Increasing business resiliency during & after the pandemic

[Webinar Recap] Payments and ecommerce experts from BlueSnap, Acro Commerce and Google Pay talk about how businesses can increase their resiliency in the face of a global pandemic.

Becky Parisotto, Director of Business Development here at Acro Commerce recently took part in a very informative webinar with Joe Twer, Sales Director at BlueSnap and Steve Klebe from Business Development at Google Pay. Hosted by April Grudier, Vice President, Marketing and Partner Strategy at BlueSnap.

This engaging panel provided insight and talked about how businesses can pivot and stay competitive in the face of a global pandemic, like the one that is gripping the world right now.

Watch the webinar or continue reading below for highlights.

Timestamps:

03:27 The pandemic: where we are right now
09:43 Innovative responses by impacted businesses
13:56 What are the most stressful and immediate challenges related to the pandemic?
18:34 How should a business go about adding b2c e-commerce offerings to their existing site?
20:32 Are there any payment pitfalls businesses should know to avoid or to watch out for?
23:13 What are some of the hurdles businesses could encounter as they pivot their business?
29:53 Are there any misconceptions about payments that businesses tend to have?
30:43 Contactless payments or touchless payments? Which is it?
34:40 Are there things companies can do to optimize their payments?
36:50 How can retail companies prepare to continue to grow and scale during the pandemic?
39:07 What are some of the positives for businesses and consumers coming out of this crisis?
42:34 Split or installment payments as an option in the economy today

The pandemic: where we are right now.

Joe talks about the struggles he is currently seeing, but most importantly, he highlights some of the ways that companies have innovated and pivoted their business models to rise to the challenge of not being able to continue business as usual. He also spends time talking about ancillary businesses and how they are popping up in spaces surrounding existing online activities. TOP

Innovative responses by impacted businesses.

Becky starts off this segment by talking about an elegant and innovative pivot that a luxury skincare manufacturer recently did, and how it not only opened a b2c channel for them but also found a way to give back to their b2b clients in a time of need.

Steve dives into a story about another b2b manufacturing company that found themselves shuttering their doors due to the fact that they were not an essential business. Their pivot included not only revamping their business model to start manufacturing masks, hence becoming an essential service, but they also added a b2c channel to their mix to get those masks out to the public faster.

Lastly, Joe talks about a company in the construction industry that saw their projects put on hold, but was able to leverage their supply chain to deliver items in extreme shortage like hospital beds. He also talks about how BlueSnap helped that company become more nimble with online invoicing and accepting payments online. TOP

What are the most stressful and immediate challenges related to the pandemic?

Becky talks about how companies are facing scalability and related hardships due to increased web traffic that their infrastructure was not prepared for.

Steve talks about the learning curve to new ecommerce retailers and the issues of payment fraud and vendor reliability.

Joe brings up that online retailers are seeing increased demand for payments through their sites to be handled in the customer’s local currency, but that implementation may not be in place. TOP

How should a business go about adding b2c e-commerce offerings to their existing site if they were previously b2b and vice versa?

Becky offers advice to organizations on how to get into the new channel quickly by keeping a customer experience focus and sticking with the smallest instance in which you can get online safely and securely. TOP

Are there any payment pitfalls businesses should know to avoid or to watch out for?

Joe talks again about the need to be aware of fraudulent activity and guard against it. Capacity and workflows will constantly have to be monitored for improvement and tweaked to make sure they are functioning optimally. TOP

What are some of the hurdles businesses could encounter as they pivot their business?

Joe brings up the need for organizations to allow for longer timelines when opening and integrating new merchant accounts into any new ecomm channel. Things are taking longer to get approval than they did pre-Covid, so make sure there is enough runway to allow for that.

Steve brings up how it is important to have a number of different potential options available for customers to purchase and pay online. In this instance, he uses the restaurant industry as an example and iterates how touchless payments can be integrated into online orders, in-store payments and curbside pick up.

Becky talks about the need to re-create the elegance of the in-store experience and bring that to the online shopper. Most retailers have gotten the purchase online with delivery or curbside pickup down pat, but the customer service experience when a return needs to be made is still lacking in a lot of cases. TOP

Are there any misconceptions about payments that businesses tend to have as they're going through changes?

Again, Joe talks about the need to allow time for accounts to be set up and how resource challenges during integration and set up should be expected. TOP

Contactless payments or touchless payments? Which is it?

Steve iterates how the term touchless payments will be the go-to way of referring to various methods of payment including 3D barcode options, tap and go, and using wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay. TOP

Are there things companies can do to optimize their payments?

Joe tells the audience that adding multiple payment options and creating automated workflows for traditional workforces like accounts receivables and payables are some of the ways that companies can optimize their payments and transition to more mobile-friendly options. TOP

How can retail companies prepare to continue to grow and scale and bring more customers to their web portal over brick and mortar as the pandemic goes on?

Becky talks about 3 key areas that companies should consider in this unique time. One, get brick and mortar shops to set up stocking inventory. Two, companies need to look at their infrastructure and make sure it can handle the new traffic you want to push on it. Three, think about personalization and how it can improve not only the buyer’s experience but guide them through their buying cycle faster. TOP

What are some of the positives for businesses and consumers coming out of the pandemic?

Joe: innovation, replacing old technology with new tech, increased profitability and customer satisfaction.

Steve: consumer behaviour changes and the acceptance of new technology in the retail landscape.

Becky: the creativity of quickly sprinting up a new channel and companies learning all the channels that are available to them in the digital landscape. TOP

Split or installment payments as an option in the economy today.

Joe talks about the benefits to consumers of being able to split large ticket purchases into equal installments and how this can be a big asset to offer for retailers of large ticket items.

If you would like to know more about any of the topics discussed in this webinar in detail, please reach out to us. Our very own panellist, Becky Parisotto is available for consultation on any of these topics or any questions you may have that are specific to your company needs. TOP