Accounts receivable is a financial term that indicates the money owed by a customer to your business for goods or services. Many e-commerce businesses do not understand how valuable their accounts receivable can be. Over time, an unaddressed issue with customers can snowball and lead to huge financial losses. If you run an e-commerce business, you will likely have customers who buy from you regularly. In a recent interview with Whiz Consulting, their senior officials highlighted the importance of accounts receivable management in e-commerce accounting. Whiz Consulting is a well-known name in the sphere of accounting and bookkeeping. Their team of accounting experts has been providing quality-driven services to various industries. Let us dig deeper to understand what more they have to say.
Create a customer retention strategy- Retaining your customers is crucial to your business’s survival. In e-commerce accounting, you must maintain a long-term relationship with your customers. They must create a customer retention strategy to help understand the value of each customer and how they can keep loyal customers for as long as possible. The senior officials at Whiz Consulting added, “As with any e-commerce business, retention is an integral part of running an effective customer retention strategy. You may have the best products and services available, but if no one knows about them, you have lost the battle before it even begins.”
Match orders to invoices- E-commerce businesses always search for new inventory to sell to customers. You must first get an invoice from someone when you sell a product to someone. Once you have their invoice, you can check the stock and issue the order to the supplier. So, in order to match orders to invoices, it is essential to have the product details, like description, specifications, price, etc., stored in the e-commerce business’s ERP system. This will keep you on top of your accounts receivable and make it easy for the customer to return or exchange the product.
Always track your credit card payments- If your customers have made payments via credit cards, you must track their payments regularly. This way, you will be able to see the status of the payments, and if there is any problem, you will be able to solve it immediately. If you do not track payments via credit cards, you might miss payments or make mistake of sending the customers a payment request twice.
Set up a standard operating procedure for debt collection- Once your customers receive their product, you have to follow a standard procedure. This will help you to collect money from the customers if they are not paying you as per the debt agreement. The senior officials at Whiz Consulting added, “If you do not have a standard operating procedure for debt collection, then you might end up making mistakes or sending your customers an unreasonable amount of calls that might be considered harassment.” If a customer owes you money, then it is your responsibility to help them in the best way possible. While setting up a standard operating procedure for debt collection, you must ensure that it is reasonable and consistent with your country’s e-commerce laws and policies.
Conclusion
The senior officials at Whiz Consulting added, “E-commerce businesses are customer-centric entities, and every aspect of their business should be customer-centric too. To achieve this, it is essential to have an effective accounts receivable management system in place”. As the e-commerce segment is growing rapidly, many e-commerce businesses are also expanding into new geographies or industries. That is why an efficient AR management system is essential. It ensures that your e-commerce business gets the cash from customers as quickly as possible so you can focus on growing the business. However, business owners can outsource their e-commerce accounting and bookkeeping to save time and costs. Whiz Consulting is a reputed name to rely on in accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, accounts receivable, and accounts payable. Their team can help you streamline your entire accounting system and transform it into a new one.
https://www.whizconsulting.net/uk/ecommerce-accounting-services/