Run an independent supermarket and you already know the margins are tight. What's less obvious is how much of your margin is tied up in supplier rebates, deals and trading terms — and how easily some of it slips through the cracks.
Rebates are earned, but not always paid
Volume rebates, promotional allowances, new-line deals and end-of-period trading terms are all money you've genuinely earned. But they rely on someone tracking what was agreed, checking it against what actually landed, and chasing the difference. In a busy store, that reconciliation is usually the first thing to fall off the list.
Where the leakage happens
The common gaps are familiar: a promotional allowance that was agreed verbally and never invoiced; a volume tier you hit but weren't credited for; deals applied at the wrong rate; or credits that were raised but never actually received. Individually they're small. Across a year and a full supplier base, they're not.
The fix is a process, not heroics
You don't need to audit every line by hand. You need a repeatable process: agreements captured in one place, claims raised on a schedule, and receipts matched back so nothing is written off by default. That's exactly the kind of back-office discipline JBS was built on — we came out of the supermarket industry, so we know how trading terms actually work.
Worth a conversation
If you're not confident you're recovering everything you're owed, it's worth a look. Often the recovered rebates more than cover the cost of having someone run the process properly. Get in touch and we'll talk through how your store handles it now.