Have you ever bought an item online, only for it to arrive and be in poor condition?
That scenario is not ideal for most people, and it will usually lead to the buyer asking the seller what happened. Perhaps the item was dropped in transit. Or maybe the item was not of excellent quality to begin with!
Either way, in a smaller-scale scenario (and with great customer service), the seller will provide a refund to the buyer and may offer to replace the item that they purchased.
Scaling up a bit, what happens if you are a wholesaler who is running into issues with delivery times? Suppose you sell meat to restaurants, but due to shipping errors, when the meat arrives, it is no longer in good condition. To help smooth over the relationship between you as a wholesaler and the buyer, you may want to offer a rebate. In 2024, you may even want to up the operation a notch and invest in rebate management software!
In this article, you will be guided through what rebates are, what rebate management software is and how it can benefit your business. So, read on and learn more!
What is a Rebate in Business?
Starting with a definition, a rebate in business is a reduction offered on goods when they arrive at the seller’s destination late or if the goods are of poor quality. This sounds like a refund, but there are some differences. For example, a rebate is not deducted from the initial invoice amount as a refund is, as the difference is made up after the sale has gone through and is paid back to the buyer, usually after the payment has been received. So, rather than appearing on an invoice, a rebate will appear on a business trading account and income statement.
This, as you can imagine, can be hard to manage, and this is why so many businesses are opting to use rebate management software: to ensure that any rebates are digitally managed and given to the buyers. This software reduces human error and ensures that everything between the business that sells items and its clients remains positive, thereby keeping trade going!
The majority of rebate management software is based on a cloud system, so the benefits of using one of these system types will be focused on in this article.
Benefits of Using Rebate Management Software
With that in mind, what are some of the pros of investing in rebate management software for your business?
Boosts Loyalty
Nobody wants to lose money, especially if they are a small business that just wants to buy items from a supplier.
It may just be the case that, in the shipping of goods from point A to point B, the goods become damaged, or there is a delay. When the goods arrive, the buyers are annoyed and want a solution. By investing in rebate management software, you can boost the loyalty of your customers simply because rebate processing is done automatically, which allows for a faster payout. So, your customers won’t be waiting around for you to send them the money they are owed, boosting their opinion of your enterprise!
Reduces Workload
If you are a stock manager or the manager of a business, you don’t really want to be spending your time working out which rebate payment goes where or trying to figure out reduced prices for a client.
When it comes to rebate management software, it can speed up the process by allowing you to automate any rebate payments, assess customer eligibility or manage payments. Think of all the time you will save simply by not crunching numbers! This will reduce the administrative burden on staff and will allow you to focus all of your time on your business ventures.
Minimizes Error
OK, so anyone who has ever worked in any field of business knows that human error is something that happens a lot. In many cases, there is no major issue, but when it comes to finances, a decimal point in the wrong place can be more than enough to derail a smaller-scale business.
By investing in rebate management software, you can ensure that human error is left out of the equation. These software systems will also allow you to keep track of the data as needed, and best of all, none of it will get lost in the process!
Immediate Access
Do you remember days gone by when spreadsheets were the only option people had for keeping track of business expenses? Such fun! Or not! Spreadsheets had the issue of being large and complex to look through, with even the most seasoned Microsoft Excel professionals getting it wrong at times!
Well, if you are operating with a spreadsheet, you may want to seriously think about a core reason to invest in a rebate management system; the data is available immediately. Many rebate management systems are cloud-based software, which is accessible wherever you are from almost any device. All you need to do is create a password and sign in! This saves time and effort, and with the simple-to-use layouts, you won’t be searching long for any data you need to access.
Accurate and Insightful Reports
Going back to the best management of staff time, most teams cannot afford for the finance team to spend a week collating the data needed to create a report on sales and rebates. Also, most IT teams won’t be able to regularly update and manage these processes. Luckily, the majority of rebate management systems are equipped with all of the financial reporting features that you will ever need to help you and your team keep track of everything as they need to and to help you make better financial choices.
This will help you each month and, of course, come tax season! These systems will also ensure that your commercial teams can analyze the data sets as needed, which will help you to focus on potential areas that need attention.
