AI is the future: A Conversation with Kierian Davis on the Future of Retail Finance
Retail finance is under more pressure than ever. With transaction volumes surging, margins getting tighter, and customer expectations rising, finance teams can no longer afford to operate in reactive mode.
To get a clearer picture of how leading retailers are adapting, we sat down with Kierian Davis, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Trintech.
Keirien has worked closely with some of the world’s top retail brands to modernize their financial close processes. In this conversation, she shares her perspective on the current landscape, the opportunities ahead, and how teams are shifting from spreadsheet chaos to smarter, faster operations.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
Subscribe to TRBAbsolutely. I actually started my career as an accountant at EY, where I worked with large enterprises on complex financial processes. That experience gave me a real appreciation for how much time and effort finance teams put into keeping everything running — especially around month-end.
Eventually, I joined Trintech as a Solution Consultant, and that’s where I really got to see the transformation side of finance. Now, as a Senior Product Marketing Manager, I bridge that hands-on experience with strategy, working to help finance teams solve the real challenges they face every day.
What does Trintech do, in a nutshell?
We help finance teams, especially in retail, simplify and automate the financial close. That includes everything from reconciliations and journal entries to task management and reporting.
Retailers deal with massive volumes of transactions coming from different places: POS systems, eCommerce, mobile apps, delivery services. Our platform brings all that data together and makes the reconciliation process smoother, faster, and less risky.
Instead of spending hours manually matching transactions or chasing errors, teams can focus on reviewing exceptions, improving reporting, and making better decisions with confidence.
What’s Trintech’s real advantage in this space?
One of the biggest things is that our platform is purpose-built for finance, we’re not just digitizing paper-based workflows. We’re actually automating them.
So we’re not just giving teams a tool, we’re helping them consistently hit 90 to 99 percent match rates, close faster, and reduce the risk of audit issues or financial write-offs. For high-volume industries like retail, that’s a huge advantage.
We’re also ERP-agnostic, which is important because retailers often have a mix of systems — maybe SAP in corporate, something else at the store level. Trintech plugs into that whole ecosystem without requiring a major IT lift.
What makes your approach different?
It’s not a one-size-fits-all rollout. Our platform is modular, so teams can start where the friction is worst — whether it’s bank recs, journal entries, or something else — and build from there. It gives them quick wins and makes scaling easier.
We also take a consultative approach. We work closely with clients to help them rethink their processes, not just layer technology on top of what’s already broken. The end goal is always the same: get finance out of firefighting mode and into a forward-looking, more strategic role.
Do you have any examples of that impact?
Definitely. One of the best examples is Marks & Spencer. They were dealing with a lot of manual reconciliation work, especially after expanding their payment options to include more card types. The volume and complexity jumped significantly.
They partnered with us to rebuild their reconciliation process and actually made the decision to reconcile at the store level rather than regionally. That allowed them to identify discrepancies much faster and cut resolution time dramatically.
They now process over 20,000 weekly entries across five data feeds and have a daily integration with AmEx EPA that enables store-level matchbacks. The result? Faster reconciliations, tighter controls, and fewer missed credits.
It’s a great example of what’s possible when you pair the right tech with a willingness to rethink the process.
What are the biggest challenges retailers are facing in 2025?
There’s a lot happening. Inflation and interest rates are still squeezing consumer demand. Labour shortages and wage pressure continue. Supply chains are volatile, and customers expect seamless digital experiences.
At the same time, retailers are being asked to do more with less. Compliance costs are rising, margins are under pressure, and a lot of teams are still running on outdated systems that slow them down and expose them to risk.
And where are the opportunities?
They’re definitely out there. AI is opening up new possibilities in forecasting and margin optimization. Sustainability is becoming a real driver of brand loyalty. We’re also seeing more retailers invest in immersive in-store experiences and grow through marketplaces and social commerce.
From a finance perspective, cloud-based tools and embedded finance are helping teams respond faster and work smarter. The retailers who are willing to invest in those capabilities are the ones who will come out ahead.
How is Trintech helping retailers bridge that gap?
We’re helping retailers tackle the problems that slow them down. Whether it’s manual reconciliations, disconnected data, or compliance headaches — our platform brings it all together.
We automate processes, integrate with whatever systems are in place, and provide real-time visibility so teams can act instead of react. It’s about turning complexity into clarity and giving finance the tools to lead, not just report.
What’s next for Trintech in the retail space?
We’re continuing to invest in AI and real-time automation to make the financial close even more intuitive and predictive. The goal is to help retailers handle seasonality, emerging payment types, and data volume with less stress and more confidence.
We want to give finance teams the tools to not just keep up, but stay ahead — whether that’s reconciling thousands of transactions across hundreds of stores or delivering insights that drive better decisions.
Final thoughts?
If you’re still running your close on spreadsheets or constantly scrambling to keep up, it’s time to rethink things. Retail finance is evolving fast, and the right tools and mindset can make a huge difference.
🎥 Ready to dive deeper?
Watch our on-demand webinar: Automate Payment Reconciliation in Retail
🗣️ Want to see how this plays out in the real world?
Read our editorial on how Marks & Spencer reimagined reconciliation with Trintech.
