[3-minute read]
How you see the world depends on the lens you look through. We speak to George Boot, Business Development Manager at Truevo to see what he thinks the ecommerce and retail outlook is for 2022.
George hails from a family solidly rooted in the SME space. The two businesses they own and run sparked his interest in retail and his passion for the trade. He ran the Northampton craft beer bottle shop before embarking on a career in SME sales with Barcleycard in 2015. His next stop was Trust payments before returning to Barclaycard as a Business Development Manager in the mid-corporate market. He has recently been appointed sales manager with Truevo, where he’s focussing on working with SMEs and mid-corporate merchants in the ecommerce space.
Consolidate
Businesses have traditionally used niched suppliers and technologies without exploring their full capacity and capabilities. The supply chain crisis, brought on by Covid, has highlighted how important reliable suppliers are for any ecommerce and retail industry. The outlook for 2022 is that Ecommerce P&L’s will start having a more streamlined approach. Payments are evolving. Larger acquirers are struggling to iterate fast enough. It leaves the door open for more agile, tech-led, and streamlined Fintechs like Truevo to meet the market’s demand at pace.
Local shopping
Consumers want to support local businesses because they see them struggle. This trend is growing and more sustainable and purpose-driven brands are leading the way.
Social commerce
Social Commerce is developing fast. Platforms now allow users to purchase products via third-party retailers without leaving the app. I expect to see live shopping increase in 2022 with mobile, social channels. Users can even buy products from live demonstrations on TikTok. That’s the way of the future.
Mcommerce
Mobile commerce is exploding. Purchases via mobile devices and in-app purchases have become the order of the day. It reinforces the need to create seamless shopping experiences with simple website design and easy payout solutions. Alternative Payment Methods (APM’s) like Google and Apple Pay complete the options in a payment basket that customers expect. Offering the full Monty of payment options will increase conversion, reduce cart abandonment and drive brand loyalty. People shop where they get great deals and don’t have to work to pay.
Mobile and E-Wallets
Being able to pay safely from a device you carry everywhere completely transforms the shopping experience. People can buy products on the fly. Expect this trend to grow to become the preferred way of dealing with money.
BNPL
The race is on to satisfy this growing market. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) has transformed the relationship consumers have with traditional credit. Watch this space to see if banks will adopt their own BNPL products or partner with external providers to stay in the credit supply race. Amazon and Starbucks drive embedded payments to reward customer loyalty with favourable payout options.
Card Payouts and OTC
These platforms enable organisations to send and receive money domestically or cross-border to either card or non-cardholders. It has all the players in the market vying for pole position to build global payment networks. Whoever wins the race – gig workers, peer-to-peer and insurance payouts, gambling and instant refunds – will be the ultimate winners.
Open banking
Open Banking moves the payment off the card rails and allows consumers to pay directly from their bank account by authorising payments through their online banking apps. Early adoption has been slow but is accelerating and will soon become the staple payment method with the likes of Apple and Google Pay as well as PayPal.
Truevo is perfectly poised to take advantage of these trends. We build all our solutions in-house, enabling us to evolve and keep agile to deliver solutions at pace. That means we remain flexible to adapt to trends we pick up before they even know they are trends. It gives our merchants a great advantage to stay one step ahead of their competitors. Throw in the fact that we build solid, long-term relationships with merchants, and you have a match made in heaven.
Contact us. We can’t wait to evolve with you.
