Is Your Grocery Store Losing Money Without Realizing It?

How much margin is quietly slipping out your back door? In this Progressive Grocer webinar, Sade Santana, strategic grocery AP solutions consultant at Ottimate, and Nick Sarpolis, enterprise account manager at Ravyx, break down why independent and regional grocers overpay vendors by an average of $37,000 a year, and how to close the gap between receiving, buying, and accounting. With 26% of invoices containing at least one discrepancy, the two panelists walk through exactly how overpayment happens at the back door, why independent grocers are hit harder than large chains, and what it actually takes to catch price changes, promotions, and credits before they erode margin. What you'll learn in this webinar: Why grocers overpay vendors by an average of $37,000 a year, broken down with real math Why the back door is described as "an unregulated channel to a grocer's bank account" Why the backdoor receiver can't audit pricing, and why that's not their job How missed price changes can turn a 41% margin into a 36% margin without anyone noticing Why communication breakdowns between store-level and corporate teams cause the most overpayment How integration between POS, back-office systems, and accounting software closes the visibility gap The first warning signs that a grocer has a "backdoor visibility problem" A realistic timeline (four to eight weeks) for moving from paper-based receiving to automation How to build the ROI case for better systems to an owner or ownership group Chapters: 0:00 Welcome and introductions 1:54 Meet Sade Santana (Ottimate) and Nick Sarpolis (Ravyx) 2:22 Why grocers overpay vendors by $37,000 a year 5:20 What's happening at the back door today 7:00 Why the backdoor receiver is the first line of defense, not the auditor 7:38 Where communication breaks down between store and corporate 11:52 What it looks like when the owner is also the buyer 12:44 The math: how a missed price change erodes margin over time 14:52 The biggest risk of paper-based, disconnected systems 15:13 How better visibility speeds up decision-making 16:13 What visibility means at the store level in practice 16:35 Vendor communication during a pricing dispute or return 18:18 Why POS and back-office integration matters so much 20:14 Operational impact across receiving, buying, and accounting 23:51 First signs of a backdoor visibility problem 26:32 Future-proofing grocery operations 28:33 Audience Q&A begins 38:19 Realistic timeline: paper-based to automated receiving 40:19 Building the ROI case to your owner This session is built for independent and regional grocery operators, controllers, and finance leaders looking to protect margin without adding headcount. Learn more about Ottimate's AP automation for grocery at www.ottimate.com/industry/grocery/ *#AccountsPayable #APAutomation #Grocery #IndependentGrocers #Fintech #Ottimate #DSD #MarginProtection*