3C Software

09/01/2026

Revenue is easy to measure - profitability is harder.

In distribution, companies are often ranked by their revenue, and it’s assumed that the largest accounts are the most valuable. But what happens when the details are accounted for:

• Small, frequent orders
• Split shipments
• Expedited freight
• Special handling
• High-touch customer service
• Returns and credits
• Extended payment terms

Bringing these things into consideration, the customer generating $5M vs $10M may be more profitable - this is why revenue-based customer segmentation can be misleading. And that’s why the most important question isn’t, "Who buys the most from us?" – it’s, "Who creates the most economic value for us?"

Cost-to-serve analysis can turn that question from an assumption into a measurable fact. And sometimes, it’s understanding the cost of serving them that counts the most.

08/27/2026

A product can have a healthy gross margin and still be a bad business decision.

Why? Because gross margin doesn't necessarily tell you the full cost of making, moving, and servicing that product. Consider the costs hiding beneath the surface:

Expedited freight.
Small production runs.
Frequent changeovers.
Special packaging.
Returns.
Customer-specific service requirements.

Individually, they may look insignificant. Collectively, they can completely change the profitability picture. For finance leaders, the question isn't simply: “What's our margin?” It's:

“What's our margin after the complexity of serving this business?”

The closer you get to the true cost of serving a product or customer, the better your decisions become.

08/12/2026

Most distributors run on a gross margin average. The average is exactly what hides the problem.

Inside it are customers, orders, and SKUs that lose money, masked by the winners that make the blended number look healthy. The truth lives in the distribution, not the average.

Seeing it means modeling true cost (freight, handling, returns, overhead) all the way down to the transaction level. That's finally achievable, and it's what turns "what's our margin?" into "on which orders, and why?"

At the 2026 NAW Innovators Summit, our CEO Matthew Smith makes the case for real cost and profit transparency in distribution.

📍 The Joseph · Nashville · September 16–18
Registration open: https://www.naw.org/events/2026-naw-innovators-summit/

07/21/2026

You’re not losing margin, you’re leaking it. And the leak is happening in the cost-to-serve work your ERP never shows you.

Twice a year, you get a rare chance to see what’s really driving profit in distribution: actual cost models built from real distributor data, not industry folklore.

The July 2026 Profitability Brief for Distribution breaks down where hidden costs pile up, which customers and channels are quietly eroding value, and how top distributors are rewiring decisions to get paid for the service they provide.

Grab the latest edition and pressure-test your own profitability story: https://www.3csoftware.com/profitability-brief-distribution-july-2026/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=profit_brief_dist_0726&utm_term=company&utm_content=brief_download

07/16/2026

A pound of chicken breast costs almost double a pound of thigh. Ribeye costs way more than chuck. So those are the more valuable cuts, right?

Not exactly.

Price per pound tells you what a cut sells for. It doesn't tell you what it's actually worth against the whole animal. Relative Market Valuation weighs each cut by its market price and its share of total carcass value, and the results don't always match what price per pound suggests. A lower-priced cut can carry more of the animal's real value than a premium one, once you account for share and demand.

Weight tells you what a cut sells for. Relative Market Valuation tells you what it's actually worth. For protein processors, that difference shows up in pricing, disassembly, and product mix, every single day.

Read more about RMV at https://www.3csoftware.com/relative-market-valuation/

07/14/2026

Most protein processors price cuts by weight. It's simple, but it's also where margin quietly disappears.

A pound of one cut isn't worth the same as a pound of another, and pricing them like they are means overproducing the wrong cuts and underpricing the right ones.

In this webinar, join 3C Software's Sam Smith, CFE for a walk through of how protein processors use ImpactECS to:
→ Assign relative meat values across cuts and co-products
→ Connect yield and conversion data to real product costs
→ Model profitability by cut, product line, and customer
→ Get finance, operations, and pricing on the same page
→ See the margin impact before a mix or pricing change goes live

Built for finance leaders, cost accountants, controllers, production planners, and commercial teams who own product and customer profitability.

Register at https://www.3csoftware.com/meat-valuation-protein-processing/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rmv_webinar&utm_term=company

07/04/2026

🎇 Happy Independence Day 🎇

Hope you all have a safe and fun holiday!

06/29/2026

STARTING TOMORROW | 6/30

If you're going to be in Amelia Island for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Financial Management Seminar then be sure to stop by and see us 👋

We're looking forward to seeing you all there!

06/24/2026

"Budgeting should be a strategic enabler that guides resource allocation, aligns expectations, anticipates risks, and supports performance management. Instead, it often becomes rigid, slow, and disconnected from reality."

In today's often unstable and unpredictable environment, it's critical that companies are equipped to generate budgets and rolling forecasts that adapt quickly to shifting market conditions and operational realities.

Read the Article: https://ow.ly/FQRc50YSw2W

Every year, FP&A teams navigate the same exhausting budgeting cycle: reconciling spreadsheets, chasing inputs, iterating endlessly, and working late nights to meet deadlines. Despite massive advances in analytics, cloud platforms, and now Artificial Intelligence (AI), many organisations still rely o...

06/23/2026

NEXT WEEK!

6/30-7/2

We're anticipating another great event this year with the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and excited for the opportunity to both stay informed of industry practices and get a preview of the current economic conditions and future trends that impact poultry and egg firms.

If you're planning on attending this event, then don't forget to stop by and chat with us!

Register: https://ow.ly/g9UQ50YVMqt