The two reports explore how volume rebates will continue to play a critical role in how manufacturers and distributors do business
Enable, the collaborative rebate management platform, today released its reports: 2022 State of Volume Rebates Reports for Distributors and 2022 State of Volume Rebates Reports for Manufacturers. With the growing volatility in our economic markets, volume rebates are becoming more critical than ever before. Enable created the two reports to understand the impact volume rebates have on business for both manufacturers and distributors. The results in the reports are based on a survey of 237 distributors and manufacturers across 14 industries including electrical, automobile parts, building materials, and plumbing.
The 2022 State of Volume Rebates Report for Manufacturers finds that rebates are a powerful marketing tool that manufacturers can use to leverage additional sales and drive increased loyalty from their customers. To do this, they must ensure their sales teams are properly educated on their rebate programs and that they are successfully communicating those programs to customers to increase program awareness. By keeping customers more informed, manufacturers believe that their rebate programs will be more successful.
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Improved analytics and reporting will be crucial for manufacturers looking to differentiate themselves from competitors and acquire new trading partners. Additionally, having access to reporting tools like dashboards help manufacturers better understand the success of their trading programs and make adjusting those programs easier.
Key insights from the report:
- 2 in 3 manufacturers offer annual rebate programs to influence long-term behavioral changes, but only 2% of manufacturers think their rebate strategy is very effective at achieving their goals.
- 42% of manufacturers believe that better analytics would help program effectiveness.
- 36% of manufacturers said their biggest concern about administering their rebates is that they don’t know the regular status of their rebates, or rebates don’t match calculations.
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The 2022 State of Volume Rebates Report for Distributors finds that rebates are critical for distributors, accounting for a significant portion of profits. The report details how distributors manage their success with rebates with detailed rebate strategies. These strategies should be underpinned by transparency between the distributor and either their supplier or buying group as well as good communication.
By tracking their progress toward their goals, distributors can more accurately forecast their profits for the year and avoid complex audits at year end. This eliminates any surprises, especially payouts that are smaller than anticipated. For distributors who are also suppliers for retailers, this means less of a chance of overpayment, too.
Key insights from the report:
- Nearly 2 in 3 distributors are part of a buying group, but 57% of distributors in buying groups don’t know the rebate amount earned from each manufacturer.
- On average, distributors have rebate programs with 50 of their top 100 manufacturers, representing two-thirds of sales.
- 25% of distributors report not knowing how they measure their rebate goals.
- 44% of respondents told us only purchasing and senior management are familiar with their rebate programs.