P2P Retail

TRANSFORMING RETAIL OPERATIONS: THE POWER OF SOURCE-TO-PAY & ORDER-TO-CASH SOLUTIONS

In the dynamic landscape of the retail industry, organisations constantly seek ways to enhance operational efficiency and stay ahead of the competition. One key avenue for achieving this is through the implementation of robust source-to-pay (S2P) and order-to-cash (O2C) automation solutions. In particular, focusing on optimising Accounts Payable (AP) and Accounts Receivable (AR) processes can pave the way for improved efficiency, productivity, and overall success for retailers.

Retailers can gain strategic value by digitally transforming S2P and O2C functions and freeing up their finance teams from manual processing, allowing them to focus on higher value work. Automating end-to-end S2P and O2C cycles creates a more productive work environment and streamlines workflows — enabling faster, more accurate invoice processing, significantly reduced costs, complete control over spend management, and faster cash collection.

CHALLENGES WE HELP RETAILERS SOLVE

Retailers face a myriad of challenges, ranging from tight profit margins and fluctuating demand to evolving customer expectations. Esker's S2P and O2C solutions empower retail companies to overcome their most prevalent industry-specific challenges, including:

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RIGID BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS
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One size does not fit all. Retailers must manage tolerances (e.g., under shipments, late shipments), surcharges and over-receipting to facilitate retail-specific requirements.
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INCREASED OPERATIONAL EXPENSES
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Manual processes are labor-intensive and can result in high operational costs for handling orders, invoices, and payments - making it difficult to remain profitable.
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INABILITY TO CONTROL SPEND
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Inefficient manual tasks drive up the cost of invoice processing and increase the risk of human error, making it difficult to manage spend and leading to maverick buying and non-compliance with company spend policies.
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DUPLICATE PAYMENTS
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It's common for retailers to have large numbers of suppliers across the globe, which increases the risk of duplicate invoices and duplicate payments. With little to no visibility into their invoice status (received, approved or paid), suppliers often submit invoices multiple times in an effort to get paid more quickly.
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MANAGING INVOICES FROM MULTIPLE JURISDICTIONS
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High invoice volumes from diverse geographical regions also means having to manage multiple languages, currencies and exchange rates. This can quickly become problematic in a manual environment, often leading to financial reporting errors and potentially serious non-compliance issues.
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SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
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Managing relationships with numerous suppliers can be complex, leading to issues such as inconsistent pricing, order discrepancies, and communication gaps. Automation boosts supply chain transparency and collaboration, strengthening retailer-supplier relationships through prompt payments and precise order handling.
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INEFFICIENT CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT
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Manual invoicing, billing, and collections processes often lead to inefficiencies and errors, causing delays in sending invoices, billing discrepancies, and challenges in tracking and collecting payments promptly. This results in cash flow issues, impacting working capital and decision-making accuracy.
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CUSTOMER DISSATISFACTION
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Inaccurate orders, delayed shipments, and billing errors resulting from manual processes can lead to poor customer experiences. Dissatisfied customers may choose to take their business elsewhere, damaging the retailer's reputation and revenue.

“Esker's Al-based recognition has significantly reduced manual work. We can now focus on improving other factors within our department. The interface is very user-friendly and easy for new employees to use right off the bat, which has helped us save time in new hire trainings.”
Wynona Ho │ Accounts Payable Manager │ Pet Lovers Centre

- Enable supply-chain transparency, process compliance and business protection by verifying supplier data and ensuring regulations are met.
- Simplify supplier onboarding and reduce the dependency on certain suppliers, allowing retailers to remain agile and change suppliers quickly.
- Encourage supplier participation with an easy-to-use supplier portal, reducing supplier management and onboarding time and costs.
- Provide self-service access to payment information via an online portal, allowing suppliers to track invoices and easily collaborate with chat tools.
- Capture invoices in any format including paper, XML, PDF and EDI, enabling retailers to accept invoices from any and all suppliers.
- Meet global compliance for companies operating with multiple languages, currencies and sites.

BOOST PROFITABILITY BY LEVERAGING ORDER-TO-CASH EFFICIENCY

- Process orders more quickly, reduce errors, and provide real-time order status updates to enhance the overall customer experience.
- Handle higher order volumes without a corresponding increase in administrative overhead.
- Streamline the invoicing and payment process through automation to expedite invoice generation and delivery, facilitating prompt payments from customers.
- Save on labour costs associated with data entry, invoice generation, and follow-up activities.
- Provide customers with timely and accurate invoices, payment reminders, and statements, and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Identify trends, track payment patterns, and make informed decisions to optimise cash flow and collections with the reporting and analytics functionalities.

IMPROVE MARGINS TO COMPENSATE FOR RISING COSTS

- Streamline payments and cash in order to pay suppliers on time and take advantage of early payment discounts.
- Gain visibility into spend across brands and regions and achieve significant cost savings.
- Increase auto-matching rates and boost straight-through invoice processing rates.
- Decrease invoice processing time and enable KPIs monitoring to ensure positive financial performance and supplier relationships.
- Leverage ERP investment with seamless solution integration with multiple ERP systems.
- Access operational and financial metrics (processing time, productivity, performance, etc.) thanks to dashboards and analytics.
- Increase productivity, as finance teams only having to process exceptions and can prioritise by key criteria.

” A remittance that would take 3 to 4 hours to clear due to complexity now takes 15 minutes or less, thanks to Esker.”
Noel David │ Finance and Administration, │ True Alliance

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REDUCE MAVERICK SPEND & INCREASE EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION

Facilitate process integrity and rapid user adoption
Control buying from only approved vendors and preferred catalogue product listings, gaining full visibility and control over what's being purchased.
Offer a user-centric journey and give employees the flexibility to use their preferred device from any location.
Create an internal e-commerce-like web store by broadcasting hosted catalogues or giving access to suppliers' online catalogues.

YOU'RE IN GOOD COMPANY

Businesses in the retail and consumer goods industry trust Esker's AI-powered Source-to-Pay & Order-to-Cash solutions to power efficiencies throughout their processes.