A rebate is similar to a discount used to drive sales and boost customer loyalty. Whenever a buyer purchases something and the seller gives a portion of the purchase price back to them in the form of a delayed discount, this money paid back is known as a rebate. Generally, rebates can be classified into those paid out to customers or buyers and those paid by suppliers to merchants and distributors.

Rebate management
Such a concept involves recording supplier agreements, tracking purchases, sales, rebate accruals, and ongoing/past rebate claims. It is an all-encompassing process that includes creating a rebate policy, enrolling customers, forecasting revenue and profitability due to the policy, and assessing the program’s effectiveness.

Rebates and competent rebate management are major profit generators in small and medium-sized businesses. At the same time, minute, consistent improvements can enable large corporations to boost their revenues by several million dollars. Therefore, all kinds of businesses need to have a plan and process in place. In addition, companies must constantly assess and scrutinize their existing rebate management process and make changes to keep improving it consistently.

Benefits
As implied earlier, rebate management can be highly beneficial for companies of all sizes. Several organizations use automated systems and software tools for this purpose. Here are some benefits you should know:

Improves overall customer experience
Customers generally buy products and services from organizations with a well-defined purchase rebate program. To achieve this coherence, companies need faster and more accurate sales quotes and information released through various platforms (website, social media, paid adverts, auto-generated emails, and others) to let customers know about the rebates and discounts offered. Moreover, factors such as rebate thresholds must also be clearly communicated to the customers to prevent disputed rebate claims. Such coherent communication and organization vastly improve customers’ experience of buying certain products and services from any given company. Additionally, attractive discounts, rebates, and well-organized customer service improve the relationship between buyers and suppliers.

Streamlines processes
Rebate management eliminates repetitive tasks and processes, especially when it is automated. As a result, the amount of data that needs to be fed into such software tools is lesser, making data collection and analysis much more efficient for organizations. More importantly, automating data collection and analysis regarding past rebate policies and success rates enables teams involved in accounting, marketing, and sales to focus on their core functions, thereby increasing their productivity. Most importantly, rebate management, especially when it is automated, streamlines tasks such as purchase tracking, rebate accrual monitoring, and claims management. As a result, human error is eliminated from the process.

Increases profitability
Improved customer experience and streamlined rebate management enable companies to increase their number of loyal customers over time. This factor exponentially boosts revenue and profitability.

Best software options
As specified earlier, software and automation solutions are available for rebate management. A couple of popular ones include

Vendavo Rebate and Channel Manager
Vendavo’s intelligent system comes with incredible functions such as audit trail checks, e-signing of documents, automated rebate facilitation, and others. It also helps companies set up their entire rebate channel to reduce accidental errors.

Vistex
Vistex’s fast system helps organizations identify and compute figures related to incentives, rebates, claims, and paybacks with minimal lag. It is also one of the best tools to streamline accrual management for organizations daily.