Facing inflation and supply chain volatility, distributors have some of the most complex pricing and accounting challenges as they manage both buy-side and sell-side prices and payments. From sourcing raw materials to the use of transport and labor, distributors need to ask themselves whether this is being done in the most efficient way while optimizing margin.

One way to ensure this is having an intelligent pricing strategy in place to guarantee profitable growth and margin gains. Pricing automation can help distributors gain visibility of ever-changing market dynamics and help execute more nuanced pricing strategies. At a time when margins are particularly tight, distributors really cannot afford to have discrepancies or miss opportunities to reclaim money due.

We recently commissioned a study with Microsoft and Forrester that explored the current challenges faced by retailers. It found that 52% of retailers find it hard to execute different pricing for products across different channels, and 59% of retailers find it hard to manage complex promotional offers.

So how can distributors get a handle on this? Our intelligent pricing platform gives them control over their pricing and rebates, from shipping and chargebacks to deviated costs and depletion allowances, and more. Distributors are able to automatically process vendor offers, ensuring that every cent due is claimed on time.

With the help of Flintfox, distributors can quote with confidence by having real-time visibility of all costs, rebates, and accruals to see the actual margin, not estimated. Likewise, on the sell-side, even the most complex pricing rules and trade promotions can be calculated and executed, and distributors can be safe in the knowledge that they’re achieving the margins needed.

Looking at the bottom line, we’ve seen 39 hours saved per day by firms adopting our solution, resulting in $1M in cost savings due to improved productivity, and up to $300k less in unclaimed rebates. Ultimately, we can see that a robust and intelligent pricing strategy is worth the upfront time investment, boosting competitiveness and driving long-term business success.