Chains Directory: the store list behind every retail chain settlement
Retail chains send store lists when they choose, and stores keep changing chains. Chains Directory keeps the current and historical store list of the retail chains you settle with: franchise chains, cooperatives and buying groups of independent stores. The list comes from the chain or from you, and we match its stores to your customer records: the stores you sell to, as listed in your own system. Chains Directory is a module of Trade Data Hub, the part of Asseco Platform that collects distributor data and retail chains’ store lists.
Your chain contracts are settled on that list, so the bonus is calculated on the right group of stores.
The definition
What is Chains Directory?
Chains Directory is a Trade Data Hub module that shows, for every period, which stores belonged to each retail chain you have a contract with.
Trade Data Hub imports each list and matches it to your customer records. You receive ready assignments: each store, its chain, and the period it belonged to that chain.
| The store list today | The store list with Chains Directory | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it comes from | By email, whenever each chain chooses, sometimes as a PDF | From the chain as agreed with it, or sent by you |
| Who checks and matches it | Your team, in spreadsheets | Trade Data Hub and the Asseco team |
| When you see a problem | At settlement, after the period closes | The system checks assignments every working day, and a weekly alert lists stores with an unclear chain |
| What settlement is calculated on | The latest list you have | The list valid in each period |
The problem
A chain bonus depends on the store list it is calculated on
Chain contracts are settled at store level. Typically, the bonus is a percentage of your sales to the chain’s stores, and listing conditions are checked in those stores. A store assigned to the wrong chain, or to no chain, is an error in the payout, too high or too low.
Chains send their lists irregularly and in different formats, even in the body of an email, and stores move between chains. Some stores belong to several chains at once, because each chain negotiates better purchase terms for the store in a different group of products: groceries through one chain, alcohol through another. When a store moves to another chain, the two chains’ lists can overlap for a while.
Today your team joins the lists to sales reports by hand, in spreadsheets. Where there is no list, some contracts are settled on the turnover the chain itself declares. This takes time, so settlement often runs once a quarter, with preliminary settlement only for selected chains, and errors are found after the money is paid. Comparing the same stores from one period to the next, without the effect of stores that joined or left (like-for-like analysis), is close to impossible.
Many chains, one set of assignments
Every chain’s store list reaches you in one form
Each chain sends its list in its own format. With Chains Directory, you receive the stores of every chain you settle with as one set of assignments, matched to your customer records. Your request to a chain is also smaller: the chain prepares one file for all the manufacturers that use Chains Directory, not a separate list for you.
How it works
From the chain’s file to your settlement reports
The Asseco team checks that every file arrives. It requests missing files and corrects store matches you flag as wrong.
The file
The store list arrives
Each chain sends its file as agreed, or you send us the list you receive. You can see when each chain last sent its file.
The match
Each store is matched to your customer records
Trade Data Hub checks the file and assigns the stores to your customer records and to their chain. A sub-chain is two or more stores of one company within a chain, identified by the company’s tax number. Chains Directory can group them automatically under one readable name.
The history
Which chain each store belonged to, and when
Membership history records which chain each store belonged to, and when. When a store changes chain, earlier periods keep the earlier chain and are settled on the list valid at the time.
The reports
Assignments in your settlement reports
With your distributors’ data in Trade Data Hub, each distributor invoice to a chain store is linked in your data to the store’s chain. The assignments also feed the settlement reports in OneView, our Power BI reporting, by chain and region, and by sub-chain where sub-chains are switched on.
When a store is in two chains at once
When the lists show a store in two chains for the same period, that period needs one lead chain: the chain you settle with for that store. Fixed rules resolve the common cases every working day, for example: when a store is in two chains but only one of its customer records is active, the active one wins. A weekly alert lists the stores with an unclear chain. Your team resolves them on a timeline of the store’s membership: it assigns a period to one chain, sets the date the store moved, or excludes a period from settlement. This works for past periods too. If nobody resolves a period, the system assigns it by an order of chains set in advance, which may not match your contracts.
Illustrative. Fictional stores and chains.
Membership of each store, by period
| Store | Chain | From | To | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corner Shop, Riverside | Chain A | 1 Jan 2024 | 30 Jun 2025 | earlier chain |
| Corner Shop, Riverside | Chain B | 1 Jul 2025 | present | current chain |
| Green Grocer, Hilltop | Chain A | 1 Mar 2023 | present | lead chain for this period |
| Green Grocer, Hilltop | Chain C | 1 Mar 2023 | present | also listed |
| Village Store 3, Oakfield | Chain B | 1 Feb 2024 | present | sub-chain: Oakfield Stores Ltd |
| Village Store 7, Oakfield | Chain B | 1 Feb 2024 | present | sub-chain: Oakfield Stores Ltd |
Your sales to each chain, down to each invoice
Each distributor invoice is also linked to the ID the chain uses for that store. The chain resale report shows your sales by store, product, chain and distributor, down to each invoice. If your field team uses Mobile Touch, our app for sales reps, each customer record there shows its chain, and the lead chain can also go to your ERP or to a sales force system (SFA).
Illustrative, one month. Fictional chains, distributors and values.
