The Company

Chadwell Supply is a family-owned distributor specializing in providing maintenance, repair, and operating supply (MRO) products to the multi-family industry. Their diverse product range spans from everyday essentials like toilet paper and light fixtures to larger items such as refrigerators and sinks. The product categories they cover are extensive, encompassing appliances, appliance parts, window coverings, electrical, lighting, hardware, HVAC, HVAC parts, janitorial, paint sundries, plumbing, and pool supplies.

Their Director of Supply Chain Management, John Janis, is an industry veteran with 25 years of experience. He leads a team of five category managers responsible for supplier negotiation, pricing, and rebate programs. Additionally, they have a buying team comprising thirteen buyers who play a vital role in ensuring inventory stock is well-stocked in each of their 20 locations and three distribution centers.

Member of AD

Chadwell Supply benefits significantly from its membership in AD, as it grants them greater purchasing power and access to rebate opportunities they might not have had otherwise. By being part of AD, they can engage in networking with other members, allowing them to exchange best practices and address current business challenges. AD facilitates this through biannual network meetings and continuous communication throughout the year.

A Simple Approach to Rebates

Chadwell Supply predominantly implements two types of rebates: fixed rebates and growth-based rebates. Additionally, they operate rebate programs with annual targets, growth target rebates, and co-op/marketing rebates. The payment frequency for these rebates varies, with some being paid quarterly and others on an annual basis.

As Janis tells us, “I like to keep the rebates as simple as possible. The more confusing it is leaving the opportunity to miss out on significant rebate dollars.”

He continues, “Rebates allow us to strengthen our relationship with our supplier partners and incentivize an increase in sales and purchases. Negotiating and maintaining rebates is crucial to our business and has allowed Chadwell Supply to use rebate funds to continue to grow the business.”

Strategic Supplier Collaboration

The category managers at Chadwell Supply prioritize suppliers based on tier levels, considering their critical to the business. Regular quarterly business reviews are conducted with tier 1 suppliers. During these meetings, various topics are discussed, including Year-to-Date (YTD) spend and target spend. This allows them to review rebate tiers and make adjustments if required. For suppliers in the top tier with significant spend, Chadwell Supply establish a partner relationship to further strengthen collaboration.

The Challenge

Tracking Rebates with a Spreadsheet

John says that in previous roles the marketing team was responsible for tracking supplier rebates, and they did it with an Excel spreadsheet. He found the same situation when he joined Chadwell Supply. “I won't say it was managed well, but it was managed,” John explains candidly. Sadly, this lack of visibility meant that his category managers couldn’t get sufficient visibility of their targets or even see if a rebate was owed to them. Their ERP (Great Plains) didn’t really have any rebate tracking capability either.

Janis says, "Prior to implementing Enable, our entire rebate management process relied on spreadsheets. Unfortunately, this approach provided limited visibility to my category managers, making it challenging for them to keep track of targets or determine if any rebates were owed to us. Additionally, they lacked forecasting capabilities and the ability to monitor spending effectively, limiting our ability to identify opportunities to qualify for higher tier rebates."

Missing Out on Rebate Dollars

John knew their inability to see what was happening with their rebates was causing challenges for the business. They were potentially missing out on deal earnings, weren’t being reimbursed on time and he even noticed that some margin erosions were going on because they weren’t including rebate dollars as part of their margin. It was time to make a change.

Janis tells us, “I quickly realized that Chadwell Supply were potentially losing out on deal earnings and straining supply relationships due to inadequate rebate management and tracking. There was also a concern that a supplier might owe us some rebate money that had gone unnoticed. This prompted me to take action and focus on improving our rebate processes to maximize earnings and ensure transparency with our supplier partnerships.”

The Solution

One Platform for All Our Rebate Management Needs

John was looking for a tool that could centralize agreements, allow Chadwell to collaborate with key partners, track spending and spending goals, and provide a single source of data. He said he wanted, “the ability to provide ownership with quick calculations on where we are with the current rebates and current spend”. But, most importantly, he wanted to be able to review how their current rebates are structured and negotiate changes, if necessary.

When they learned about Enable through one of their buying groups they saw a demo. That was all it took. “We believe that Enable is the solution to our rebate management software [needs],” says John.  

Since then, he says that his experience with the Enable team has been nothing but exceptional. He is full of praise for the implementation team and his customer success manager who he has great things to say about. “I believe she genuinely cares about our success in utilizing Enable to its fullest potential.”

More Strategic Supplier Conversations

The primary users of Enable are category managers, and they play a crucial role in entering payment information and tracking expenditures. This has significantly enhanced Chadwell Supply’s position during supplier meetings. Equipped with knowledge about spend levels, potential rebates owed, and the capability to review existing agreements for potential adjustments, their category managers can now attend these meetings well-prepared and informed, enabling more productive and successful negotiations with suppliers.

Janis says, “Category managers can easily pull up Enable and get the data they need. They can see total amount of spend, whether the business is up or down, what the forecasted tier rebate level is, and if the supplier owes rebate payment. It has provided them additional information needed when conducting supplier meetings and have improved relationships with their assigned suppliers.”

Uncovering Millions of Dollars in Rebate Opportunities

For Chadwell Supply, Enable has already helped them maximize returns from their suppliers. Ultimately, the goal is to turn the rebate function from being viewed as a cost center to a profit center.

Janis explains, “We have now been able to track and receive millions of dollars in rebate opportunities. Before using Enable, we missed out on thousands of dollars due to failing to reach tier levels or not receiving payments on time. However, with Enable, we have successfully established rebate programs with suppliers we previously had no such arrangements with, resulting in additional revenue for our organization.”