Black Friday can make—or quietly drain—your year. Not because shoppers didn’t show. Because your price files, promo proofs, and terms confirmations didn’t lock before the doors opened, when they’re off, you don’t get a few invoice issues—you get a mass event: price variances across every store, on every unit, all weekend long. That’s how great promotions turn into invoice claims on Monday.

If you’re staring at December 31 and thinking, “We’ll clean up deductions after the holidays,” here’s the friendly nudge: don’t. A slow dispute now becomes a write-off later.

Peak inbound season is a gift to sales—and a stress test for your operation. When docks are stacked and teams are sprinting, shortage deductions  climb. Not because your product vanished, but because counts, paperwork, or scans didn’t line up under pressure. Let’s keep your December revenue from becoming January deductions. Here’s how to tighten counts, Proof of Delivery (POD) , and research packages so you can prevent  shortages—and win  disputes when they pop. What’s at sta

Holiday promotions should lift velocity and win new households. Too often, they lift deductions  instead. The difference usually isn’t intent—it’s structure. When limited-time offers (LTOs)  aren’t framed cleanly, co-operative advertising (co-op) , market development funds (MDF) , and scan allowances  can boomerang months later as retail chargebacks  and post-audit recovery  headaches. Let’s keep your promo dollars working for  you—not against you. What’s really at stake Marg

January is busy for returns. The debits don’t always arrive in January, though—that’s the trap. Post-audit claims can surface months (even years) after the original transaction, when AP audit teams and third-party firms comb through pricing, allowances, and returns policies. Scale matters: retailers expect $849.9B  in returns this year, with online return rates significantly higher than in-store. Some reports peg online returns around 19%+  in 2025; other analyses show mid-20

Black Friday moves fast—and so do deductions. High-velocity sales amplify tiny setup mistakes into thousands of small, painful hits on your remittance.

Promotions drive trial. They also drive split shipments, display kits, and hurry-up orders. That’s the perfect storm for “shortages” that weren’t actually short. Shortage deductions ramp during peak because receiving teams are processing more cartons in less time. Accurate ASNs  and carton labels meaningfully reduce those errors by matching what arrives to what was ordered—before it hits the dock. Multiple sources show ASNs cut receiving errors and costs by aligning contents,

Holiday sales feel great. Holiday returns don’t. The weeks after Black Friday through January generate a tidal wave of merchandise returns—and with it, a spike in excessive defectives, RTVs, price-variance disputes, OTIF-related claims, and post-audit deductions that quietly erode supplier margins.

Black Friday is a sales rocket… and a chargeback magnet. When promo calendars compress, orders surge, and fulfillment windows shrink, even well-run suppliers see OTIF, shortage, labeling, and promo-settlement deductions pile up fast.

Q4 is loud. Promotions stack, shipment windows tighten, and returns surge. That’s when “little” problems—late trucks, label mismatches, muddled price files—turn into OTIF penalties, SQEP/operational chargebacks, price-variance disputes, and post-audit claims that erode your profit just as you’re trying to close the year.

Open Call is buzzing—a two-day sprint (Oct. 7–8) with nearly 600 entrepreneurs, ~750 pitch meetings, and a lot of hopeful “golden ticket” selfies around Walmart’s new home office campus in Bentonville. It’s a serious platform to reach Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Walmart.com.

For many mid-market suppliers, shortages make up 40–70% of deduction volume. The fastest wins don’t come from analyzing everything—they come from triaging the few lanes, DCs, and SKUs that drive most of the pain.

Returns aren’t just refunds—they’re fees. When return ratios cross certain guardrails, many retailers assess handling, freight, and processing add-ons. That “18% surprise” doesn’t show up in your promo plan, but it absolutely hits your P&L.

December closes clean. February lands a six-figure claim. It’s not just you. Many retailers run their deepest promo and freight...

Retailers operate on week-based fiscal calendars that don’t always match your month-end close.

Black Friday is supposed to be a sales rocket. For many suppliers, it’s also a deductions magnet. Why? Because promotions multiply risk....

The big idea: if you want fewer retail deductions, faster closes, and calmer audits, you don’t start with deductions—you start by building an audit-ready finance team.

Retail chargebacks are like speaking a foreign language—only no one bothered to give you the dictionary.

You closed the books. The year looked solid. Everyone celebrated hitting margin goals. Then six months later, a notice lands on your...

Every supplier is looking for ways to manage deductions faster and more efficiently. Enter retail deduction software. These tools promise automation, visibility, and streamlined workflows. And they do deliver value—up to a point.