POS, defined as “place of sale” rather than “point of sale” to protect distributor customer privacy should be important to every distributor that operates a CDC or an RDC because it may cost you money … if the manufacturer does not pay their rep appropriately.

And yes, not every manufacturer does.

Getting Paid Using POS

When an independent manufacturer representative helps a distributor in their local market or calls on a customer to generate brand preference and supports a specific distributor, they expect to get compensated, by the manufacturer, for their efforts.

Sounds fair. A reasonable assumption.

All it requires is the distributor sharing that the product was sold by that branch on invoice 12345 for item ABC.

The manufacturer then takes that information, maps it in their commission system, and pays the rep firm, with appropriate documentation, so that the rep principal can allocate the earned commission to that branch location, which correlates to the individual salesperson’s responsibility.

Simple enough.

When it works.

Most distributors send the information. Some send in the NEMRA industry standard format which captures the minimum information that is needed, in a specific order (and can be sent via Excel). The challenge is that there are manufacturers who do not use it. And then there are those who delay payments or do not provide documentation.

Why is this important to distributors? Because reps know this and, in some instances, will “walk” an order, with the end-users blessing, to a distributor who may not have an RDC / CDC or for whom they know they will get paid.

It’s a long-term, ongoing issue that NEMRA continues to advocate on for its members.

At its recent conference, which I’ll share some highlights next week, NEMRA held a session on the topic. There were reps, manufacturers and some national distributors in attendance. NEMRA shared this press release.

NEMRA Highlights Ongoing Importance of POS Reporting to Protect Members

“The cost of running a representative agency continues to rise. While inflation and broader economic pressures affect all industries, NEMRA representatives face additional burdens driven by expanding manufacturer expectations, increased service responsibilities, and evolving distribution models.

Over the past decade, NEMRA representatives have absorbed growing responsibilities — including expanded customer service functions, greater investment in marketing and outside sales resources to drive contractor and end-user demand, and the addition of product specialists — even as average commission rates have declined.

“The expectations placed on NEMRA representatives have increased significantly,” said NEMRA President and CEO Jim Johnson. “Our representatives are investing more than ever to grow sales and market share for their manufacturers — often while compensation structures remain under pressure.”

At the same time, the distribution landscape has shifted dramatically. Industry consolidation and major investments in regional distribution centers (RDCs) and central distribution centers (CDCs) have improved efficiency and inventory management. However, these operational gains frequently result in products shipping across traditional rep territories, creating compensation challenges.

NEMRA representatives support distributor productivity improvements — provided compensation accurately reflects local sales influence and market development efforts. Ensuring that alignment is where Point-of-Sale (POS) reporting becomes critical.

In 2014, NEMRA launched a landmark study examining the state of POS reporting (2014 Study). The research redefined POS as “Point of Sale,” focusing on the geographic destination of material rather than end-customer identity. This approach protects distributor customer relationships while providing representatives with the zip code-level data necessary to compensate their sales teams appropriately.

The study revealed:

• Between 10–40% of a representative’s compensation may be affected by POS reporting gaps
• Representatives may redirect orders 25% of the time to distributors where commissions can be reliably tracked

Based on these findings, NEMRA developed POS (Point of Sale) Minimum Reporting Standards, endorsed by more than 50 distributor entities and 50 manufacturer entities.

The issue remains highly relevant today.

At the 2026 NEMRA Annual Conference, point-of-sale (POS) data was a featured topic during a session moderated by NEMRA Chair Troy Jennings of JMA Group. Panelists Terri Dumas (RAB Lighting), Patrick Knight (IDEA), and Curtis Seare (FlowRMS) shared insights ranging from evolving POS methodologies to administrative data transmission and EDI utilization.

An open Q&A session addressed practical challenges, including data acquisition from distributors, manufacturer use of POS information and compensation alignment, reporting transparency, and EDI standardization.

“While progress has been made, there is still work to do,” Johnson said. “Point-of-sale reporting is not simply an administrative exercise — it directly impacts fair compensation, territory integrity, and the long-term health of NEMRA manufacturer representatives. Without proper sales compensation, representatives cannot provide the level of sales support our channel depends on.”

The NEMRA Strategic Advisory Council (SAC), NEMRA Manufacturers Group (NMG), and Board of Directors will continue collaborating with channel partners to advance solutions that promote transparency, fairness, and sustainable growth.”

Things to Consider

1. If you are a distributor, are you aware of the standards? Do you use them? In most cases this will streamline your information sharing efforts as you can use the one format to provide information to many manufacturers. I know of one distributor that used the standards and converted 32 manufacturers to one format!
2. As a distributor you should ask your manufacturers if they use the POS information you share with them to pay their reps. Verify with your reps. Also ask if they share the detail so that the rep can audit the manufacturer (after all, wouldn’t you want your paycheck to be correct?)
3. Distributors, tell your reps that you do share this information with your manufacturers and, if the rep does not receive the detail, share it with them. The principals will thank you (and no customer information does not need to be shared … if they are good, they already know your customers.)
4. Manufacturers, if you are not handling this internally, there are 3rd party resources such as Interlynx (an ElectricalTrends sponsor) who offer this service (and they are currently doing it for some electrical and automation manufacturers.)

Given the importance of data, instinctively you know that accessing the information and sharing it is feasible. The inability to compensate people for their efforts, personally, doesn’t make sense. Systems have been / can be developed to ensure the appropriate information is collected, aggregated, analyzed and then calculated to compensate some of the most important people associated with a manufacturer … the people who are responsible for generating demand, servicing distributors, and generating brand preference (and orders) from end-users and distributors.

If you are a distributor … ask your manufacturer. If you are a manufacturer doing POS well, let your distributors know and affirm with your reps. And maybe share some best practices with your brethren (perhaps through NEMRA to maintain anonymity.)