At one time I worked for a Membership Warehouse business similar to Costco. I designed a Rebates Receivable system which tracked purchases and rebate agreements the comany had negotiated with its vendors. When certain quotas were reached, a rebate was 'earned'.
What I'm suggesting is, the invoice may show the the same price being charged to large and small businesses alike. Behind the scenes, the larger businesses may receive cash back. Speculation, but I've seen it first hand. The biggest rebates given were on purchases such as automobile tires, IIRC. In any case the system tracked rebates of over $2 million annually. Not a large number, but nothing to sneeze at either in 1987.
Tom C.
Well, I'm a retail buyer. In the mid to late 90's I bought camera equipment for a chain of stores. And I can confirm without speculation that there is "back end" money. Sometimes it's in the form of target incentives, sometimes it's called markdown support, and sometimes it's called advertising co-op support. But it's there, and it adds up. I remember at one point Olympus was selling equipment where dealer cost was within a few percentage points of MAP, and the only profit to be had by the dealer was the backend stuff. I'm glad to have moved into an easier product. ;)
