The wholesale industry is heavily reliant on rebates. As a result, rebates are an essential part of complex contracts between buyers and sellers, making them the focal point of pricing strategies.
Virtually, all rebate contracts end up determining the route to market and prioritisation of certain products over time. For instance, if volume-based incentives have been negotiated with a company and you are off the target after a couple of months, you need to adjust your pricing as quickly as possible. Not doing so and having any weaknesses in managing and processing rebates can lead to serious consequences, ranging from loss of profits to even making losses overall that could have been avoided.
With a rebate management system, like e-bate, most of these potential repercussions are avoided, which include:
- Data Entry Errors
- Payment Delays and Escalations
- Stresses around Rebate Management
- Availability of Analytics and other Information
- Reliability and Safety of Information
No more data errors
Manually entering your data into an excel spreadsheet or any other software isn’t difficult, but there are most definitely downsides.
Firstly, it takes time! But even more concerning is the potential issues that could arise with any lapses of concentration or transfering of data.
Humans are error prone and mistakes can easily happen, even when the most experienced member of staff is entering information. Errors in rebate spreadsheets can cost a business tens of thousands of pounds too, so mistakes can seriously eat into your bottom line. You can eliminate such errors by automating your data entry, making it quick, easy, and accurate when entering new data into your rebate management system.
Timely payments and escalation
Get paid on time with the help of automated rebate management.
Rebates are a large part of the wholesale industry, and for most firms, getting paid on time is vital for cash flow.
With a rebate management system, like e-bate, you can automate the invoicing process, so you don’t need to set any reminders; instead your agreed payment terms are inputted into the system when created, making sure you get paid on time, every time.
Relaxed rebate management
Good rebate management software, when set-up and configured correctly for your business, should work hard for you, providing saved time and money.
With a B2B rebate platform in place, it allows you to easily manage your rebates, all in one place, meaning you can implement various different and complex rebate deals with ease.
With the removal of time pressure, stress is also reduced across the people and teams who experience touch-points with your rebates. This has obvious benefits both personally for the people in your teams and is contributory to the smooth running, survival and growth of your business.
Analytics and information
Having reliable information and data can make all the difference.
However, having reliable information and data available at the right time can become the deciding factor when it comes to positioning your business in front of the end-users.
For instance, two businesses could be selling the same product and may have a similar rebate deal with a seller. However, how your business adjusts to changing demand, with the information available at the right time, can differentiate you against your competitors. Doing so means that your business is in a better position to identify opportunities and threats, and apply them to your selling strategies more proactively.
Security
In the modern age, data is worth its weight in gold.
So naturally, your data is a target for online hackers, meaning if it’s not properly protected, you lay yourself and your business open to illegal activities, with the potential to cost you unlimited amounts of money or even your entire business.
Using excel spreadsheets to manage your rebates (or any other sensitive company information in fact), is a very risky approach that can see your data easily stolen or corrupted.
Luckily, data safety is at the core of any good rebate management solution, such as e-bate.
Stored in a multi-tenancy Microsoft Azure server, you can rest assured that all of your rebate data is secure with e-bate.
And, with the additional benefit of being stored on the cloud, reducing the chances of data corruption.
For more information, get in touch today.
