Retailers and wholesalers: recover unpaid trade accounts

Our 2026 Australian Debt Collection Report places Retail Trade slightly above the national average for per-business insolvency risk: 4.31 first-time external administration appointments per 1,000 retail businesses in FY24-25, compared to the all-industry rate of 3.42 (1.3× national average). Across 156,169 operating retail businesses, that's 673 EXAD reports in the year.

Two large retail entities also appear in the report's Late Payer Index (top 40 slowest large-business payers to small suppliers): Autosports Group at 202 days (95th-percentile payment time) and Cheap as Chips Discount Stores at 161 days. Industry median 95th-percentile payment time across all 178 large retail entities is 49 days — the fastest of any major industry — but the tail extends far past that for select large players.

The supplier-to-retailer dynamic

Retail B2B is structurally lopsided. Most large retailers operate on extended payment terms that exceed the supplier's working capital cycle, and unauthorised deductions (for damaged stock, shortfalls, marketing co-funding, or returns) are common. The report's recovery-rate ladder (Section 8) shows that letters of demand recover 55–70% of debts where internal reminders failed. For mid-sized retail debtors that's a realistic outcome; for the largest national chains, citing PTRR disclosure data in your demand strengthens the case.