A consumer goods company checks every trade deduction
Distributors and modern-trade chains deducted promotions, damages and penalties straight from their payments. Matching each deduction to an approved scheme turned a backlog of write-offs into a list of claims.
An illustrative scenario. The company is fictional and the figures show how the method works; they are not a client result.
The situation
A packaged foods and personal care company sells through distributors, modern-trade chains and online marketplaces. Customers regularly pay less than the invoice, deducting promotions, display fees, damages and late-delivery penalties.
The receivables team matched what it could. The rest sat in an unapplied cash account until it was written off as too old or too small to chase.
What we looked at
- Twelve months of invoices, credit notes and customer payments
- Remittance advices and deduction reason codes
- Approved trade schemes and promotion calendars
- Delivery and returns records
What we found
| Finding | What it meant |
|---|---|
| Deductions with no approved scheme behind them | Recoverable, with evidence |
| Promotions deducted after the scheme had ended | Recoverable |
| The same promotion deducted twice, once by credit note and once from payment | Recoverable |
| Damage claims above the agreed allowance | Partly recoverable |
| Deductions that matched a valid scheme | Cleared from the backlog |
Most of the backlog turned out to be valid and was simply cleared. The rest became a ranked list of claims, with the strongest evidence at the top.
What changed
- Claims raised with each customer, supported by the scheme, the invoice and the payment.
- Weekly matching. New deductions are matched to schemes every week, so the backlog no longer builds up.
- Better schemes. Sales now sets end dates and caps on every scheme, because the data shows what happens without them.
Products and services
TickBack matches deductions to schemes and contracts. Read more in Gross-to-net: why every deduction deserves a second look, or see gross-to-net.