Your sales to each chain, from distributor invoices
| Chain | Distributor | Quantity | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chain A | Distributor 1 | 2 155 | 12 310 |
| Chain A | Distributor 2 | 380 | 2 090 |
| Chain B | Distributor 1 | 2 060 | 11 330 |
| Chain B | Distributor 3 | 1 475 | 4 720 |
| Chain C | Distributor 2 | 640 | 3 840 |
Connecting chains
Two ways to connect a chain
The chain sends its list
The chain agrees the format, schedule and channel with the Asseco team once, then sends its file regularly. This suits larger chains and chains you work with closely.
You send us the list you already receive
We build the assignments from the store list a chain already sends you. The chain keeps working as it does today, and the list arrives as regularly as the chain sends it to you.
A chain already reporting through Chains Directory for another manufacturer can share the same file with you. Chains that already send lists through our service are connected faster.
What changes
What changes in chain settlement
Your contract terms with chains stay the same. Chains Directory changes how you get the store data you settle them on.
Preliminary settlement every month
When the lists arrive on the agreed schedule, a preliminary settlement can run every month for all chains, not only for selected ones. An error in the list is then visible after a month, before the payout.
Sales to each chain during the period
With your distributors’ data, you see sales to each chain’s stores in OneView before the period closes.
The bonus on the right stores
The bonus is calculated for the right stores, with fewer corrections and disputes about the list.
Like-for-like for your next negotiation
Like-for-like analysis of the same stores, from the period your chains’ lists start, gives you a basis for negotiating the next contract.
No more joining lists by hand
With your distributors’ data in Trade Data Hub, your team stops joining store lists to sales reports by hand before every settlement.
One platform
One platform. Every moment in FMCG execution.
Chains Directory is a module of Trade Data Hub, part of Asseco Platform, where data, planning, execution and settlement share one set of numbers.
Trade
Data Hub
Chains Directory keeps the store list of each retail chain and, with distributor data, links each invoice to the store’s chain.
Explore Trade Data HubRoute-to-Market
Optimization
Decide where to invest sales effort and where to grow.
- See where you can grow most across stores, bars and restaurants, then send your reps there
- Find the stores and territories you’re not reaching yet
- Plan promotions where they’ll pay off, before you launch
Sales & Retail
Execution
Help your field reps sell more in every store they visit, with less admin.
- Plan visits and optimize routes: more selling, less driving
- Take orders and run every in-store task
- Hit your shelf standards with Perfect Store, scored live on every visit
- Guide each rep to the next best action (RAO)
- Keep teams sharp with built-in Motivation and Coaching
- Launch promotions and check they’re live in store
Retail
Image Recognition
Automated shelf audit from a photo.
- See what’s on shelf: facings, share of shelf, out-of-stock
- Check planogram and price compliance instantly
- Verify promotions and displays went up as agreed
- Get fix-it actions while the rep is still in the store
Trade Terms
& Settlement
Agree commercial terms, then settle them on real numbers.
- Put all your trade terms in one place: targets, rebates, promo deals
- Track whether partners deliver, on time and in full (OTIF)
- Settle promotions and rebates automatically from real sales data
Questions
Chains Directory: questions from manufacturers
About Chains Directory
What is Chains Directory?
Chains Directory is a Trade Data Hub module in Asseco Platform. It keeps an FMCG manufacturer’s current and historical store list for the retail chains it settles with, so chain contracts are settled on the right stores.
Why can one store belong to several retail chains?
Each chain negotiates better purchase terms for the store in a different product group: groceries in one chain, alcohol in another.
How is a store in two chains settled?
Chains Directory finds stores listed by two chains for the same period. Each period gets one lead chain, the one you settle with for that store. Fixed rules resolve the simple cases; for the rest, your team chooses the lead chain, also for past periods.
Can I start without my distributors’ data?
Yes. You can start Chains Directory without connecting your distributors’ data. With it, sales to each chain are calculated from distributor invoices already linked to the chain. Without it, you get the store lists and assignments and join them to your own sales data. You then run the settlement yourself on the OneView reports, or in Trade Terms & Settlement.
Connecting your retail chains
What does a retail chain have to share, and will chains agree to it?
Only its store list, never sales data, sent regularly on terms agreed once with the Asseco team. There is no hardware to buy and nothing to install: the chain prepares the file from its own system. Taking part is the chain’s decision. The benefit for the chain: one file for all the manufacturers that use Chains Directory.
Who can see a chain’s store list?
Besides the Asseco team that runs the service, only manufacturers the chain has agreed to share its list with. Each manufacturer sees only its own assignments. Asseco Business Solutions is certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 for its information security management system, with a scope that covers IT services and solutions for the FMCG sector. The chain’s IT and legal teams can verify the certificate.
What if a chain will not send its store list?
Send us the list you already receive from that chain, and we build the assignments from it.
What do you need before connecting your first chains?
You contact each chain first. The Asseco team then agrees the technical details and connects chains one at a time, as each is ready. On your side: a clause in your chain contracts about sharing the store list, which is a condition of the service, your customer records, and a person who reviews the weekly alert on stores with an unclear chain.
Review the retail chains you settle with
In a short call, we go through how each chain’s store list reaches you today and how to connect it.
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