The Wholesale PO Report · 2026 Edition
Where CPG brands lose margin.
What the published record says about the distributors, deductions, deadlines and finance teams behind every wholesale order, and a working framework for brands in their first years of national distribution.
Prepared by EasyOps
- Evidence base
- 26 cited sources
- Written for
- Founders, operators, controllers, sales leads
- Publication
- Public report · No customer data used
20%
of CPG revenue is spent on trade promotions, and 72% of U.S. promotions lose money11
44 days
is how long a typical deduction stays unresolved17
60%
of brands get back less than half of what they dispute13
Inside the report
The work behind every wholesale order.
Seventeen pages of sourced numbers and practical steps. Every number carries a source, and the report identifies vendor-published benchmarks as directional rather than hard facts.
- 01
The channel has already moved
Two distributors are the door to national retail, and small brands are walking through it.
- 02
The gross-to-net gap
How much of an order actually turns into cash.
- 03
The clock and the rulebook
Fees, deadlines, and how long your money stays in dispute.
- 04
Who owns the order
Four people, one problem, and what finance leaders want from AI.
- 05
What to do about it
Six steps for a one or two person ops team.
From the report
“The money is lost after the order is placed, not before it.”
A purchase order looks like money in the bank. It is not. It is a promise to pay. The amount that arrives is almost always smaller than the amount on the order.
Prepared by
EasyOps
Public report · September 2026
17 pages · 26 cited sources
Read the complete Wholesale PO Report.
The full report includes the gross-to-net math, retailer deadlines, the four people who feel an order go wrong, and six practical steps for a small operations team.