modusplanning.com

What It Is

Modus Planning is a cloud-based planning platform built for high-growth CPG/consumer goods brands, positioned as “planning infrastructure” to replace complex spreadsheets. It is not a single-purpose sales forecasting tool; instead, it aims to bring sales planning, demand planning, trade promotions, supply planning, customer service order validation, and deduction management into one shared data structure, supporting S&OP, trade spend control, and cross-functional collaboration.

Core Capabilities

The platform’s strength lies in its industry-level granularity. Sales planning supports retailer-level planning, new product launches, promotions, discontinuations, and cost of sales. Demand planning emphasizes bottom-up forecasting, distribution network mapping, days of inventory, and forecast accuracy. Trade management covers price promotions, everyday OI, advertising, scan programs, shopper marketing, slotting fees, and other expense buckets, with snapshots available to lock budgets and compare against the latest plan. The customer service module can forecast days on hand based on orders and customer inventory, helping reduce stockouts and short-dated product losses. The system also provides automated forecast recommendations, baseline velocity, promotional lift, exception flags, snapshots, change logs, and notifications, making it suitable for teams moving from multiple Excel versions to a unified source of planning truth.

Pricing and Services

The official website lists three tiers: Start-Up, Scale-Up, and Enterprise, but does not disclose specific pricing. Start-Up is aimed at brands with less than USD 10 million in gross sales and includes the full platform, process maps, best-practice guidance, and unlimited users. Enterprise adds dedicated customer support, dedicated compute, single-tenant hosting, custom integrations, and 24/7 support. The site explicitly states that there are no locked-in annual contracts and no onboarding fees; additional users, support, and training are included in the monthly fee. It also offers an 8-week structured implementation process and Modus University courses.

Pros and Cons

Its advantages are deep CPG business fit, clear collaboration across sales, operations, and finance, and audit trails plus snapshot mechanisms that reduce the “black box” effect around forecast changes. Its consultative delivery model can also help teams establish better processes. The limitations are mainly around transparency: pricing is not public, and third-party integrations are only described as custom integrations without naming specific systems. Details on APIs, permission models, security certifications, compliance, and data residency are also not disclosed. For non-consumer-goods industries, its suitability should be validated separately.

Best Fit and Access from China

Modus Planning is best suited to scaling food and beverage, personal care, and consumer goods brands that still rely heavily on spreadsheets to manage sales forecasts, trade spend, and supply planning. Access from China, payment methods, and local support are not documented, so they are currently rated as unknown. If you require mainland China access, invoicing, RMB settlement, or integration with local systems, it may be worth comparing it with Anaplan, o9, Kinaxis, Blue Yonder, as well as local options such as Yonyou and Kingdee.