What would your accounts receivable (A/R) team do with 10 hours back every week? Or with past-due receivables cut by 75%? What about reducing paper checks by 97%—or keeping past-due balances at just 0.1% of total receivables?
These aren’t hypothetical numbers. They’re real results from real food and beverage distributors who decided to tackle their biggest A/R pain points head-on.
The distributors pulling ahead aren’t just collecting payments faster; they’re turning their A/R operations into a competitive advantage. In this post, we’ll share insights from seven leading food and beverage distributors. Seven different A/R operations—all with one thing in common: their adoption and utilization of a cloud-based A/R automation platform to address and eliminate A/R pain points—and the results speak for themselves.
So, what A/R pain points are holding the distribution industry back—and what are the leaders doing differently to pull their organizations ahead?
Let’s explore three primary pain points and how leading distributors are transforming their A/R operations to reduce DSO, increase cash flow, and modernize the customer payment experience.
For many distributors, past-due payments have long been viewed as an unavoidable part of doing business, but forward-thinking distributors are proving that “normal” levels of overdue payments are anything but normal when the right tools are in place.
One leading food and essentials distributor is a perfect example. By consolidating check, ACH, and credit card payments into a single, cloud-based platform, they reduced their past-due receivables from 28% to just 6% utilizing online payment and AutoPay solutions. Even as the company doubled its business volume, it hasn’t had to add a single A/R staff member, thanks to automated payment matching and cash application.1
“We’ve grown fast, but it hasn’t felt chaotic within our A/R operations—and that’s largely because of our use and trust in automation. If we doubled again tomorrow, we could handle it without adding headcount,” its controller explained.1
A beverage distributor achieved similar results after transitioning to online and mobile payment acceptance, successfully moving to a cashless operation. By leveraging online payments and a mobile remote deposit capture (mRDC) application, past-due accounts now make up just 0.1% of total receivables.2
Even distributors with aggressive customer growth are proving that faster payments are possible. A premier beverage importer and wholesaler, averaging 10+ new accounts every week, implemented online payment and AutoPay solutions to simplify the payment process for its customers. The results have been immediate: fewer collection calls and faster customer payments. As its credit and collections manager noted, "many customers in the distribution industry base how much they order on ease of payment.” 3
Past-due payments aren’t just a cost of doing business anymore—they’re a choice. The leaders solving this pain point aren’t chasing payments; they’re setting up streamlined integrated receivables systems that make payment processing effortless for customers.
Pain Point #2: Manual Payment Processing
Manual payment processing doesn’t just slow operations—it creates a ripple effect of inefficiencies. Every paper check that needs to be keyed in, every deposit that requires a special trip to the bank, and every hour spent reconciling payments takes valuable time away. The distributors pulling ahead aren’t just cutting hours—they’re completely rethinking how payments are collected and applied to customer accounts.
A regional foodservice distributor eliminated significant back-office inefficiencies after implementing a mobile check processing application. By enabling sales reps to collect and apply payments directly in the field, the distributor now saves an estimated 5 to 10 hours every week on check and electronic payment processing.4
For a beer and wholesale distributor, deploying advanced RDC and mobile RDC was equally transformative. Scanning and depositing checks on the spot reduced check float by at least a full day, allowing straight-through posting to its back-office system, and delivered positive ROI in less than a year—all while keeping its sales team focused on selling instead of chasing payments.5
Even at a national scale, the benefits of A/R automation are undeniable. A national beverage wholesaler implemented an online payment portal with AutoPay functionality, enabling 20,000 customers to actively manage their invoices and payments online. Their credit team now has real-time payment visibility, eliminating hours of manual monitoring while streamlining daily A/R operations.6
Another wholesale distributor took automation a step further by leveraging an AutoPay solution to simplify collections and eliminate manual posting. Today, 95% of its customers are enrolled in AutoPay, drastically reducing late payments.7
The gap between automated and manual operations isn’t measured in hours—it’s measured in growth. Every minute spent manually keying checks or reconciling payments is time your competitors are using to sell, serve customers, and scale growth. The distributors that embrace automation now are the ones pulling ahead.
Today’s distributors aren’t just modernizing their A/R operations for internal efficiency; they’re doing it because customers demand it—and the adoption numbers prove it.
One food distributor dramatically improved payment behavior after adopting online payments. Online payment adoption skyrocketed from 20% in its first year to more than 80% today, nearly eliminating paper checks (a 97% reduction) and shrinking its check-paying customers from 350 to just 10.1
A beverage importer and distributor saw a similar trend after launching its online payment portal, averaging 25 new customer activations every week—a sign that customers are eager to move away from paper checks when given the opportunity.3
“Silence is the sound of a happy customer base," its credit manager said, explaining that when customers can pay quickly, on their own terms, they pay on time.3
Customers are telling distributors what they want—fast, flexible, self-service payment options. Those who listen are getting paid faster and winning repeat business. Those who don’t risk becoming the distributor that’s harder to pay—and easier to replace.
____________________________
The distribution leaders solving these A/R pain points aren’t just improving back-office efficiency—they’re building a foundation for growth. Faster cash flow, fewer past-dues, and easier payment options aren’t just operational wins; they’re helping these companies scale without adding staff, reinvest in their businesses, and strengthen customer relationships.
____________________________
Download the full Success Stories to see how these results were achieved—and how you can replicate them.