Technology makes businesses more successful. If you don’t believe so you’ve been living under a rock. And technology can have an even larger impact when the business is a low margin retailer.
Recently, Womply has shown how technology can not only help the end customer (i.e. merchant), but that those delivering the technology solutions can reap the benefits of more successful clientele.
It’s no longer considered news that the payments acquiring landscape has been commoditized. Merchants benefit from lower processing rates as the acquirers beat themselves up on pricing. In an effort to avoid red waters, some providers have started marketing differentiation, including better customer support and additional tools to manage the business.
That’s where Womply has inserted itself. As the acquiring business stares down the black hole of a $3B turnover problem, Womply is empowering their payment partners to shrink those numbers.
Nobody like turnover. For merchants, switching credit card providers can mean operational disruption and new staff training. The reason for the change might be a lower rate, but what if that comes with worse customer support?
For acquirers, turnover means a loss of revenue. Older accounts are usually paying higher processing rates and may be happy to continue doing business with a trusted partner. Giving these accounts a reason to shop elsewhere is something that should be avoided.
We caught up with Womply’s head of special projects, Nathan Scripps, to learn more.
“Womply is creating an infrastructure layer for small and medium business that allows them to better compete with national chains or other big business deploying specialized enterprise software,” Nathan explains. “Local businesses don’t have 6 figures to spare for software and a dedicated specialist to run it, but Womply can give merchants similar tools that are easy to use and backed by a great team for a fraction of the cost.”
Nathan says that Womply’s product portfolio focuses on the front office, helping merchants better understand their market, customers, and other influential factors to make the best business decisions. “Better informed businesses will simply make better decisions and be more successful,” Nathan attests.
For example, Womply gathers information about a business on social media sites and presents it, just-in-time, to the business owner when something important happens. “Considering that two thirds of consumers are influenced by online reviews, Womply will watch review sites and email the business owner the minute a review needs to be addressed.”
This is just one of many examples, Nathan explains, as Womply can give merchants insights to their performance in their particular area or even specific business category, like restaurants. “Was I the only restaurant down in my city?” is a common question Womply answers.
And there’s real bite here.
Looking across portfolios of its processing partners, Womply recently reported that merchants using its services had 17% lower attrition than merchants in the same portfolio. So all things being equal, merchants stayed around longer if they were using Womply’s data products.
This tells us a few things. First, it means that merchants were more likely to keep their processing partner if they were providing Womply’s data products. Second, without getting too statistically pedantic, merchants using Womply’s products implicitly stayed in business longer.
Think of it this way: a business can churn by switching providers or going under. By lowering churn Womply is likely solving both of these problems around the edges.
“I think the American dream is shifting from a big building with your name on it to a small shop or food truck supporting a local community,” says Nathan. “We are excited to give merchants a better chance of making that that local community vibrant and sustainable.”
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