Retail

Outcomes

1

Stop duplicate, near-duplicate, and off-contract payments on the non-food long tail, the spend your PO controls don't cover

2

Unify fragmented intake from inboxes, portals, and outsourced AP into one governed workflow with exception prioritisation, not rubber-stamping at scale

3

Catch bank-detail change fraud and supplier impersonation before payment runs, with verification workflows built into approval

4

Free store and category managers from invoice admin: automate routine validation so approvers only see what actually needs their judgement

5

Add pre-payment governance alongside your existing AP stack, including during ERP change programs when controls matter most

The Problem

Industry realities that create leakage, backlog, and control gaps.

High invoice volume and small teams make 'speed approvals' the default control

Food PO flows may be controlled, but the non-food long tail is often manual and off-contract

Duplicate and near-duplicate invoices slip through mailbox and portal ingestion

Bank-detail change fraud and supplier impersonation thrive in email-driven processes

Outsourced AP plus distributed approvals creates gaps when validation is weak

How RedOwl Helps

Validate, verify, and govern: automate routine work while keeping real-time control on exceptions.

Key spend against contracts and terms where available, not workflow alone

Non-food categories such as maintenance, store builds, and marketing

Flag invoices that don't match the agreement in effect for that spend

Duplicates and near-duplicates before approval and payment

Bank-detail changes with verification workflows and anomaly flags

Centralised intake and triage across channels into one controlled flow

Approval matrices (DOA) and policy thresholds with audit trails

Governance overlay during ERP transitions, expanding integration over time

Key Use Cases

Click any use case to see when it applies, what it prevents, and who benefits.

How RedOwl Works

Every customer starts in a different place. The pattern below is consistent; data sources, sequencing, and rollout scope are shaped around your environment.

Discover and connect

We start with your stack, payment streams, and where control gaps show up today. Connection can be lightweight (exports or files) or integrated, depending on what you already run and how fast you need signal.

Validate what matters

You configure agents and policy rules around the checks that matter for your environment. RedOwl validates against contracts, master data, and thresholds before payment is approved, so scope follows your priorities rather than a fixed template.

Govern and scale

Exceptions route to the right people with evidence and governance scores. As confidence grows, you expand coverage, tighten rules, and deepen integrations at a pace that fits your team.

Industry Snapshot

Headline benchmarks on claims leakage, administrative burden, pre-payment detection gaps, and industry-wide fraud exposure.

Chargeback-affected invoices

5–15%

Of all supplier invoices to retailers are affected by some form of vendor-compliance chargeback deduction.

Credit Research Foundation

Revenue impact

2–10%

Of a manufacturer/supplier's overall revenue lost to retailer chargebacks and compliance deductions.

National Chargebacks Management Group (NCMG)

Invalid deductions

~20%

Of deductions taken by retailers from supplier payments are estimated to be invalid, yet most go undisputed.

SupplierWiki / industry deduction-recovery research

Revenue lost to occupational fraud

5%

The average share of annual revenue lost to occupational fraud. Billing schemes, fictitious invoices, duplicate payments, and inflated pricing account for 22% of asset misappropriation cases globally, with a $100K median loss per incident.

RSM Australia / ACFE 2024 Report to the Nations.

Fraud tied to weak or overridden controls

>50%

The share of occupational fraud cases linked to missing internal controls or management override. The median scheme runs undetected for 12 months, with losses growing at $9,900 per month.

Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre / ACFE Occupational Fraud 2024.

Stop retail AP leakage before payment runs