The Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) phenomenon was one of the most anticipated developments in e-commerce in 2021. COVID-19 has accelerated the shift to everything digital in many different sectors, and e-commerce was no exception. We sat down with Nicholas Pelletier to discuss the latest developments in the sector and how providing white label BNPL solutions can transform the consumer experience.
White label essentially means that we are enabling merchants to have their own BNPL solution and therefore prevent external payments apps from invading daily transactions. We're providing both the technology and the financing that merchants need to provide the best BNPL payment experience to their users. One reason we are able to do so is that those merchants have a considerable amount of data on the customers, and thanks to that data, we can be very clever and very innovative in terms of assessing those people and enabling them to use BNPL accordingly.
We truly started by being innovative online and offering a very smooth online BNPL experience. We achieved this by doing a number of things, for instance, without redirecting the people to a third-party site, and with paying merchants through a virtual credit card. We don't add extra layers and we don't create reconciliation. All those efforts translated into very good conversion rates. Now that we're slowly getting past the pandemic, in-store shopping experiences are becoming more and more important to optimize. This is why we are investing a lot to come out quickly with, some very attractive solutions with the loyalty apps to stimulate people to utilize BNPL in stores with no contact. The amount these customers can spend is as I mentioned, determined based on the data we have on them.
"Now that we're slowly getting past the pandemic, in-store shopping experiences are becoming more and more important to optimize"
This is in fact a new area for us that started by mostly getting inbound calls from banks. Naturally, we looked at those with great interest, and what we have been addressing is: some banks knocked at our door mentioning that they want to offer their own BNPL product to their B2B customers. These banks addressed that they haven't built a BNPL platform or have the resources to make it a reality at the moment, so they requested using Pledg’s BNPL platform as a white label solution where we integrate merchants and so on. Ultimately this had led us to work on building a platform that can be easily licensed to third parties.
Taking France as an example, the usage of BNPL services currently stands at around five to six percent compared to usage rates of up to 25% in the north of Europe. This means that there is a huge potential for organic growth across France. And from Pledg’s perspective, we are well equipped to cater to that market. In regards to BNPL generally, I don’t see the market slowing down at all. That being said, there is obviously the extra bit of regulation that everybody expects, certainly in the European Union.
Our plans are to consolidate the south of Europe. We also think that there is a lot to be done in the Benelux region and the United Kingdom. We are currently also in talk with merchants in Portugal to explore more opportunities in that region
Investment banker at BNP Paribas, then CEO of Musiwave, a company specialized in mobile music, Nicolas is an entrepreneur passionate about what he does best, propelling his companies to success. With the launch of Pledg, a French fintech, he developed his talent to convince the biggest French companies to adopt BNPL. Above all, he is reconnecting with his passion for finance, this time bringing it up to date and accessible to all!
Founded in 2016, PLEDG is a French fintech that offers white label Buy Now Pay Later solutions. Pledg supports merchants in their omnichannel payment strategy and helps them sell better online or in-store.
Pledg offers a range of simple payment solutions that are perfectly adapted to the needs of merchants:
→ Instalment payment: 3x 4x, up to 12x
→ Deferred payment: D+15, the 5th of the following month, or customised
→ Shared payment
The company operates in different sectors (retail, tourism, ticketing, services...) in 10 European countries (France, UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Portugal).
For more information: www.pledg.co
The Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) phenomenon was one of the most anticipated developments in e-commerce in 2021. COVID-19 has accelerated the shift to everything digital in many different sectors, and e-commerce was no exception. We sat down with Nicholas Pelletier to discuss the latest developments in the sector and how providing white label BNPL solutions can transform the consumer experience.
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