Dispensary Vendor Promotion Setup

How Dispensary Vendor Promotion Setup Works

Creating a co-op promotion in ShelfSpace is a dispensary vendor promotion setup that both sides agree to before it goes live. Either the retailer or the vendor can propose, and the other party reviews and responds. Once both sides accept, the promotion activates on the start date and the platform tracks it through to the credit.

This page walks through the full process from proposal to credit generation. For a high-level overview of how co-op promotions work, see Co-Marketing Promotions. Promotions tie directly into our credit recovery service, where vendor-funded discounts become formal credit memos.

Step 1: Set the Terms

When creating a promotion, you define the following:

• Vendor (or retailer) — who you are running the promotion with
• Discount percentage — the customer-facing discount (e.g., 15% off all flower)
• Co-marketing split rate — the portion of the discount the vendor covers (e.g., 0.5 means a 50% vendor share). Optional: leave it blank to use your standing partnership split, or set a number to override it for this promotion.
• Start and end dates — the promotion window
• Product scope — all products from the vendor, or specific items
• Budget cap — optional maximum dollar amount the vendor will contribute

Step 2: Vendor Approval

Once you submit the proposal, the other party receives a notification in their portal and via email. In the portal they have two options:

• Approve — the promotion is locked in and will activate on the start date
• Decline — the promotion is cancelled

The in-portal response is approve or decline. If the two sides want to work out different terms first — a different discount, dates, or budget — they can do that over email or through ShelfiQ, then send the agreed proposal for approval.

Step 3: Promotion Goes Live

On the start date, the promotion is active. The platform tracks every sale of the promoted products using POS data from your POS integration. Both the retailer and vendor can see how the promotion is performing: units sold, total discount given, and budget usage.

If a budget cap was set, the monthly credit run stops accruing further co-marketing credit once usage reaches the cap, and the promotion shows a Budget Reached indicator. (ShelfSpace does not change the discount in your POS — the cap governs how much credit accrues, not a live pause of the in-store price.)

Step 4: Credit Generation

On the monthly credit-recovery cycle, the platform calculates the vendor's share of the promotional discount — classifying below-keystone promo sales in the window into the pre-approved co-marketing bucket, up to any budget cap — and generates a co-marketing credit memo. The credit memo goes through the standard approval workflow — the vendor reviews it and can accept or dispute before it is applied to their next payment.

Creating Promotions Through ShelfiQ

Vendors can propose promotions directly through ShelfiQ using natural language. For example: "Propose a 20% off promotion with Mountain High for all flower, starting April 1 through April 30, with a $2,000 budget cap." ShelfiQ creates the proposal and sends it to the retailer for approval. See What ShelfiQ Can Do for more on promotion tools.

Tracking Impact After the Promotion

The platform records each promotion's performance from your POS sales data — total units moved, the discount given, and the net cost to the vendor after credits are applied. Both sides can use that record to decide whether to run the promotion again.