Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Interview at EcomBalance. At EcomBalance, we’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce space.
In this exclusive interview, we interview Matt Bunston from A2X, an ecommerce accounting software provider in the US.
Matt is the Head of Sales at A2X Accounting. He’s been working in the accounting software space for 8 years. He loves helping firms solve painful problems with automated and accurate solutions. When he’s not working you can find him in the great outdoors skiing, hiking, biking, and surfing.
We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an eCommerce business owner.
Connor: Hey Matt, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. As a company, one of our goals is to highlight our partners so that our clients can benefit where it makes most sense. To get started, can you give us a high level introduction to A2X and a little bit about how the company got started?
Matt: Our founder, Paul Grey, received his first Amazon settlement in 2008. He soon realized that accounting for the sales and related fees associated with selling on Amazon was going to be a challenge. Using “cash accounting” to reconcile these deposits was not going to give him an accurate view of his business. Paul was focussed on accounting for this revenue using proper accrual accounting practices. Initially downloading settlement data, uploading to spreadsheets, and then massaging this into his accounting software. Soon, the data became too much for spreadsheets to handle. Those spreadsheets became automated with scripts and those scripts were soon coded to software and that software was finally built directly into the API provided by Amazon. Paul thought that everyone on Amazon must be facing the same challenges. The public version of our software went live in 2014 and soon after ecommerce merchants and accountants from around the world were contacting us to make their ecommerce accounting difficulties a thing of the past.
Connor: Thanks for sharing that! Can you dive a bit more into the products and services that you offer to help eCommerce businesses make sense of their financials? Our audience is always looking for reputable companies that they can lean on for specific parts of their eCommerce businesses.
Matt: Retail ecommerce businesses are fairly unique in that they are dealing with third party platforms and marketplaces (e.g. Shopify & Amazon) that pay them in net deposits. Those net deposits contain sales, fees, and other transactions associated with selling through these channels. What do those deposits in my bank accounts actually represent? A2X solves this problem by integrating directly with your ecommerce channel, structuring your settlement data, and then creating entries to reconcile your bank deposits in your accounting software. With A2X you achieve automated bank reconciliation and accurate financial data.
Connor: Jumping off of that…when you’re thinking about your ideal customer, who is that? Where are they selling online? Where are they located in the world? How much sales do they typically have in a year? If there’s any other qualities, please include them as well. We’re all about making introductions where it benefits both parties.
Matt: We support retail ecommerce businesses of all sizes all over the world. We’re seeing more and more that even business owners who are just starting out, or maybe a retailer beginning to have an ecommerce presence, are wanting to ensure their back office processes are tight. This is especially true for ecommerce as it’s a sector of retail that can scale quite quickly. Specifically, we work with businesses selling on Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Etsy, and Walmart. The challenges of accounting for ecommerce revenue only become more complex with scale. If you’re selling across multiple channels with thousands of orders, A2X can save you hours of time every month and help you make sense of your revenue.
Connor: For our audience to truly understand what makes you stand out from other accounting and bookkeeping software in the space, can you share a story of how A2X truly helped one of its customers?
Matt: One example that comes to mind is a customer who had been overpaying their tax liability by thousands of dollars. Why? They were misreporting their income by over ten thousand dollars. A2X was the tool that helped them find this discrepancy. Small businesses succeed or fail on razor thin margins. We want to make sure you have accurate financial information to prevent issues like this.
Connor: As you and your company think about the next year ahead, what does it look like? Are there any specific initiatives that you’re working on as a team to better your product or service for your customers?
Matt: We’re definitely a company focused on improvement. What else can we be doing to support our current and future customers? We take feedback really seriously and do our absolute best to turn that into valuable product features and integrations. The one thing we don’t want to do is build integrations that don’t live up to our customers or our own expectations. For the upcoming year, we’re working to improve our onboarding experience, add additional integrations, and deepen some of our existing integrations. When you’re setting up an ecommerce channel on A2X, how do we make that experience simple and seamless? What other ecommerce channels are merchants using? How can we enhance our integrations further to deliver value for our customers? That’s the best part about SaaS, businesses like ours need to continue delivering for our current and future customers. We’re excited for what’s to come.
Connor: How about this…everyone loves a company’s growth story. We all naturally go through ups and downs as a company. What was one of the biggest challenges that the company faced in its growing stages?
Matt: A2X was definitely at the forefront of ecommerce accounting. We consider ourselves a “category creator” as nobody else was doing what we were doing 10 years ago. How do you grow when your potential customers don’t believe they have a problem that needs a solution? The challenge we had was educating businesses that cash accounting was giving them a very inaccurate view of their ecommerce revenue. Accountants deeply understand the value of proper accrual accounting and thus they became our pathway to supporting businesses at scale.
Connor: Thanks! Let’s talk some eCommerce! Where do you see the industry heading in the next 1-2 years? Any big changes that you’re predicting for the industry? How can eCommerce companies prepare for it?
Matt: The pandemic saw amazing growth in retail ecommerce as many businesses were forced to look online. Those businesses are there to stay. Online retail is how customers want to engage with their favorite brands. By 2024, retail ecommerce will account for 22% of retail sales globally, making it a USD $5.5 trillion dollar industry. No longer are your customers confined to your geographic location. The global marketplace, and most important the tools to service them, are at your fingertips. Our data tells us that ecommerce businesses selling successfully on one channel are likely to begin selling on other channels. Multi channel sellers are becoming the norm as businesses look to expand their reach into additional platforms and marketplaces.
Connor: Changing gears a little bit…When it comes to bookkeeping and accounting, what do you think the biggest pain points for eCommerce business owners are? Feel free to speak from personal experience as well.
Matt: Staying on top of the constantly updating settlement/payout data that comes from ecommerce platforms. There are ever growing lists of fees and transactions, additional currencies you may begin selling in, timing related challenges such as month ends, and complexities that come with certain payment gateways. Each platform structures things differently as well! A2X is focused on staying on top of these changes and updates so you can spend less time worrying about accounting and more time running your business.
Connor: Okay, here’s an open mic opportunity. If there’s one thing that you’d want the EcomBalance community to hear from you, what would it be?
Matt: I’d like them to know that at A2X we believe the humans behind our software are as important as the software itself. We’ve invested heavily in our Customer Success organization to ensure we can provide timely and relevant answers when you need them. We want you to feel comfortable working with our team and always strive to provide a high level of service and care.
Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?
Matt: Find us on: Twitter: @a2xaccounting
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a2x-for-ecommerce/mycompany/
Visit our website: https://www.a2xaccounting.com/
Coupon Code for 1 free month on A2X: 1MTHFREE2022A2XP
