Fran's Chocolates, a US-based gourmet chocolatier, is among the first customers worldwide to test Aviator, Avalara's newly unveiled agent hub for tax and compliance.

For years, Fran's Chocolates had little reason to worry about multistate sales tax compliance. That changed as the company's e-commerce and wholesale businesses grew across the country and the Wayfair decision expanded states' authority to enforce economic nexus rules.

The company implemented Avalara AvaTax to automate tax calculations across jurisdictions, Managed Returns to handle filing and remittance, and Exemption Certificate Management (ECM) to track and validate exemption certificates.

Fran's Chocolates says it reduced reliance on additional full-time employees, saving up to $120,000 annually in salary and benefits, and reclaimed more than 100 hours a year by automating tax classification across a catalogue of more than 900 SKUs, including the 40 to 60 new products it typically introduces annually. Automated, jurisdiction specific tax reporting has also helped shorten its financial close cycles.

"Economic nexus rules are always changing, and keeping up with them used to mean hours of manual cross-checking," says Ken Harrison, Senior Accountant at Fran's Chocolates. "Avalara helps us see where we're approaching nexus before it becomes a problem, and recently using Avalara Aviator has shown us how much further that early warning can go. The agent does the scanning, and we decide what to act on."

As part of the Aviator beta process, Harrison put the hub's orchestrator agent, Avi, to work on real, day-to-day compliance questions. Work that traditionally meant combing through transaction grids line-by-line was surfaced for review in a fraction of the time, with Harrison retaining full control over which findings to act on.

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards, which celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world, have now closed for entries. Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2026 shortlists and finalists here.

We received a record number of entries this year and many fantastic examples of technology excellence driving transformative change across the global retail sector.

Congratulations to all those who made it through the initial submission process! It’s now over to our star studded judging panel who will decide the winners to be announced at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London. 

The event will be held on Wednesday, 4th November and consist of a drinks reception, three course meal, awards ceremony presided over by award winning stand-up comedian, presenter, actor and broadcaster, Aurie Styla, and after party until 1am.

Click here to book your place at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, 4th November.