As an eCommerce seller, you buy and sell goods primarily online, so why not manage your finances online, too? Typically referred to as “FinTech”, financial technology is a growing industry of cloud-, internet- and technology-based solutions for everything from banking, to accounting, to financing, and more.
If you’re not taking advantage of them, now is the time to start. To help you get started, here are three fintech solutions every eCommerce seller should know about.
1. Online Banking
Online-only business banks like Rho are becoming increasingly popular for small and online businesses. This is primarily because they offer streamlined banking services with minimal to no fees and, in some cases, high APY on your balance.
Conversely, traditional business banks charge monthly or annual maintenance fees, transaction limits, and don’t offer much interest on deposits. There are two reasons for this.
First, traditional banks are still using the legacy banking systems they designed decades ago. As a result, a lot of their processes are manual. Second, they have a lot of infrastructure (i.e. networks of bank branches) that cost money for them to maintain. So, to cover their costs and provide you with traditional business banking services, they have to charge fees and require minimum balances and transaction limits.
Fortunately, online-only banks can offer the business banking services you expect with added flexibility, so your money works harder for you.
Learn more about online business banking vs. traditional.
2. Accounting Software
If you’re still manually managing your books, you might want to consider a cloud-based solution like FreshBooks or Bench. You’ll be able to more easily and accurately manage all aspects of your accounting — from expenses, to invoicing, to payments, to employee time sheets, to reporting, to taxes.
Being able to manage everything online and in one place provides a lot of benefits:
- Access: Check your books from anywhere, anytime.
- Collaboration: Allow employees and/or an accountant to log in.
- Accuracy: You’re less prone to things like data-entry errors that can throw off your entire financial picture.
- Forecasting: Get financial reports, spot trends, and forecast for the future.
- Cost Savings: Cloud services tend to be less expensive than desktop alternatives or outsourcing your entire accounting function to a professional.
3. Payability
Having a reliable source of cash is key for the long-term growth of your eCommerce business. That way, you can re-invest quickly in inventory, launch marketing campaigns, expand your product line, and more. In reality, such investments are hard to make due to payout delays from most platforms. For example, Amazon sellers and sellers on other marketplaces such as Walmart and Newegg have to wait at least two weeks to get paid on their sales.
Fortunately, there is a way to get paid in real-time on your sales thanks to Payability, a financing company for eCommerce sellers. Their two solutions — Instant Access and Instant Advance — are designed around the unique needs of eCommerce businesses to help you maximize cash flow and finally be able to take your business to the next level.
With Instant Access, Payability gets you your marketplace payouts one business day after making a sale, every business day. With Instant Advance, Payability buys a certain amount of your future receivables or sales up front and at a discount. So whether you’re looking for daily payments or a large infusion of cash (or both), Payability can help. Instant Advance is also available to Shopify stores and can be used alongside or in the place of Shopify Capital.
Their online application takes about 10 minutes to complete and factors in your entire eCommerce portfolio. If approved, you could get funding in as fast as 24 hours — all without a single credit check. Instead of credit scores, approval is based on your eCommerce account health and sales performance.
At the end of the day, financial technology companies can help you streamline how you manage your money, expenses, and financing. In the long run, this can lead to cost savings and more reliable business growth.
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