Is your business among the 36% of SMEs considering switching their main financial service provider? The figure is probably even higher if you zoom in on ecommerce businesses. That’s because traditional banks aren’t built for ecommerce.
Electronics retailer Boltshop knows all about this. It found out the hard way that traditional banking and the world of ecommerce don’t really mix.
“We went through the motions of testing a number of traditional banking partners – but none of them really understood our needs as an ecommerce company,” says co-founder Max Bekink. "We were drowning in admin, but they couldn’t come up with an ecommerce-friendly solution for us."
Maybe you’ve been in Max’s shoes. Perhaps you’ve experienced some of the pitfalls of traditional banking. Things like:
How can you be flexible on your spending decisions when there’s an arbitrary daily or monthly spend limit in place? Cue declined cards, missed opportunities, and a lot of frustration.
There’s often no consideration that inventory and ads have to be paid for well in advance of revenue hitting the account. Nor that short, inflexible payment terms create unnecessary cash flow pressures.
Your traditional bank probably trades globally — but when you do the same, there’s usually a big chunk of your cash taken in fees. These fees can soon add up for an inventory business trading with international suppliers, ad networks, and payment gateways.
Your bank account doesn’t show you liquidity or cash flow across your business. There’s little or no integration with other financial platforms you use. You have to take your banking data elsewhere. Exporting files, wasting time with spreadsheets, and gradually piecing everything together to get the insights you need.
Research on behalf of the Competition and Markets Authority found SME customers of retail banks perceived all banks to be the same. As a result, customers were “tolerating” poor experiences, increasing bank charges, and general unhappiness with a banking provider.
Maybe that’s why customers of traditional banks often don’t receive the rewards loyal customers get in other sectors.
Whether it’s waiting in call centre queues, applying for a new product, or wading through admin, dealing with traditional banks is often slow. In a fast-paced industry like ecommerce, slowing down to the seemingly pedestrian trudge of the banking world can be frustrating.
That simply doesn’t work for ecommerce. You need to move quickly and make faster decisions. And you need your finances to follow at the same pace to make those decisions happen.
Acting fast is necessary at the best of times, let alone in the current climate. With a recession looming, uncertainty in our supply chains, and rising costs for both ads and inventory, it’s more important than ever to be able to pivot quickly.
Ecommerce stores and other inventory businesses have to keep a close eye on financial metrics to stay profitable. With stock levels, manufacturing lead times, and storage costs to consider, it’s an ongoing battle to have the right quantity of products in the right place at the right time. Miscalculations can be costly, even without the prospect of a recession.
So, inventory businesses need to pay attention to:
Is there enough liquidity in the business to place the order you want?
How to calculate: Operating cash flow ratio = operating cash flow ÷ current liabilities
How many days does it take to sell inventory?
How to calculate: Days on hand = (average inventory value ÷ cost of sales for period) x 365
How many times have you turned over your inventory relative to the cost of goods sold (COGS) in a set period?
How to calculate: Inventory turnover = cost of goods sold ÷ average inventory
How much profit were you able to generate from your investment in inventory?
How to calculate: GMROI = gross profit ÷ inventory cost
How does the amount of inventory you're carrying compare to the number of sales you're fulfilling?
How to calculate: Stock-to-sales ratio = inventory value ÷ sales value
How many sales will you generate during the lead time before your new inventory arrives?
How to calculate: Lead demand = lead time x average daily sales
How much extra inventory do you need to avoid items going out of stock?
How to calculate: Safety stock = (maximum daily sales – average daily sales) x (maximum lead time – average lead time)
What's the cost to your business or storing unsold goods?
How to calculate: Inventory carrying costs = [(inventory service costs + inventory risk costs + capital cost + storage cost) ÷ total inventory value] x 100
All of these metrics — and the decisions made based on them — rely on being able to see your spend and cash flow position very quickly. Inventory management software has a key role to play here.
Sometimes the decision to pivot is a financial one, not a pure inventory one. Too many customers of traditional banks simply can’t access the financial data to do that effectively.
That’s where Juni comes in. It’s the financial platform built for ecommerce. As such, it’s geared up to give you all the insights and support you need to make smarter inventory planning decisions. Here’s how…
Instantly see your financial position across all ad accounts, payment gateways, cards, and online banking. No jumping between different accounts or exporting to spreadsheets. All the insights you need in one place.
Get detailed insights from your Shopify store (or stores) on the same dashboard as your financial overview.
No need to close existing accounts or go through loads of admin. We use open banking to streamline sign-up, cut out paperwork, and get you onboarded faster. Juni helps you to integrate your existing financial products so there’s no disruption to your business.
Make fixed spend limits and declined cards a thing of the past. If you need to spend big on inventory today and have the liquidity to do so, we’re not here to stand in your way. And we’re certainly not going to put a restrictive spend limit in place.
Get payment terms that are based on how the ecommerce industry actually works. “We can now pay our suppliers on time and still have 60 days interest-free before that’s due to Juni,” says Aeyla co-founder Matthew King. “It’s a massive boost for cash flow.”
Instantly cut the cost of your inventory by paying for it on your Juni card and getting cashback. You’ll get 2% cashback for your first 30 days, and then up to 1%. As Excellent Sneakers co-founder Can explains: “Now that we run all our inventory and ad expenses through Juni, we get an automatic 1% boost to our margin”.
Quickly create new cards for GBP, USD, EUR, and SEK spending. Move money easily with FX fees capped at 0.25%. “Prior to Juni, we didn’t only lose part of our margin to FX fees, but the admin of having to pay different vendors in different currencies was an additional headache,” says BidBerry CEO Emiliano Amicuzi.
If you’ve found these tips useful, you should definitely check out our other articles. Head over to our blog to read our latest blog posts.
Juni is not a bank – yet. We’re a financial technology company providing e-money services and as such are not part of a deposit guarantee scheme. Learn more about our license and how we keep your business and money safe.
Juni Technology AB (company number 559248-0908) is licensed and registered as an electronic money institution with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Sw. Finansinspektionen) (license no: 64025). Payment Card Solutions (UK) Limited (company number 05941947) and UAB B4B Payments Europe (company number 305539054) are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (ref: 930619) and the Bank of Lithuania (licence no: 76), respectively. The Juni Mastercard Corporate Card is issued by Payment Card Solutions (UK) Limited and UAB B4B Payments Europe pursuant to a license by Mastercard International Incorporated. Mastercard and the circles design are registered trademarks of Mastercard International Incorporated. Juni Technology AB. Masthamnsgatan 21, 413 28 Göteborg, Sweden. © 2025 Juni. All Rights Reserved.
