INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS: RETAIL

Sales tax solutions for retailers and brands

Keep up with compliance requirements and compile sales data from multiple systems and channels.

Woman Purchasing a Bottle of Wine

Avalara helps retailers and brands solve tax compliance challenges

Avalara helps retailers and brands solve tax compliance challenges

Challenge:
Sales tax rules and rates change all the time. With 13,000+ tax jurisdictions in the United States alone, researching legislation and manually updating systems is labor-intensive and prone to error.

Solution:
Avalara calculates sales tax rates based on a variety of circumstances such as federal, state, and local jurisdiction rules, product, geography, marketplace rules, and more. Avalara tax experts regularly update global rates and rules that are automatically reflected in your systems, without requiring IT implementation.
   

I don’t lose sleep worrying about how we’re going to deal with changing sales tax requirements. My time is spent enhancing what we’re doing to continue growing our business.

Rick Gemereth, CIO
Read the Lionel Racing story

Challenge:
Retailers and brands are using multichannel and omnichannel strategies to reach more customers. This expansion to new channels often means manually updating tax content across systems and locations to account for sales tax holidays, threshold taxes, and more. It’s a time-consuming process that can also be prone to error.

It can be even more complicated for businesses with brick-and-mortar locations and POS systems that are offline. How can businesses reclaim that time while keeping systems up to date and customers happy?

Solution:
Avalara manages the complex tax scenarios retailers face with robust tax content that’s accessible through a variety of solutions to fit your business and system needs.

Whether you’re handling multiple sales channels (ecommerce, marketplaces, brick-and-mortar, offline sales, etc.), multiple locations, or both, Avalara has a solution that can integrate with your existing ecommerce, POS, and ERP systems.

Challenge:
Aggregating data, preparing tax returns, and filing on time make sales tax compliance a tedious process. And because each jurisdiction has its own rules and schedules, the more places you do business, the more complicated and time-consuming the process becomes. 

Solution:
Avalara can help increase efficiency by offloading many of the processes necessary to register, prepare and file returns, and remit taxes. Through automation, processes that can take days or weeks are done in minutes or hours, enabling retailers and brands to maintain compliance while finance teams focus on revenue-generating tasks.


“I don’t lose sleep worrying about late or misfiled taxes and penalties. And Avalara keeps us up to date as requirements change.”

—Robin Hecht, Controller
Read the Boll & Branch story

Challenge:
Keeping track of where you need to collect and file is challenging. Each jurisdiction has its own sales tax laws and filing requirements. Plus, tracking what and where you owe gets more complicated if you’re selling through multiple channels or platforms.

Solution:
Avalara aggregates sales data across multiple channels and systems to inform you when you’re approaching new sales tax obligations, so you can proactively register your business and remain compliant.
   

“Without AvaTax, assessing whether we have triggered economic nexus in the remaining states would be a tedious, manual process, requiring significant staff hours.”

Joanne Nicholson, Executive Vice President and CFO
Read the BRANY story

Challenge:
Charging the wrong tax rates or not communicating the full cost can cause customer frustration and negative reviews, harming your brand and affecting sales. Surprise fees on delivery can result in rejected shipments.

Solution:
Apply rules and rates across ecommerce, marketplaces, order management, and ERP channels. Show the full cost of an order, so customers know what to expect before they buy. No other tax compliance solution has as many connections to your existing systems. Consistency and ability to aggregate data is key.


“I wanted a knowledgeable, resourceful partner that would help us with unfamiliar situations.”

—Lisa Dodson, Price Book Manager
Read the Yesway story

Challenge:
Whether selling in new markets or expanding your product line, growth often means additional tax obligations. To remain competitive, retailers must continue to meet customer expectations for consistency of the buying experience across all channels, while addressing new compliance challenges.

Solution:
Avalara offers a variety of products to address different retail compliance needs, including international business and specialty taxes. Because they’re designed to work together, you can add products as you need them, without disrupting the customer experience or rebuilding your system from scratch.

“The kind of volume we’re planning will rely 100% on Avalara’s ability to help us scale. I can honestly say that having Avalara will enable that kind of growth, because we know we’re covered.”

—Emily Pfeiffer, Vice President of Marketing and Digital
Read the Berkshire Blanket & Home story

Our retail solution is with you every step of the way

Our retail solution is with you every step of the way

Step 1

Connect your business ecosystem

Manage transaction data from one place. Connect to the systems and platforms you have now, as well as the ones you need as your business grows. Avalara has over 1,200 signed partner integrations for:

  • Ecommerce platforms
  • Point-of-sale (POS) systems
  • Order management systems (OMS)
  • Marketplaces
  • Customer relationship management (CRM)
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  • Accounting software
  • and more

 

Avalara works with what you already use

Prebuilt connectors and a robust API help you integrate with your existing business systems or tech stack.

Step 2

Automate day-to-day compliance

Calculate rates based on product taxability rules and exemptions through cloud automation and content delivery for offline use.

Apply complex rate changes across states and jurisdictions, including tax holidays

Monitor sales and get alerts when you need to register and start collecting tax in new states

Collect exemption certificates and omit tax at the point of sale, whether online or in person

Step 3

Offload the burden of returns preparation and filing

Extract sales data from all your sales channels (e.g., in-store, online, Amazon, Etsy, Walmart) to generate reports and prepare sales tax returns

Compile transaction data across all systems and channels for a complete picture of your tax liability

Create signature-ready returns and outsource filing according to individual jurisdiction deadlines

Let Avalara handle tax notices on your behalf — all you do is upload them

Avalara Returns Automation Illustration.

Step 4

Access documents, anytime, anywhere

Cloud-based technology means there’s no hardware investment, maintenance, or upgrades for IT to worry about. Whether employees are in the office or working remotely, they have anytime access to tax documents and can:

Produce detailed sales tax reports for all channels

Look up exemption certificates

Quickly pull documents and reports for auditors

Stacked books with "Tax Changes 2024" on the top cover.
See the insights

It’s here: Avalara Tax Changes 2024

Dig into over 160 info-packed pages detailing upcoming changes, challenges, and solutions. Along with industry specific impacts.

Read the report

Stacked books with "Tax Changes 2024" on the top cover.
See the insights

It’s here: Avalara Tax Changes 2024

Dig into over 160 info-packed pages detailing upcoming changes, challenges, and solutions. Along with industry specific impacts.

Read the report

Avalara now powers cross-border compliance for Shopify Markets and eBay International Shipping. Explore these and 1,200+ signed partner integrations.

Avalara Accuracy Guarantee

Trust your tax compliance to Avalara. If we get something wrong, our Accuracy Guarantee means we’ll help make it right.

Accuracy Guarantee is subject to terms and conditions. 

Avalara Accuracy Guarantee

Trust your tax compliance to Avalara. If we get something wrong, our Accuracy Guarantee means we’ll help make it right.

Accuracy Guarantee is subject to terms and conditions. 

Trusted by

Trusted by

Connect with Avalara
See how easily our solutions work with your business applications.
Curious how we help with your specific tax challenges? Just ask.
Get direct help with your most pressing questions about tax software.