A strong sales report can create a false sense of confidence. Your team may have shipped more cases, expanded distribution, added new retail accounts, and generated record gross sales. On paper, the business appears to be growing. Yet if retailer deductions, chargebacks, returns, allowances, shortages, and compliance fees are quietly reducing what you collect, your financial results may tell a much different story. That's the difference between gross sales and collected reven

Retailers are moving fast right now. Really fast. Kroger reported digital sales growth of 20% in the fourth quarter, fueled by pickup, delivery, and partners like DoorDash, Instacart, and Uber Eats. Walmart is still investing heavily in supply chain automation as it reshapes how products move through its network.

1) Split-shipment confusion Holiday fulfillment is messy. Partial shipments are common. The dispute comes when the customer (or retailer’s system) treats “partial” as “missing.” What to save: shipment IDs, carton tracking, carrier scans by package, and timestamps showing each leg of fulfillment. 2) “Porch claims” and delivery disputes Package says “delivered.” Customer says “never received.” Retailers increasingly push for faster resolutions to protect customer experience—th

Explore the intricacies of Q1 2026 Supply Chain Risk: Freight, AI, and Deductions. Learn how deductions impact your business strategy.

Discover how to tackle promo deductions effectively and prevent margin leaks. Learn strategies to manage promo deductions in a tariff-heavy economy.

You know the drill. Everyone celebrates the holiday numbers: “Record Black Friday!” “Best Cyber Week ever!” “Christmas sell-through is way ahead of plan!” Then Q1 rolls around. Finance closes the books.Suddenly, the story changes

Year-end is when everyone wants something from you. Finance wants clean books. Supply chain wants frozen forecasts. Sales wants that last push to hit the number. Leadership wants a tidy story for the board. Somewhere in the middle of all this, deductions sit in a report tab called “later.”

On-Time In-Full ( OTIF ) is simple on paper and brutal in peak. A missed window here, a short-shipped pallet there—and suddenly you’re funding the retailer’s margin via chargebacks. Here’s the part most teams miss: OTIF isn’t won in the warehouse. It’s won in the calendar. A quick reality check. Across the industry, suppliers routinely see November–December carrier on-time performance ( OTP ) sag as capacity tightens and dwell times creep up. Even modest slippage can stack i