In an economy where every single dollar counts, it is more important than ever to track your spending. Not only is it important to track spending as an everyday consumer, but also for your business. In the foodservice industry when it comes to rebate and compliance performance management for chain operators, aligning the purchasing habits with purchasing agreements for a multi-chain unit can become a difficult mountain to climb.
So what exactly is involved in ensuring that everyone is in compliance with the current purchasing agreements? And, honestly, why should you care?
First, let me address the importance of beginning the process with the correct data. The output is only as good as what you put into it. Compiling and standardizing the data between the operator, manufacturer and distributor creates a single repository for agreements. This leads to the ability to receive invoice level distributor shipment data, clean & map the data to ensure accurate rebate claims, price verification, and analysis. At Answers Systems, we have cross-referenced over 20 million distributor SKUs and over 450,000 manufacturer SKUs. With this data in place, Answers Systems is able to process over 400,000 claims per year and settle over half-a-billion rebates yearly.
Next, we deal with tracking compliance with purchasing agreements. Having a solution in place that tracks multiple locations and their purchasing, you will be able to identify those locations not in compliance and enforce compliance. Hand-in-hand with tracking purchasing, you will be able to identify potential opportunities for negotiating deals for future purchases. This is especially helpful when adding new menu items, which often times leads to purchasing products that may not have necessarily been part of a previous purchasing agreement. You will save money on items you will already be purchasing!
Lastly, reporting and analysis, this is your end product once the data and tracking are in place. Reporting and analysis will open your eyes to trends in purchasing that may not have been evident previously. You can leverage this data and information to your benefit and improve savings on gaining unit compliance with current purchasing agreements as well as opening the door to future agreements.
So, as you can see, in a time where every dollar counts, there are huge opportunities for multi-chain operators to gain significant savings by putting a rebate & compliance performance management solution in place. Answers Systems ValuTrak® solution continues to provide timely and accurate information that allows our clients to improve their ROI and agreement profitability. On a yearly basis, Answers Systems continues to track over $1 billion in purchases, roughly 50 million cases of product, and $10 million in rebates for our ValuTrak® clients. Contact Answers Systems today for more information or a free demonstration!
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