Conquering Seasonal Sales

By Nick Sprau, VP of sales and marketing at Metafile Information Systems

The holiday shopping season may be long gone, but with numerous special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and graduation season occurring year-round, retailers regularly anticipate the boost increased sales from gift giving will contribute to the bottom line.

While these seasonal sales provide a great increase in revenue, the success of peak selling seasons relies heavily on the effectiveness of the internal financial process and the accounting department’s ability to handle the increased number of invoices and financial data. Customer demand and consistently moving inventory can place a significant strain on AP and AR departments and supply chain as they manage the financial and logistical implications of increased sales.

The heavy flow of invoices makes AP/AR automation essential to coming out on top. It is imperative your staff has the ability to quickly capture, analyze and react to data in order to increase sales and influence how your business can save money in the long term, while also adding order and full visibility to the overall financial process. Equipping your financial department with the right technology will enable them to successfully conquer the busy period and best manage resources. 

For large retailers with multiple locations, managing the influx of information from affiliates and suppliers can cause untimely delays in productivity and sacrifices the AP department’s ability to process invoices and provide key insights in purchasing trends. However, AP/AR automation through technology solutions not only helps in identifying trends, but also can prevent being blindsided by errors that often accompany manually processing invoices. Web-based solutions allow accounting departments and other key stakeholders to receive electronic versions of paper invoices with equal ease from locations across town or those across the globe.

Technology has provided a solution that is helping retailers master efficient invoice processing and offers the ability to scale during seasonal upswings. While automated accounting technology may not be top of mind for many retailers, it’s vital to maintaining healthy workflows, and positions multi-location, decentralized organizations for success throughout the year.

Nick Sprau is VP of sales and marketing at Metafile Information Systems, a paperless ERP solutions provider for accounts payable, accounts receivable and human resources document management and workflow technology.