Challenge
Third-party reconciliation was proving a challenge for an upscale casual dining chain. The brand was struggling to untangle data from third-party distributors, like Blackhawk, InComm, and CashStar. Its accounting team didn’t have the time, resources, or in-depth understanding of the complex gift card industry to properly reconcile the payments against orders/activations each fiscal month.
The brand worked with Stoner Bunting Gift Cards (SBGC) to create a custom B2B gift card reporting solution that would help its accounting team ensure it was being paid the right amount and within specified terms.
Solution
1. Although the brand handles its bulk gift card fulfillment in-house, SBGC provides order management support. We also maintain relationships with third-party distributors, allowing us to directly access the in-depth order, activation, and payment data needed to build an effective reporting solution.
2. Our data specialists worked closely with the brand’s accounting team to pinpoint which information would help them efficiently reconcile the accounts. We then developed a customized reporting template that captured data relevant to each third-party distributor, so the brand could sort out the timing of orders/activations versus payments in relation to its fiscal calendar.
Results
After the accounting team approved the template, SBGC used it to begin providing monthly reports. We later refined the custom B2B gift card reporting to meet the brand’s changing needs.
The restaurant chain can now efficiently—and confidently—reconcile its accounts to ensure all payments are received and maintain an accurate financial picture of its third-party gift card program.
