A scan-back pays on consumer sales rather than on retailer purchases. The manufacturer agrees an amount per unit for a period; the retailer lowers the shelf price and claims that amount for every unit its point-of-sale data shows sold in the window. Because it pays only for units that reached a shopper, it avoids funding stock the retailer buys at a discount and sells later at full price.
The claim is only as good as the scan data behind it. The manufacturer has to match the retailer’s item codes to its own products, confirm the stores and the dates, and exclude units sold after the window or in stores outside the program. Where the scan file is paid as submitted, nothing checks it.
Scan-backs are often settled by the retailer deducting the amount from its next payment rather than by claim, which moves the validation to after the money has already been taken.