NEWS EXTRA
WILLIAMS USES PAYIT TO EASE CARD FEE PAIN
Independent plumbers’ merchant Williams uses Payit, the UK’s leading Open Banking payment solution, to give customers more options to pay and save on card fees.
PAYING FOR GOODS and services by card has become the default method, particularly since the Covid pandemic took hold. It’s fast and easy for the customer, . but it’s costly for the retailer and not actually that secure for the customer either.
In 2020, Williams was the first merchant to adopt an Open Banking payment method and has continued to roll it out across all its customer journeys. Finance Director Mike Mann says: “We were hit by four successive rate increases in our card fees, and the cost of taking card payments spiralled during the pandemic as our customers switched away from cash, so we needed a way to manage these costs down. Every other type of payment was even more expensive than cards. Also, as more and more people make direct payments using their banking app, it made sense to provide customers with something they would be familiar with.”
The answer was brought to Williams by the company’s bank, Natwest, in the form of their new Open Banking payment product, Payit. This allows a merchant to request a payment from a customer, who simply needs to open their banking app and approve the transaction. “Open Banking isn’t new – it grew up from a European Commission directive in 2016, which was implemented in the UK, along with recommendations of an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority as long ago as 2014,” explains Mann; “essentially the major UK banks were required to work together to make moving money easier and cheaper, and the first results of this co- operation are now available.”
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This means that although Payit is provided to Williams by Natwest, customers who bank with any of the top 15 UK banks can use it – and the list is growing.
Once the Williams finance team had seen Payit demonstrated they could see its wider potential: “Payit was conceived as an online payment option – but we could see how well it would work in our branches for face-to-face payments during the pandemic – with it we can offer customers contactless payments up to £10,000, and they stay in control of the process. No card to lose, no danger of cloning, and the payment can be made anywhere you have phone reception – so it’s great for deliveries to site and account payments as well.” Williams now offers Payit on its website, in-branch and for monthly account payments – and take-up of the new payment method has been boosted by promotions; “Last Summer, every time a customer used Payit they were put into a weekly prize draw for a bbq/smoker/grill, and for the Winter season they have
the chance to win a £50 tool voucher instantly – which is a nice surprise!”
Williams uses Netherlands- based PayByLink to send payment requests to its customers, which proved an ideal way to initiate Payit payments; “PayByLink is basically a transport mechanism – a unique payment request is generated and sent to the customer – in-branch it’s by text, but we use email as well. The customer only needs to click on the link to start the payment. The collaboration between the Payit, PayByLink and Williams teams was fantastic and we now have something that’s future-proof and expandable.”
And what about those savings? “Our average card fee is around £2.70, as so many payments are quite high value,” Mann points out, “The cost to us of creating a Payit payment is around 30p – whatever the payment value. And as the providers of these solutions are very keen to get merchants to adopt them, implementation is very low-cost, so there’s minimal up-front investment.” As with any new concept,
unfamiliarity is a challenge in getting customers to move to Payit. “I think this is just a case of timing – as more merchants take this up, customers will become aware very quickly that there’s an alternative to cards.” This is not the only Open Banking payment solution; various fintech companies now have access to the big banks via secure API interfaces – but Mann believes that the Natwest brand gives Payit the credibility that a new product needs, “Customers want to know that their payment is 100% secure – and they’re reassured by seeing a name they recognise.”
Payit have announced new features due to be released in late 2022, including one-click payments and the ability to set up repeat payments. “This is a developing area so I think we’ll see continual improvements and a better and better customer experience as Open Banking products mature. This can only be good for merchants and customers alike.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net March 2022
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