Black Friday Setup: Price Files, Terms, Proofs
- The HRG Team
- Nov 12
- 4 min read
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.
Let’s make sure that’s not your story.
What’s at stake (and why it snowballs fast)
A single missed file sync can create systemic price variance: stores sell at one price while the retailer’s system expects another. Multiply that by dozens of SKUs, thousands of stores, and a three-day event—and you’re staring at six-figure noise.
Here’s the kicker: invalid claims look valid if your evidence isn’t ready. Without a clean promo proof and a confirmed terms trail, A/P is left guessing, and guesswork rarely favors you.
Fictional illustration (for clarity):A mid-sized electronics brand launches a $20 Black Friday discount on two SKUs. The retailer’s item master applied the discount to one zone but not the others. Result: 9,400 units ring correctly, 6,100 don’t. Monday brings $122,000 in price-variance claims. The brand eventually proves the promo was national, but because no pre-file “promo proof pack” existed, the dispute lingers 70+ days—tying up cash during peak replenishment.
The Pre-Event “Hard Lock” Checklist (run this 7–10 days out)
Think of this as your pre-flight. Short. Brutal. Effective.
1) Price-file sync (Cost & Retail)
Match on the basics: UPC/EAN, pack, inner/ship, UOM (unit of measure), and taxability flags.
Effective dates: confirm start/stop dates and time-of-day (retailers may use calendar or business-day cutovers).
Zone coverage: verify every price zone in scope (yes, all of them).
Allowances baked or billed? If the promo requires an off-invoice allowance, confirm it’s in the file—not living in someone’s inbox.
Rounding rules: confirm how the retailer handles .49 vs .50 endings on rollbacks.
2) Terms confirmations (in writing)
Discount mechanics: percent vs dollar-off vs multi-buy; any exclusions or basket qualifiers.
Freight & defectives allowances: note rates for the event period (these drive “valid” vs “invalid” claims later).
Price protection clauses: if the consumer price changes during the event, who funds the delta?
Billback timeline: how and when the retailer will bill you (don’t learn this post-event).
3) Promo proof pack (your dispute starter kit)
What to include:
Final merchant-approved promo sheet (offer, SKUs, dates, zones)
Ad IDs / screenshots (digital + print)
Planogram notes if display pricing differs from shelf
System screenshots (retailer portal item pricing; approval tickets)
Email approvals (PDF them; inbox evidence goes missing at 2 a.m.)
Where it lives: one shared folder by Retailer → Event → SKU. Name files like you’ll need them in 90 days.
4) EDI sanity checks (because robots make human-sized mistakes)
Send/validate a test invoice if your partner allows it.
Confirm the price field feeding invoices matches the event price—not your regular list.
Check your credit/debit reason codes library and align them with the retailer’s codes so disputes route correctly.
5) Responsibility grid (fast handoffs win)
Sales: owns approvals and promo proofs.
A/P: owns invoice validation and claim triage.
IT/EDI: owns file sync and portal confirmations.
Rev Ops/Trade: owns allowances and terms memos.
72 Hours Before Go-Live: The “Green Light” Huddle
Fifteen minutes. Four questions. No slides.
Are all promo SKUs showing correct retail in the retailer’s portal across all zones?
Are off-invoice allowances present (or scheduled) for the same SKUs and dates?
Do we have the promo proof pack for each retailer in the shared folder?
Who’s on-call Friday–Sunday for price-variance pings (by retailer)?
If any answer is “no,” that SKU is red-flagged until fixed.
During the Event: Price Variance Early Warning
Keep it tight, not frantic.
AM & PM portal spot-checks on the top 10-volume SKUs.
Field reports: a simple form or Slack channel for reps to drop shelf photos and price tags (date-stamped).
Retailer dashboards: watch returns & price overrides; spikes = misfiles.
Escalation path: name the merchant and compliance contact in advance. Don’t hunt org charts on Black Friday.
Monday Morning After: Turn Claims into Credits—Fast
Auto-match first: tie any invoice claims back to the promo proof pack.
Batch disputes by code: “price variance” claims ride together when the evidence is identical.
Narratives matter: short cover note—“Event price approved (Ad#1234), national zones, effective 11/29–12/1; see attached portal screenshots and approvals.”
Age tracking: tag each claim with a dispute-window deadline (e.g., 90/120/180 days). Work reds first.
Fictional illustration (for clarity):A beverage supplier prebuilt proof packs and aligned terms two weeks ahead. Post-event, they received $84K in price-variance claims. Because every claim referenced the same approved ad ID and price file, A/P batched the dispute and recovered 92% within 21 days. The difference? A missing zone file on 14 stores—fixed with a quick credit memo. Clean, fast, done.
Quick diagnostics if you still see price variances
Zone not applied: variance clusters in certain regions only.
Date mismatch: registers flipped at midnight; your file starts at store open.
Pack confusion: case/inner mismatch; retail applied to wrong selling unit.
Allowance timing: price changed, allowance posted a day later; short-term “valid” variance becomes reversible with proof.
Light touch: where HRG can help
Harvest Revenue Group (HRG) builds promo proof packs, audits price-file coverage, and tunes invoice-claim playbooks so your team spends Monday reconciling credits—not writing off noise. If you want a pre-event “stress test,” we’ll walk your highest-risk SKUs and zones and flag what’s missing. Friendly, practical, human.
Your 10-Minute Black Friday Prep (TL;DR)
Confirm price files (dates, zones, units, rounding).
Lock terms (funding, billbacks, price protection).
Build promo proof packs (ad IDs, approvals, screenshots).
Name owners for Sales / A/P / IT.
Schedule daily spot-checks and an escalation path.
Black Friday is loud. Your operations should be quiet.
Glossary (quick clarity)
Price variance: When the invoiced price and expected retail/cost don’t match, triggering an invoice claim.
Promo proof: Documentation (approvals, ads, portal screenshots) that confirms agreed promo price, dates, and scope.
Invoice claims: Retailer-issued debits when their system believes price, terms, or delivery didn’t match agreement.