Rebate Compliance Process for Wholesale Alliance
to Be Automated Within an Order Entry Application
CHICAGO – March 23, 2009- Software firm Ai2 announced the debut of a module to their POW® and POET® applications that will allow members of the WAM distributor network to track their customers’ rebate status from start to finish.
The module is named RECONSM, an acronym for Rebate Compliance Network. RECONSM is currently available exclusively to WAM partners as an add-on module to the POW® and POET® applications.
Retailers in the convenience store industry participate in thousands of manufacturer rebate programs per year. When a retailer hits a certain benchmark in specific items purchased, he is eligible for a rebate from a manufacturer such as Kraft or M&M/Mars. The sales representatives who service these accounts are responsible for telling each retailer how close or how far he is from program compliance. Until now, this process involved a combination of pens, paper, faxing and other manual processes.
Using data from InfoBate, distributors in the WAM network will now be able to calculate rebate data at the same time they are placing a customer’s regular weekly order. Each customer’s specific account information will be integrated into the POW® application so that a salesperson may access it with a few keystrokes. Ai2, WAM and InfoBate anticipate an increase in sales for each distributor, improved customer satisfaction and a smoother rebate process as a result of this implementation.
“We are very encouraged by this opportunity,” said Douglas Katich, CEO for Ai2. “The ability to display and share rebate information is going to add a significant and unique value to the sales rep-customer experience.”
InfoBate has been a leader in the data-tracking process for the distribution community for over 40 years. Their core mission is to simplify the collection of data between manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors. For more information about InfoBate, visit www.infobate.com.
WAM is a privately owned company based in Saginaw, Michigan. WAM was founded in 1986 with one distributor (Minter-Weisman) and today, represents 22 convenience-store distributors throughout the country, with 436 full-time sales reps. WAM represents 47 participating manufacturers and 18,000 convenience stores making $4 billion in sales annually. For more information about WAM, visit www.wam-aim.com.
Ai2 is a 23-year old family owned and operated software firm headquartered in downtown Chicago. Their solutions are used by over 35,000 users each day to capture over 30 billion dollars in sales each year. Ai2 handles the order entry process for some of the nation’s largest distributors in foodservice, convenience store, grocery, beverage, hardware, medical, beauty and industrial supply. For more information about Ai2, visit www.ai2.com.
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Ai2 Media Contact
Ray Walsh
(800) 835-3200