Dispensary Co-Op Vendor Marketing Credits

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. ShelfSpace 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 platform makes sure the financial side is handled cleanly, so neither party has to chase the other.

How a Co-Marketing Promotion Works

1. 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.
2. Acceptance — The other party reviews and accepts the terms in their portal. Both sides see the same agreed-upon numbers.
3. Promotion runs — You apply the discount in your POS. ShelfSpace tracks units sold at the promotional price during the promotion window.
4. Credit generated — When the promotion ends, ShelfSpace calculates the vendor's share based on actual sales data and generates a co-marketing credit memo.
5. Approval — The vendor has 7 days to review. If they do not respond, the credit is approved by default and applied to their next payment.

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.

ShelfSpace 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 weekly settlement. 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.