Coles automates small supplier payments ahead of Payment Times Reporting Act

As part of Coles Group’s commitment to deliver innovative support and reliable cash flow to their suppliers, the supermarket giant selected Earlytrade Verify to launch its small supplier payment program across its entire group.

Early Payments Suppliers Sustainability
November 23, 2020
2 Min Read

Earlytrade Verify is an end-to-end supply chain data analytics, segmentation, and supplier payment technology; customisable to automate data collection and reporting for any supply chain, responsible sourcing, or ESG strategy.

Verify exceeds precision and reporting requirements of the federal government’s Payment Times Reporting Scheme, enacted on 1 January 2020, and offers use case solutions for the Modern Slavery Act, Supply Nation initiatives, Indigenous and special interest suppliers.

As part of Coles Group’s commitment to deliver innovative support and reliable cash flow to their suppliers, the supermarket giant selected Earlytrade Verify to launch its small supplier payment program across its entire group.

As the first major food and liquor retailer to sign the Business Council of Australia’s Small Supplier Payment Code in December 2018, Coles Group publicly committed to paying its small suppliers within 30 days by 1 July 2020, six months ahead of the federal government Payment Times Reporting Scheme was to be enacted.

To ensure accurate, confidential, and efficient identification of qualified small suppliers, Coles teamed up with Earlytrade to enable suppliers to securely confirm their annual turnover of less than $10 million as per legislated government definition.

Coles’ existing small supply program was to pay anyone that we purchased under a million dollars with was classified as a small supplier. We just didn’t understand how we would be able to [reconcile that difference with the government definition]. Our alternative… was for anybody who we spent up to $10 million with, we shorten their payment terms, which was going to be a pretty big working capital hit for us.

Coles Group, General Manager, Finance

Coles Group deployed Earlytrade Verify across its entire group enabling suppliers to confidentially verify their small business status in minutes while providing a secure environment for the management of their sensitive financial information.

Earlytrade Verify was a way for us to understand who our small suppliers were… it really resulted in a win-win because we understood that we could be compliant with our external commitments and our suppliers didn’t have to give us any information.

Coles Group, General Manager, Finance

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