At a Glance
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- Dispensary co-op vendor marketing credits reimburse you for vendor-funded promotions
- Vendor agrees to fund a discount, you run the promotion, the platform generates the credit memo
- Promotion terms, dates, and funded amounts are recorded before the promotion starts
- Credits are generated from actual POS sales data during the promotion period
- If the vendor pre-approved the promotion and doesn't respond within 10 calendar days of delivery, the credit moves forward — applied automatically for vendors you've set to auto-approve on silence, or staged as Ready for Approval for your one-click sign-off otherwise
How Dispensary Co-Op Vendor Marketing Works
A dispensary co-op vendor marketing credit is the amount a vendor owes you after funding a promotional discount on their product. The concept is simple: the vendor wants to move more product, so they agree to cover part of a price reduction. You run the promotion in your store, sell more units at the discounted price, and the vendor reimburses the difference through a credit memo. The platform records the agreement, tracks the promotion, and generates the credit when the promotion ends.
Co-marketing is one of the most effective ways to move slow-moving inventory while strengthening vendor relationships. Our credit recovery system makes sure the financial side is handled cleanly, so neither party has to chase the other.
How a Co-Marketing Promotion Works
- Proposal — You or the vendor proposes a promotion through ShelfSpace. The proposal includes the product, discount amount, promotion dates, and how much the vendor will fund.
- Acceptance — The other party reviews and accepts the terms in their portal. Both sides see the same agreed-upon numbers.
- Promotion runs — You apply the discount in your POS. The platform tracks units sold at the promotional price during the promotion window.
- Credit generated — When the promotion ends, the platform calculates the vendor's share based on actual sales data and generates a co-marketing credit memo.
- Approval — ShelfiQ sends the credit memo and the vendor has 10 calendar days from delivery to approve it, approve a specific amount, or decline. Because the promotion was pre-approved, the credit moves forward if they don't respond after the response window — applied automatically for vendors you've set to auto-approve, or staged as Ready for Approval for your one-click sign-off otherwise — and the vendor keeps 60 days to dispute it afterward.
Only co-marketing the vendor pre-approved is billed by default, at a flat $20 per credit memo when it's applied — no commission, no percentage of what the vendor funds. See how ShelfSpace billing works.
Why Co-Marketing Credits Get Missed
Without a system, co-marketing deals are often agreed to over text messages, phone calls, or in-person conversations. The promotion runs, but nobody follows up on the vendor's share. Or the vendor disputes the amount because there is no shared record of the original terms.
The platform solves both problems. The promotion terms are recorded before the first discounted sale happens, and the credit is calculated from verified POS data. There is nothing to argue about because both sides agreed to the terms up front and the sales numbers are pulled from your point-of-sale system. See creating promotions for more on how to set up a co-marketing deal.
Co-Marketing and Consignment Vendors
Co-marketing credits work with both wholesale and consignment vendors. For consignment vendors, the credit is deducted from the next settlement on the vendor's cadence. For wholesale vendors, it offsets the next AP check. Either way, the deduction is itemized on the payment stub with a reference to the promotion and credit memo number.