Future Fulfilment

Collections, all taken care of

Future Fulfilment is a third-party logistics warehouse service that stores, picks, packs and sends products on behalf of e-commerce brands that have outgrown their home-based roots.

“We offer a bespoke service because our founders have had e-commerce brands of their own, so they understand the importance of speedy delivery and sending out products how you want, when you want,” said Eddie Nedelko, CFO, Future Fulfilment.

When the company’s approach to collections caused customer debt to pile up, it turned to GoCardless to automate its payments.

“The previous system used the old-fashioned ‘invoice and pray’ approach, and we had problems with people not paying on time,” said Eddie. “Now, by integrating GoCardless with our Xero accounting software, we've gone a long way to tidying up and strengthening our financial system, which is amazing.”

Incredible for cash flow

In just over a year since Future Fulfilment started getting paid with GoCardless, most of its customers now pay this way. This has solved the company’s debt problem and saved the finance team the time – and pain – of chasing customers for payments. 

“Currently, two thirds of customers use GoCardless, which is just incredible for our cash flow,” said Eddie. “Automated billing and payments have really reduced the finance team’s workload around debt collection. In fact, GoCardless has cut out a day a week that used to be spent chasing late payments.”

More streamlined payments have also improved both the customer and employee experience. Everyone’s happy, explained Eddie.

“Chasing customers for money, on email or on the phone – that’s the really tough part of finance,” said Eddie. “Every time we get a GoCardless customer, the finance team is exceptionally happy. And with GoCardless being automated, it actually saves customers time as well. It's a job they don't have to do, which means that it gets done.”

GoCardless: a cornerstone of the business

The lower fees charged by GoCardless compared to card payments, and the ability to bill customers more often, has also accelerated cash flow for Future Fulfilment.

“I can't express how important GoCardless is to our business model – it’s the cornerstone,” said Eddie. “We pay for freight in advance so we need to bill customers weekly. The money's then in our bank two days after they’ve paid. The fees are very low, too – GoCardless is probably one-tenth of the cost of credit card payments.”

Indeed, Eddie’s eye-opening experiences with GoCardless mean he’s now convinced that behind every strong business is a strong collections platform. 

“If I had my time again, with all my businesses, I would definitely firm up collections,” he said. “If I’d had GoCardless previously then I would've made millions of dollars. Many people think their IP or product is the single most important thing in a business, but if you can't get your financial systems right, and you can’t report on it, you're always going to struggle. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it, and GoCardless definitely helps me manage the business better than any tool that I've used before.”

Bright future

As Future Fulfilment looks to expand into new markets around the world, Eddie expects GoCardless to be by his side every step of the way.

“The team at GoCardless have been amazing, and in the early days they made sure we were comfortable with the process,” he said. “For a finance solution, they've been exceptionally proactive. We have some voracious growth plans and I'm sure GoCardless, being a multinational organization, is going to keep on helping us in the future.”