Ironport Capital Group, a small-business funding service in Logan, Utah, helps Cache County retailers, online sellers, parts counters and distributors request inventory financing: funding to buy stock ahead of sales, usually secured by the goods themselves. Partners look at how fast inventory turns and how it is tracked, and they set the advance, cost and term.
| Usually pays for | Stock, parts and product bought before they sell |
|---|---|
| Typical security | The inventory itself, often with a filed lien |
| Retail employers, Cache County, 2023 | 480 Cache County stores employing 8,113 people (CBP 2023) |
| Online and mail-order sellers, 2023 | 67 Cache County sellers with payroll (CBP 2023) |
Using a loan to buy inventory in Cache County, UT
A loan to purchase inventory covers the gap between paying a supplier and collecting from customers. A business loan to buy inventory can be a dedicated inventory facility, a term loan for one large order, or draws on a line of credit. The right choice depends on whether the purchase is one order or a cycle that repeats.
Business loan to purchase inventory or a dedicated facility?
For a single large order, a short term loan is simple. For stock that turns over again and again, an inventory facility or a line of credit lets you borrow against what is on hand and pay down as it sells. Inventory financing for small business owners is usually the second kind.
How does inventory financing work?
The partner advances part of the value of the stock you are buying or holding, and files a lien on that inventory. You sell the goods, pay down the balance, and buy again. Partners usually advance less than the full cost, because inventory can lose value if it does not sell; how much less depends on the goods and how quickly they move.
- Fast-moving, easy-to-resell goods tend to support a larger share
- Seasonal, perishable or custom items tend to support a smaller share
- Clear stock records, such as point-of-sale or marketplace reports, help the partner value it
An inventory financing example
Illustration only, with invented figures that are not an offer. An online seller in Cache Valley orders $30,000 of product for the next quarter. A partner advances 60% of the cost, $18,000, and the seller pays the other $12,000 from cash. As units sell, the seller pays the balance down. If the stock sells through in four months, the financing cost is paid on a falling balance; if half of it sits unsold, the seller is still paying on that portion.
The by-hand check worth doing: divide the order by your average monthly sales of those items. That is roughly how many months the balance stays open, and it is the number to compare against the term a partner offers.
Floor plan financing meaning
Floor plan financing is a type of inventory financing used by dealers of high-value items with serial numbers, such as vehicles, trailers and powersports. Every unit is funded on arrival at the lot and cleared once a buyer drives it away. Partners audit the units on the lot. Cache County had 21 automobile dealer employer establishments in 2023 (CBP), a small group, so this page concentrates on retail stock and parts rather than dealer floor plans.
Cache County, UT shelves, lots and warehouses that use inventory financing
County Business Patterns counted 480 retail employer establishments in Cache County in 2023, with 8,113 employees. Within that, there were 43 building material and garden supply dealers and 36 clothing stores. Online sellers show up separately: 67 electronic shopping and mail-order employer establishments, plus 70 other direct selling establishments (CBP 2023).
In ZIP 84321, the Logan ZIP that also covers ground outside the city, retail trade accounted for 190 employer establishments in 2023 (ZBP). The ecommerce and online seller page and the auto repair page, with its parts-stock angle, go deeper. The article on inventory financing for ecommerce sellers covers marketplace payout timing.
Turning a stock order into a request partners can read
An inventory request is clearer as a short worksheet than as a single number. For each group of goods in the order, write down:
- What it is, in plain words ("spring irrigation parts", "two pallets of floor tile"), and the supplier
- Units and landed cost per unit, including freight
- How many weeks the same goods took to sell through last time, from your sales reports
- The supplier's payment terms and any early-order discount
- Where the goods will sit: your stockroom, a rented unit or a marketplace warehouse
Retail trade accounted for 480 of the county's 4,140 employer establishments in 2023, with 8,113 employees, 45.2% of them under five employees (CBP), plus 1,093 retail nonemployer businesses in 2024, counted separately by Nonemployer Statistics. Shops of very different sizes fill out the same worksheet; only the rows change.
Inventory financing vs a line of credit for a Logan, UT stockroom
A line is broader: it can pay for stock, wages or anything else. An inventory facility is tied to the goods and is often sized to them. If your need is almost all stock, an inventory product can match the borrowing to what is on hand; if the need is mixed, a line is more flexible. See the six funding types, funding by industry or how a request moves. County data for context is on the Logan, UT page.
