The next range review is about six months away. Your case for it starts this week.
Ranging is one decision by one buyer. Holding the shelf is hundreds of small ones: the scan report nobody reads, the promo nobody modelled, the deduction nobody disputed. We make those decisions your account's full-time job instead of your Tuesday night.
The problem
~6 months
between reviews, and the number on the table is your rate of sale
~2 weeks
of notice before the invitation to present arrives
1 to 5%
of invoice value in chargebacks, most disputable if someone is watching
The first purchase order feels like the finish line. It is the entry ticket. Categories are reviewed roughly every six months, the invitation to present can arrive with about two weeks' notice, and the number on the table at that meeting is your rate of sale, the units each store sells per week. Not your brand story. Not the launch. The rate of sale, against the products beside you on the planogram, the retailer's map of what sits where on the shelf.
The full picture
Most founder-led brands run this part of the business out of a portal login they check monthly and a buyer relationship that consists of replying to emails. The retailer sends scan data every week. Trade spend, the rebates and promotional allowances deducted before you are paid, keeps deducting whether anyone reconciles it or not. Chargebacks run 1 to 5 percent of invoice value when compliance slips, and most of them are disputable if someone is watching. Usually nobody is watching, because the founder is also running the DTC business, the supply chain and everything else.
We will say the uncomfortable part plainly. Sometimes the data says a line is not working, and the right move is to fix it or pull it before the buyer does it for you. Account management is not defending every SKU forever. It is knowing your numbers better than anyone else in the room, every week, so nothing at a review is a surprise.
Who this is for
- Brands already on shelf at a major retailer whose rate of sale is drifting and whose review prep currently starts when the buyer's email arrives
- Founders doing their own account management at night, off a portal login and a spreadsheet last opened at the previous review
- First PO Program clients moving from ranged to reordered, where this work is the third stage of the partnership
- Brands whose trade spend and deductions have never been reconciled line by line against what was actually agreed
- Teams preparing a range-expansion case and wanting it built on scan data rather than optimism
What we do
- 01
Read your retailer scan data every week and translate it into the three numbers that decide reviews: rate of sale, distribution, and stock-on-hand at the DCs
- 02
Build and maintain your review case continuously, so when the roughly two weeks' presentation notice lands, the pack already exists and the fortnight is spent rehearsing, not building
- 03
Model every proposed promotion before you agree to it: the funding, the expected uplift, and what the deal actually costs per incremental unit, in writing, before you sign the promo form
- 04
Manage the promotional calendar end of quarter to end of quarter, including co-op commitments, so trade spend is a plan you set rather than a deduction you discover
- 05
Reconcile deductions and chargebacks against your trading terms line by line, and dispute the ones that do not match, with the paperwork
- 06
Run a scheduled buyer cadence: agenda sent before every meeting, minutes after, so the relationship is a record rather than a memory
- 07
Feed a rolling demand forecast to the fulfilment side so DC-window orders are cut from real sell-through, not last quarter's guess
- 08
Build range-expansion and new-line cases from your own scan data when the numbers support one, and tell you plainly when they do not
Australian Glow, the founder's brand. Campaign imagery.
On shelf is the start. Sell-through is the job.
Deliverables
- A monthly trading report in plain numbers: rate of sale by SKU by banner, trend against the category, and the three actions we are taking about it
- A review pack maintained continuously and ready on two weeks' notice, built to the format your buyer's category team actually reads
- A promotional calendar with a per-promotion profit model attached to every slot, agreed before any promo form is signed
- A deduction and chargeback log showing every claim, whether it matched your trading terms, and what we disputed
- A rolling 13-week demand forecast, shared with the Melbourne warehouse that ships your orders
- Minuted records of every buyer interaction, so nothing about your account lives only in someone's inbox
How it is bought
$4,000 a month to be represented
- Includes all onboarding and fulfilment set-up.
- For First PO Program clients, this is what the 24-month partnership does after the first purchase order lands.
