CUSTOMER CASE STUDY
Introducing
The Distributors
The Distributors is a national network of independently owned wholesalers supplying beverage and confectionery products to retailers across Australia. Its branch sales teams are the front line of that business, and The Distributors Advantage All Stars is the national rewards and incentive program built to drive their performance. Sales reps earn points for completing training, using sales resources and executing in-store merchandising and stand placement.
Branch sales managers earn on the average of their team’s points balance: the stronger the team performs, the more the manager has to spend. Those points are not swapped for a fixed-price catalogue item. They are spent bidding against peers in bi-monthly online auctions, which makes the auction the program’s headline redemption moment and a core reason members keep earning.
The client challenge: The program itself was working. Every auction is themed to the season, with the prize pool built to match: Winter Country in July, spring cleaning and the outdoors next, then Christmas and summer as the weather warms. The themes landed, the communications cut through, and the prize pool (Dyson appliances, the latest iPhones, travel vouchers) was worth chasing. But Gratifii could see the auction was holding the result back. Previous auctions strained under peak bidding, and simultaneous lot closures created a rush at close that dented member confidence and capped how far the auction could scale.
The solution: Gratifii built The Distributors a dedicated auction platform: proxy bidding, staggered closing times, easier item discovery, room to scale and a modern member experience.
- One win per member: a custom rule caps each participant at a single item per auction, so the prize pool spreads across the team
- Watchlists: members favourite the lots they want and track every bid in one place
- Categorised lots: items are grouped by type so members can find what they want fast
- Points as bid currency: members bid with the balance they have earned in the program
- Live bid status: every lot is tagged in real time to show whether a member is the highest bidder or has been outbid
- Configurable notifications: members choose which auction alerts they receive by email
Almost one in every two bids placed used the new proxy bidding capability. Members could set their maximum value and allow the platform to bid automatically on their behalf, increasing convenience, fairness and participation. 939 proxy bids were submitted, representing 43.7% of all bids cast.
Year-on-year results
How the auction adds to the loyalty experience
The Distributors uses the auction as a sales tool, not just a reward. It’s the pull that keeps reps earning, and it gives every point a destination worth chasing.
- Gives points a purpose: a live, time-bound event turns a balance into a prize members can picture winning
- Rewards performance, not tenure: bidding power scales with what the team actually sells and completes
- Creates competition members enjoy: bidding against peers adds status and rivalry a fixed-price catalogue just can’t
- Brings members back: every auction cycle is a reason to log in, check the lots and earn more points before close
- Lifts core range sales: the reward members want most sits directly behind the behaviours The Distributors wants to grow
What it means for
The Distributors
The auction is no longer the part of the program that has to be managed around. It now scales with The Distributors’ ambitions for All Stars, and the year-on-year numbers are the proof.
- Members bid with confidence: unique bidders up 25% and average bids per item up 526%
- Fairness members can feel: staggered closures and proxy bidding removed the race at close
- Headroom to grow: 42 lots ran without strain, up from 24
- A clear return on the platform investment: lift across every auction metric, not just bids
RESULTS THAT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
184 bids in 2025. 2,188 in 2026. The Distributors grew auction bidding 1,089% in a single year and turned its All Stars auction into the headline moment of the program. Proxy bidding, staggered lot closures and a purpose-built experience on Gratifii’s auction platform did the work: more members bidding, more often, with 98% of lots sold.
+1,089%
Total bids
43.7%
Proxy bidding adoption
98%
Sell-through rate