Early payment discounts are a common tactic in B2B transactions, but their design has not really changed for decades. It's difficult to trace exactly when these trade terms became widespread, but a 1964 study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (U.S.) makes it clear that by the mid-20th century, they were already standard practice.​ Companies often perceive the payment terms accepted in their market segment as a given. For example, if it's customary to pay

There are plenty of boring financial terms, weighed down by equally dull formulas, that make active entrepreneurs want to close their eyes and think about the sea, a beach, and palm trees. But there are also concepts that, if you understand and use them correctly, can actually help you spend more time on that beach. Working capital, of course, has nothing to do with Karl Marx's theories. In simple terms, it is the amount of money a business needs to keep its production or se

For small and medium‑sized businesses, late payments are no longer just an annoyance, they are a survival issue. In Europe, average payment periods now stretch beyond 60 days ( source ), and for SMEs with thin cash buffers, that two-month wait is often the difference between hiring and halting, growing or going under. One of the fastest, least bureaucratic ways to pull cash forward is early payment discounts. Done well, they turn slow‑paying customers into a predictable cash