Funding by industry
Retail and e-commerce funding, sized against what actually settles
Retail has a timing problem that most funding review is not built around: you buy inventory months before it sells, and if you sell through a marketplace, part of what you have already earned is sitting in a reserve. Both of those make strong businesses look weaker on paper than they are.
Elora is not a lender, bank or broker. We coordinate: we prepare the file and introduce it to appropriate funding sources, who make every credit decision. Nothing here is an offer, a rate quote or a guarantee of approval.
Gross sales and settled cash are not the same number
This is the mismatch that costs retailers the most time. A reviewer works from what lands in the bank account, and for an online seller that can be materially less than the sales dashboard shows — after fees, refunds, chargebacks and any rolling reserve the platform holds.
- Reserves are earned money you cannot yet use. A marketplace holding a percentage for weeks is normal, but if the request is sized on gross sales it will not reconcile with the statements.
- Refund and chargeback rates get read closely. A high return rate is common in some categories and unremarkable in context — but only if the context is in the file.
- Several sales channels mean several statements. A shop that sells in store, online and through a marketplace has three settlement streams. Sending one of them shows a third of the business.
- Inventory already paid for is not visible in a bank statement. It shows as money going out. Stating what it bought turns an outflow into an asset.
The documents that actually move a retail file
The goal is to let a reviewer reconcile sales to settlement without asking you three rounds of questions.
| Document | Why it is asked for |
|---|---|
| Business bank statements — last 4 months | The baseline. Everything else in the file is checked against what actually arrived here. |
| Processor and platform statements — last 3 months | Card terminal, gateway and marketplace payouts. This is what explains the gap between what you sold and what you banked. |
| A current inventory position | Turns a large outflow into visible working stock. Matters most when the request is to buy more of it. |
| Supplier invoices or purchase orders for the planned buy | Makes the use of funds concrete. "Inventory for the season" is a plan; a supplier PO is evidence. |
If you sell through a marketplace, include the payout report and not only the sales report. They are different documents, and it is the payout report that matches your bank.
Timing a seasonal request
Most retail requests exist because stock has to be bought before the season that sells it. The awkward part is that the moment you most need the capital is the moment your recent statements look weakest — the peak is behind you or ahead of you, not inside the window being reviewed.
- Ask while the last peak is still in the window. A request made two months after the strong season reviews very differently from the same request made five months after it.
- Show the shape of the year. A one-page monthly revenue summary lets the reviewer see a seasonal business instead of a declining one.
- Tie the amount to the purchase order. A request that matches a documented supplier commitment is easier to size than a round number.
Which structures tend to fit — and which rarely do
Inventory is bought once and sells over months. Whether a structure fits depends on whether repayment can wait for that.
| Structure | How it behaves |
|---|---|
| Revenue-based advance | Remittance follows daily card and platform settlement, so it eases naturally in a slow week. The trade-off is cost, and that repayment begins before the stock has sold. |
| Inventory or purchase-order funding | Tied to a specific buy, which is exactly the shape of the problem. Requires documented supplier terms, so it rewards a file prepared in advance. |
| Business line of credit | The best structural match for a seasonal cycle: draw for the buy, repay as it sells, draw again next season. The hardest to qualify for. |
| Equipment financing | Relevant for fit-out, refrigeration or POS hardware. It does not solve an inventory problem, and it is often reached for by mistake. |
We do not publish rates, amounts or terms. Those are set by the funding source for your specific file, and any figure quoted before underwriting would be a guess. How these structures differ, in plain English →
Why retail files stall
In our experience preparing files, most delays are not credit decisions. They are gaps that could have been closed before submission.
- Sales figures that do not reconcile to the bank. Almost always the reserve, the fees or a second channel — but unexplained it looks like an inconsistency.
- Only one channel's statements sent. The rest of the business simply is not visible.
- A round number with no purchase order behind it. Harder to size, and easier to trim than a request tied to a documented buy.
- An existing advance already debiting daily. Visible in the statements. Disclosing it keeps the file with sources that permit it.
What happens if you start a review
You answer a short intake, upload documents through a secure portal, and a person — not an automated score — reads the file and tells you what is strong, what is missing and which kinds of funding source are a realistic fit. No upfront fees, and nothing at this stage affects your credit. If we cannot help, we say so.