Fluid's Partnership With Coca-Cola

Fluid is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Coca-Cola, a collaboration aimed at optimizing B2B payment processes for distributors, sales teams, and retailers. By automating manual tasks, minimizing cash risks, and enhancing cash flow visibility, this initiative will streamline operations and drive efficiency across the Coca-Cola value chain.

Challenges For Distributors

Distributors face intricate B2B payment challenges that can significantly impact their operations and financial performance. For instance, managing the sheer volume of transactions with numerous retailers, each with its own payment preference can overwhelm manual processing systems. This not only increases the risk of costly errors and delays but also necessitates inefficient cash-handling practices - introducing security concerns and operational inefficiencies that can weigh down a distributor's business.

To add to this complexity, reconciling payments from a multitude of sources, each with varying payment methods, becomes a logistical hassle. This often results in a lack of real-time financial visibility, making it difficult to track cash flow accurately and make informed business decisions.

How Fluid Helps Distributors

Cash Flow Optimization

By offering flexible payment options through its platform, Fluid helps distributors enhance their cash flow position. When distributors provide their clientele with their preferred payment method, B2B customers are more likely to have a smoother buying experience leading to increased average order value (AOV) and improved financial stability.

Streamlined Settlements

Manual reconciliation processes that often involve a lot of paperwork can be time-consuming and error-prone. Fluid's platform automates and streamlines settlements where distributors can update data manually based on the situation, reducing operational overheads and freeing up valuable resources.

Risk Mitigation

The inherent risks associated with the misuse of cash by sales, and human errors are minimized through Fluid's digital payment solutions. Through the use of transparent, digital transactions, distributors promote organizational transparency and facilitate informed decision-making at all levels.

Challenges For Sales Teams

Coca-Cola's sales teams encounter distinct B2B payment challenges that can directly impact their sales performance and target achievement. For instance, collecting payments from a large number of retailers, especially those reliant on traditional payment methods like cash or checks, can be inefficient and prone to human errors, which can disrupt cash flow, and negatively impact the overall sales cycle.

Moreover, with multiple sales representatives handling transactions across a diverse retailer base, maintaining accurate records and reconciling payments with corresponding sales orders can become complex and time-consuming. It is estimated that sales teams spend 30% of their time on cash collections, leaving less time to sell, and achieve quotas earlier.

How Fluid Helps Sales Teams

Streamlining Payment Collections

By automating payment reminders and notifications, Fluid frees sales representatives from time-consuming administrative tasks. Fluid's portal has the option to send reminders to retailers on upcoming payments and a dedicated Invoice tab that allows sales teams to identify key bits of information such as invoice numbers and amounts, when the invoices are due, and the outlet name.

Real-Time Payment Notifications

Since sales teams often struggle with keeping accurate payment records due to the sheer volume of transactions, real-time payment updates facilitate transparent and proactive invoice management regarding upcoming payments and any outstanding invoices. This smooth monitoring of workflow enables them to redirect their focus toward core sales activities, fostering increased productivity and revenue generation.

Track Aging

The 'Aging' tab provides a comprehensive overview of outstanding receivables, segmented by individual outlets and their respective credit terms. Should sales teams require offline access to this data, the 'Export' function allows for seamlessly downloading a consolidated summary in Excel format.

Challenges For Retailers

Handling cash payments and managing paper checks create multiple challenges for Coca-Cola retailers. These methods introduce security risks, increase the likelihood of errors and delays, and ultimately add unnecessary complexity to their operations. Moreover, reconciling invoices from multiple distributors with varying payment terms can also be cumbersome and error-prone, particularly for businesses with limited resources.

The lack of real-time payment visibility in manual processes often create ambiguity, hindering efficient cash flow management and making it challenging to stay informed about payment statuses. Additionally, being restricted to a limited range of payment options can create friction in transactions and potentially deter clients who prefer alternative payment methods.

Late payments can often strain relationships with distributors and create inventory gaps, impacting sales and customer satisfaction.

How Fluid Helps Retailers

Security

High-value wholesale payouts inherently carry significant security risks. Large sums of money changing hands increase the potential for fraud, while data breaches threaten the confidentiality of sensitive financial information. Additionally, the complexity of large-scale transactions escalates the possibility of payment disputes, further disrupting business operations. Fluid helps retailers by employing a robust security framework essential for any B2B payment system to mitigate these inherent risks and ensure the integrity of transactions. Our regulation-compliant security measures employ secure logins that protect a user's financial data.

Cash Flow Management

Retail businesses must continually balance incoming and outgoing payments, navigate extended payment terms, and ensure adequate liquidity to support operations. This delicate equilibrium can be a constant source of concern for retailers.

Fluid's platform addresses these challenges by providing robust tools to optimize cash flow. By enabling businesses to track payments and accounts receivable in real time, Fluid offers enhanced financial transparency and control for retailers. Additionally, features such as live payment processing updates, automated reminders, and instant notifications help businesses to proactively manage their cash flow and strategically allocate working capital.

Flexible Payment Options

Some businesses, especially smaller or more traditional ones, may have limited payment infrastructure and only accept a few payment methods (like bank transfers or checks). This can force retailers to use methods they are less comfortable with or that are less efficient for their business. Fluid's platform allows retailers to check invoices and pay via multiple electronic payment options such as debit/credit cards, SG PayNow, and more to facilitate easy B2B payments. Using Fluid, the transactions are automatically reflected in the payment portal where retailers can access upcoming payment dates, and more.

Fluid B2B Payment Solutions

Fluid's partnership with Coca-Cola reinforces our commitment to helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) thrive in the B2B landscape. Through mitigating cash risks, optimizing cash flow management, and fostering sustainable growth, we envision a future where the B2B industry operates seamlessly, efficiently, and with the fluidity that our name represents.