- Brands already ranged elsewhere can engage this stage directly, with the scope sheet agreed before any work starts.
- Fulfilment through our Melbourne warehouse is available but not required; where used, the rates are fixed on your scope sheet, with an audit right in your contract.
If a number is not on the pricing page or your scope sheet, you do not pay it.
The full terms, in prose
Account management is the third stage of the system, Retail Reordered, and for First PO Program clients it is what the 24-month partnership does after the first purchase order lands. Pricing follows the same law as everything else we sell: representation is $4,000 a month, including all onboarding and set-up for fulfilment, fixed on your scope sheet before you sign. Brands already ranged elsewhere can engage this stage directly; the scope sheet is agreed the same way, before any work starts. Fulfilment through our Melbourne warehouse is available but not required, and where used the rates are fixed on your scope sheet before you sign, with an audit right in your contract. If a number is not on the pricing page or your scope sheet, you do not pay it.
The process
- 01
Account audit
We read your trading terms, twelve months of scan data, your deduction history and your promo history before we form a view. The output is a one-page baseline: your real rate of sale, your real trade spend percentage, and the gaps. You keep it whatever you decide next.
- 02
Reporting rhythm
Weekly scan-data reads start immediately. The first monthly trading report lands within the first cycle, in your numbers, with the trend against category and the actions attached. From here, nothing about your account is a surprise.
- 03
Review calendar locked
We map your category's review dates and work backwards. The review pack is a living document updated monthly, so the roughly two weeks' notice becomes rehearsal time. The buyer decides the outcome. We make sure you walk in with a case instead of a hope.
- 04
Promotional control
Every proposed promo gets a model before it gets a signature: funding, forecast uplift, cost per incremental unit. Some promos are worth it. Some buy volume at a loss. You will know which is which before you commit, not at reconciliation.
- 05
Deduction reconciliation
Every claim against your invoices is checked against your trading terms. Chargebacks run 1 to 5 percent of invoice value when compliance slips, and the disputable ones get disputed, with evidence. Recovered money is reported in the monthly trading report like any other number.
- 06
Forecast and expand
The rolling forecast keeps the DC windows fed from real sell-through. When your scan data supports a range-expansion case, we build it for the next review. When it does not, we say so, because a failed new line costs more than a delayed one.
Questions founders ask
We are already ranged. Do we need the Retail-Readiness Sprint first?
No. The Sprint exists for brands deciding whether and how to enter. If you are on shelf, the account audit in step one does the equivalent job on live data, and its scope and fee are fixed on your scope sheet before you sign anything. You keep the baseline document either way.
Do you deal with our buyer directly, or through us?
Either, and it is set in the scope sheet. The team behind this has sat in buyer meetings as the agent across Chemist Warehouse, Woolworths, Coles and Priceline, and where we attend, we attend as your named agent, disclosed. Past rangings do not promise future ones. The buyer decides, at every review, and our job is the quality of the case on the table.
What happens if the data says our product is not selling?
We tell you, in the monthly report, before the buyer tells you at a review. Then there are real options: price, promotion, pack size, position, or in some cases pulling the line and protecting the rest of the range. What we will not do is spend your retainer defending a number we both know is wrong. Bad news early is cheaper than bad news at the review.
Do we have to move our fulfilment to Bettapak?
No. Account management works alongside whoever ships your orders. If your DIFOT, delivered in full and on time, starts costing you chargebacks or standing at reviews, we will show you that number and the options, and our Melbourne warehouse is one of them, with rates fixed on your scope sheet before you sign.
The next step
Send your last two trading reports and your trading terms through the form below. We will read them and tell you what an account audit would examine, and at what fixed number, before you commit to anything. One conversation, no funnel.
Send your trading reportsThe form is at the bottom of this page and lands straight in our inbox.
Ready to find out whether your brand is built for retail?
Start with a focused conversation about your category, commercial model and target retailers. We will tell you what is ready, what is missing and whether we are the right partner.
No generic sales pitch. A practical first conversation about your retail opportunity, and a reply within two business days.
