I was talking with a newsagent last week who had no idea the business was close to a step-up in card company rebates. The step-up is worth thousands if achieved. The thing is, they were denying themselves the step-up by preferencing other companies in some displays where their may company could have served the need.
Knowing how your card rebates are calculated and understanding the steps can help you make more valuable business decisions.
We identified this when we first bought our newsagency. The previous owners had spent about $3k with an alternative supplier to give them variety on Christmas cards and this cost us hundreds of dollars in extra rebates that should have been achieved (we were trading off their ordering having taken over just after Fathers Day). We focused on increasing rebates achieved to the point where for some years now have been able to mix in some other suppliers with impact on our main suppliers sales and rebates.