05 Jul B2B PAYMENTS: WHY A “ONE SIZE FITS ALL” APPROACH CANNOT WORK

Today, payments as well as the adoption of digital solutions are top priorities for the management team of any business, regardless of company size or industry.

Surprisingly, efficiency, rather than cost savings, is the n.1 reason for businesses to adopt e-payments. [1]

But does the integration of digital payment methods alone generate efficiency?

As far as B2B payments is concerned, the “one size fits all” approach cannot be a solution: each company has its own specific challenges, thus a customised modus operandi and strategy are required.

The B2B sector is facing major transformation and business needs related to payments and collection processes, greatly differ from company to company even within the same sector: they are indeed based on different product or service offerings, different sales channels, different average order values as well as different levels of digitalisation and familiarity with digital tools also at customers’ end.

Let’s consider the distinctive dynamics that are found in industries such as automotive, pharmaceuticals, textiles and fashion or electronics, as well as the bigger share the web is taking within B2B sales. In Europe alone, business-to-business ecommerce is growing at a steady pace and is expected to approach the milestone of $2 trillion in total sales as soon as 2025 [2].

Credit and debit cards along with traditional wire transfers are still widely used accross Europe for B2B sales, however neither of them are able to address the major pain points that afflict industry’s payment processes.

While a lot still needs to be done in terms of digital transformation, it should be highlighted that not all e-payment solutions automatically generate efficiency.

With regards to card payments, the following issues are often encountered:

• Credit limit/Plafond

Being average order values higher compared to those of B2C businesses, card payments are often not suitable to pay B2B orders;

• Frauds/Chargebacks

With card payments the chances of incurring in frauds and chargebacks -both fraudulent and friendly- is higher compared to other methods. Chargebacks generate indirect costs for businesses including a depleted inventory of goods, adverse impact to the brand, or loss of trust by customers. In 2021 alone, over 600 millions chargeback were processed globally. [3]

As for traditional wire transfers, not only processing times are often cause of delays, but complex manual tasks are needed for bank statement reconciliation.

Today, payment methods that seem better respond to B2B needs are those based on account-to-account (A2A) transactions, allowing digital payments that rapidly move funds directly from the payer’s bank account to the payee’s one: the A2A system is among the megatrends for 2022. [4]  We might think they are simple wire transfers, while they may be seen as their smart evolution, able to offer a wide variety of advantages to B2B and B2C businesses as well as to Public Administration entities.

Payments made via MyBank, the A2A Pan-European solution, which is today n.1 alternative method in Italy, provide immediate certainty of payment collection thanks to their irrevocable transaction with real-time confirmation. As a result, merchants can rapidly manage customer orders, streamline their back-office operations thanks to 100% automatic reconciliation, optimise cash flow management and minimise the risk of incurring in fraud and chargeback procedures.

With no transaction amount limits (provided the necessary funds are available on customers’ bank accounts), MyBank facilitates B2B sales, with no additional intermediaries or complicated fee structures.

One of the mostly appreciated features of A2A payments is inclusion: not only their integration into business processes is simple and cost-effective for companies with an online sales channel, but they are also easily used by businesses with no web presence.

With the MyBank pay-by-link solution, any type of business can digitise payments and collect them via the A2A system with no need for an ecommerce or technological investments: thanks to the payment link sent via email, SMS or provided with a QR code, it is possible to optimise offline sales and improve customer experience, while streamlining internal processes.

Furthermore, inclusion is a feature of A2A payments for payers, too: easy to access even for those customers who are less familiar with new digital tools. Payments are made directly from their online banking service of their own bank, thus not requiring customers to significantly change their daily “user experience”, in line with a progressive approach to digitisation.

B2B players’ interest towards A2A payment solutions like MyBank is on the rise, not only for their cost saving opportunities, but above all for the efficiency they generate as well as the streamlined processes they ensure in a variety of contexts with a gradual approach to digital that immediately provides its benefits.  

 

 

 

[1] https://www.afponline.org/publications-data-tools/reports/survey-research-economic-data/Details/paymentscost

[2] https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2022/03/29/b2b-ecommerce-in-europe-nears-a-milestone/

[3] https://www.tokenex.com/blog/what-is-a-chargeback-and-how-much-does-it-cost

[4] https://worldline.com/content/dam/worldline-new/assets/documents/whitepapers/futuring-payment.pdf