PORTICA integrates Amazon Payments into credit control process
Kempen. Selling products through a wide range of channels is all part of a day’s work for many online retailers. So too for the British home-shopping pioneer Lakeland, which last year extended its e-commerce business into Germany. The company now also uses the Amazon Marketplace platform to sell goods – a step supported by its credit control system, thanks to integration completed by PORTICA.
PORTICA has been successfully handling credit control for Lakeland’s online sales in Germany since the start of 2013. The full service provider for IT, logistics and financial and customer service processes originally used a comprehensive set of interfaces to deeply integrate credit control and risk management systems into Lakeland’s processes. This meant PORTICA was able to quickly set up support for credit control with Amazon Payments when Lakeland decided to start selling goods on Amazon Marketplace in order to reach new customers and increase turnover.
Now, Lakeland simply sets up the desired items on Amazon Marketplace. Amazon and other service providers take care of all other tasks. The buyer uses the Amazon Payments service to make a purchase, and the money for products sold is transferred to Lakeland in the form of collective payments. “The challenge is to correctly record these payments, in order to clearly see which customers have already met their obligations”, explained Norbert Haab, Senior Manager Professional Services at PORTICA.
To include all of this in the credit control process, PORTICA relies on existing interfaces with Lakeland and another service provider. Order and invoice data is handed over to PORTICA using the certified, revision-safe accounting system FibuNet ©, as are payment files. These are documents which describe how the sum which Amazon Payments will credit to Lakeland adds up. PORTICA processes this data to assign payments to the correct customers and record fees. The information is then handed over to updated accounts held by Lakeland or the relevant service provider. Throughout, PORTICA acts as a competent point of contact for tax advisers and Lakeland financial staff, who are able to see a wide range of reports.
“The process is entirely frictionless, as in principle, Amazon Payments behaves like any other payment type which we implement”, said PORTICA’s customer manager Simone Horster, adding, “We are able to receive and process payments through all kinds of channels and interfaces.” This flexibility means that Lakeland is free to choose which platforms to sell its products on.
About Lakeland:
As one of the UK’s home-shopping pioneers, with almost half a century of experience, Lakeland offers a wide range of creative kitchen products, practical ideas for home and garden and inspiring gift ideas from around the world. Starting as a family company, Lakeland was founded in the early 1960s. When it comes to quality and customer service, its values today are the same as they always have been. Lakeland has continued to grow ever since, and today its distribution centre ships thousands of items every day. The company has more than 60 shops in Scotland and England, with more planned. For further information, visit http://www.lakeland.de
About PORTICA GmbH Marketing Support:
PORTICA is one of the German market’s leading process services providers, optimising IT, logistics and financial processes for over 40 years. The company serves clients in many industries and handles hundreds of projects each year for e-commerce, advertising media logistics, sales promotion and business process outsourcing. The company’s focus is on the efficient handling of processes using a combination of logistics, information and finance management. PORTICA is part of te Neues group together with the IT service provider GEDAK and the printing company te Neues. PORTICA is a member of the Deutscher Dialogmarketing Verband (the German Dialog Marketing Association). For more information please visit the websites: http://www.portica.de and http://www.ecommerceservices.de
Editorial Contacts:
PORTICA GmbH Marketing Support
Markus Ramirez
Von-Galen-Str. 35
47906 Kempen, Germany
Phone: + 49 2152 915-192
Fax: +49 2152 915-100
mramirez@portica.de
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Bianka Boock
Kolberger Str. 36
23617 Stockelsdorf, Germany
Phone: +49 451 88199-21
Fax: +49 451 88199-29
Bianka@goodnews.de