Blog written by Kayla Berry
A comic book distributor wanted to expand its retailer footprint, but traditional onboarding processes created operational bottlenecks and limited growth. By partnering with Fintech SBT, the company streamlined expansion and achieved a times 20 increase in quarter-over-quarter growth. Read the full story to see what’s possible with SBT.
Expanding into new retailers can be one of the fastest ways to grow, but it often requires significant time, resources, and operational effort. Not every opportunity turns into a successful partnership, and creating lasting relationships is not a streamlined process.
Fintech SBT helps vendors create a scalable path to growth by simplifying retailer onboarding, operational management, and program expansion.
Why SBT Creates Faster Retail Expansion Opportunities
Retailer onboarding varies in reporting requirements, reconciliation processes, data connections, and administrative work. Fintech SBT minimizes connections to a one-stop shop across retail partners. Payments and remittances become automated, price book management becomes shared, and operational processes all become centralized. Fintech SBT has over 150 retailers in 80,000 locations, and partnering with them takes days or weeks compared to months with by-sell programs in national retailers.
By reducing inventory risk for retailers, Fintech SBT makes it easier for vendors to grow with both new and existing partners. Because retailers do not have to take on the same level of product risk, they may be more open to expanding current programs, introducing new SKUs, and adding more vendor products across their locations. Vendors also gain better sales visibility, giving them the data they need to evaluate performance, support expansion conversations, and make more confident growth decisions.
Here are just a handful of current retailers partnered with Fintech:
Fantasy Farms: Protecting Retailer Trust While Scaling SBT Growth
As Fantasy Farms expanded its SBT program with Fintech, the company needed reliable data and operational support to protect retailer relationships at scale. Fantasy Farms, a distributor of fresh flowers, preserved roses, potted plants, and snacks, faced a unique growth opportunity when a major convenience store partner expanded through an acquisition, adding a significant number of new locations. During that growth, Fintech helped identify major gaps in POS reporting, delayed supplier payments, and limited visibility into critical sales data. When a retailer integrated new locations, Fantasy Farms faced disruptions that could have put partner trust at risk. Fintech SBT helped recover lost data, restore visibility, and maintain confidence between the retailer and vendor.
- Expanded from 1 retailer to 50 retailers
- Scaled to 143 SBT programs
- Grew from 10 SKUs to more than 160 SKUs across three product lines
- Reached more than 20,000 stores nationwide
You can read the full Fantasy Farms case study here.
Expand Faster with the Right Retail Connections
Topaz Distribution, a comic book and DVD distributor, was ready to grow their retailer footprint beyond their current relationships, until they realized the operational requirements they had to face. Topaz found limited willingness from retailers to risk loss from unsold inventory, especially without visibility into product trends across different regions and locations. Operationally, onboarding new retailers and store locations was logistically time-consuming and unsustainable for future endeavors.
Partnered with Fintech, Topaz expanded from 1 retailer to 18 in less than 12 months, increased stores from 790 locations to 5,190 locations, and achieved 2,013% quarter-over-quarter growth in Q3 following a Q2 launch. With Fintech’s infrastructure in place, Topaz was able to move faster, execute more cleanly, and manage new retailer programs with greater consistency. For more information about Topaz Distribution’s growth story, read on here.
SBT Is More Than an Operational Program
Fantasy Farms and Topaz demonstrate that SBT can be much more than inventory management and payment automation.
By reducing retailer risk, simplifying operations, and providing actionable sales visibility, SBT becomes a strategic growth tool that helps vendors unlock new retailer partnerships and expand with confidence.
Ready to expand your retail footprint? See how one Fintech SBT connection can help you simplify operations, connect with new retailer partners, and build a scalable foundation for growth.
