only suggests, Ava takes action: creating visits, raising orders, completing audits and resolving claims, with people kept in the loop to validate every output.
In this year’s report, POI recognised the value of Aforza’s connected approach. The POI Vendor Panorama found that “Having TPMx and Retail Execution in a single solution on the same code base remains unique and delivers high value due to the interconnectivity among data, processes, and execution components.” POI highlighted Ava’s guidance throughout the solution as a differentiator that significantly enhances the user experience, and described the Key Account Management capabilities and Objective Management as unique and collaborative.
Ava Audits for Realtime Next Best Action
POI also singled out Ava Audits as a major differentiator. From a single photo or verbal dictation, Ava checks the planogram, promotion, pricing, share of shelf and must-stock list at once, completes the audit automatically and tells the rep what to fix before leaving the store. Because audits, claims and trade investment live natively on one platform, every audit becomes proof of performance, clearing compliant claims automatically and disputing deductions with the visual evidence already attached. The report further recognised Aforza’s product launch and product expiration management capabilities for driving cross-functional collaboration, its ability to deliver one accurate, promotion-driven price across every channel at the same time, its support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to bring Ava’s intelligence into the AI tools customers already use, and the Ava Library, Aforza’s published catalogue of more than 100 pages of documented consumer goods AI use cases.
Underpinning all of this is Aforza Data 360, a real-time data engine that unifies enterprise and customer data from disconnected applications, data lakes and warehouses into a single profile. It powers Aforza’s workflows, analytics and Ava across trade promotion management, revenue growth management and sales planning, with a consolidated data store for multi-market reporting. Alongside it, the Product Launch Hub gives innovation, RGM, demand planning, trade marketing and field teams one shared view of every launch in flight, from concept to listing to steady state.
“This is our fifth year in the POI Vendor Panorama, and we are proud to receive thirteen Best-in-Class Category Distinctions from POI, a trusted analyst and partner to the consumer goods industry,” says Dominic Dinardo, CEO & Co-Founder of Aforza.
“We designed Aforza as one connected solution from trade planning to field execution, so we are delighted to achieve the Connected Enterprise distinction again. We are especially proud of the new distinctions for Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Guided Selling and Retail Activity Optimization. They show that Ava is doing real work in live production today, across every commercial role. Ava helps trade planners design more profitable promotions, gives key account managers a joint business plan grounded in real performance, clears claims for commercial finance, and tells reps where to go and what to do in every store. That is Go-To-Market AI for Consumer Goods: one intelligence guiding every team to the action that matters most.”
Aforza’s connected solution is trusted by consumer products leaders around the world. Brands such as L’Oréal, LEGO, Suntory Global Spirits, Edrington, Asahi and many others partner with Aforza to drive profitable growth across their global operations.
POI suggested manufacturers evaluate Aforza’s Enterprise Planning capabilities when they are looking for an end-to-end solution spanning TPMx, Advanced Analytics, Vertical AI across the planning process, Retail Execution, Photo Automation, Data Management and CRM. For Retail Execution, POI recommended evaluating Aforza when seeking a multitenant SaaS solution for omnichannel execution that builds on the native CRM, cloud and AI capabilities of Salesforce and Google, and to use Aforza’s suite of applications to manage and continually improve promotion execution. Looking ahead, the POI Vendor Panorama found that Aforza maintains “a strong roadmap for innovation and enhancement, and we expect them to continue growing their market share.”
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 and distribution of consumer goods. This industry-wide effort produces a roadmap for how trading partners can continuously improve their approach and profitability through real-time, relevant promotions.
To access the full POI 2026 Enterprise Planning & Retail Execution Vendor Panorama, visit the POI website: poinstitute.com. For more information on membership, please contact Joanie Malin at jmalin@p-o-i.org.
About Aforza
Aforza is Go-To-Market AI for Consumer Goods: a unified suite of cloud and mobile apps powered by Ava, its Vertical AI. Ava works alongside commercial teams to make them more productive and more effective, driving Realtime Next Best Action so every planner, key account manager, and field rep knows where to focus and acts on what matters most.
Aforza connects trade planning, retail execution, and sales teams across TPMx, CRM, RetX, DMS, B2B commerce, and photo automation, automating decisions and eliminating inefficiencies across the value chain. Built on secure, scalable enterprise platforms from Salesforce and Google Cloud, Aforza is designed for all roles, all markets, all channels, and all routes-to-market.
Aforza serves CPG companies around the world, including leading breweries, food & beverage manufacturers, personal care & 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 2026 Consumer Goods Enterprise Planning & Retail Execution Vendor Panorama Report, download the full Aforza vendor overview now.