Overcoming Cash Flow Challenges on Amazon: A Case Study

Cashflow = growth

One day Amanda Jenner was walking along the high street, her two-year-old child’s potty in a carrier bag hanging from the handle of the buggy. She paused to let her toddler use the potty and then tipped the watery contents away in a nearby drain, when a passerby began shouting at her. Upset but fuelled by her ‘telling off’, she returned home with an idea, and the seed for the now award-winning product was sown.

The “world’s only leakproof travel potty”, My Carry Potty, is now sold at major high-street retailers such as John Lewis and Boots, but it all started with an Amazon UK store.

“We had 2 main problems”

Within the first 3 months the business grew by over 900% on Amazon. That sounds amazing but we weren’t able to keep up and fulfil orders quick enough, admits co-owner Darren Jenner. He recalls, “the first issue we had was getting the goods produced and shipped from Asia in time to satisfy the demand. The second problem was funding the stock as there was a huge outlay involved on our part, many months before you could get a return, particularly from Amazon who keep hold of the revenue and only pay every two weeks following sales.”

It became clear that they needed a solution to overcome their Amazon cash flow challenges.

Funding growth

In April 2021, they heard about Storfund from a number of other companies who were using the service to overcome their cash flow challenges. Darren explained they had talked to banks initially, but they would only offer conventional invoice financing which did not cover Amazon businesses.

Storfund was designed for ecommerce and works by paying sellers for sales they have already made.

Darren says “by giving us a large portion of our daily takings on Amazon in advance, we were able to fund our growth. Not only that, but Storfund also allowed us to finance larger projects within the business leading to a substantial increase in turnover year on year; we have been able to restock without hesitation plus invest in new product development without additional external funding.”

Since working with Storfund, the business has expanded to Amazon US and throughout Europe. Darren says that over the past 2 years, they have seen the biggest growth in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, and Sweden, although the UK remains their biggest market.

Surviving ‘make or break’

My Carry Potty has sold over a million products worldwide and is a No.1 best seller on Amazon, and sells many more items than the original potty now.

“Cashflow challenges are inevitable with fast-growth, but Storfund has added fluidity to our growth plans by alleviating these issues. The early days when demand was outpacing supply was make or break for us. But if you can survive that, and overcome, you can really fly. 

If a business is making considerable progress on Amazon (or any marketplace) and would benefit from cashflow to grow, then I would strongly recommend this service.”

Get in touch to see how Storfund could make a difference to your business.