This is the choice made by the large-scale retail group Pam-Panorama, which is embracing the Fintech world with determination, making direct interaction between parties unnecessary when requesting early payments. The Veneto-based group, with €2.4 billion in revenue and 684 stores, has decided to adopt a dynamic discounting platform—a way to automatically match supply and demand. On one side, the retail chain aims to optimize procurement; on the other, suppliers facing cash flow constraints who want to collect payments earlier than the agreed terms.
The platform, developed by the startup PlusAdvance, connects the two worlds through an auction mechanism. The supplier enters into the system the invoice or invoices for which they seek early payment, specifying the discount they are willing to offer. Month after month, Pam decides how much liquidity to invest in this mechanism, indicating the discount it expects in return and submitting validated and approved invoices to the system. The developed algorithm then matches these different needs, identifying the invoices eligible for early payment.
“We will be inserting tens of millions into the mechanism every month,” explains Andrea Carlassare, Pam’s Treasury Director. “We expect the funds used this way to yield a higher return compared to the simple short-term bank deposit, which now offers almost no returns. In the future, we aim to extend this opportunity to as many suppliers as possible, providing a service to SMEs and offering suppliers more flexibility in managing their working capital.” The large audience includes over 2,500 companies that each year supply the chain with goods worth over 1.5 billion euros, with 1.3 million invoices processed. “It’s a win-win mechanism,” says PlusAdvance founder Massimiliano Gattari, “that offers benefits to the client and operational flexibility to the supplier. The supplier, without any obligation, can decide each time if and to what extent they want to participate.” After successfully completing the tests, Pam is about to introduce the initiative to the companies, who will soon be able to access the platform by uploading their respective invoices. From an average of 85 days, and considering the technical time needed to verify the accuracy of the documents, the supplier could receive payment within a month. For the two-year-old startup, now part of The Hive incubator in Ancona, this marks a first turning point. “In fact, it’s a significant acceleration,” clarifies Gattari, “which will allow us, for example, to bring some of our developers in-house.”
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