BBVA API Market
A very eye-catching and quality product, a competitive price, quick home delivery, and excellent after-sales service. It’s the perfect cocktail for online stores to succeed. Sometimes, however, business transactions do not end up closing because of a minor detail: lack of financing, and the alternatives are either awfully expensive or they take a long time to process.
Luckily, banking APIs are changing this paradigm by making it easier for many people to get bespoke financing to make their purchases. There is no longer a need to go to a branch in person to apply for a loan or credit. Any user can quickly and easily request financing and, best of all, without having to leave the application from which they make the purchase.
The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the growth of a business model that has already been significantly driven in recent years: online trade. Consequently, traditional payment methods have given way to electronic means of payment that are associated with this important growth, with the cell phone being the great beneficiary of this new reality.
According to data from logistics operator UNO, e-commerce has grown by 50% in Spain since the State of Emergency was declared. This situation, far from being temporary due to the exceptional circumstance of being in lockdown that we experienced, is likely to become structural, especially due to the increasing presence of companies engaged in e-commerce and, in general, the consolidation of online trade.
This new reality has displaced cash as a means of payment used by consumers. Bizum recently reached 10 million users in Spain, and platforms such as Apple Pay or Google Pay continue their unstoppable rise, multiplying their users worldwide by more than five times in just 4 years, according to data collected by Merchant Savy.
Open banking is giving a new impetus to this ecosystem. The adoption of the PSD2 Directive across Europe has opened up banking infrastructure to so-called Third Party Providers (or TPPs), which has allowed them to integrate, through APIs, some services within third-party platforms, allowing them to offer new banking functionalities.
One of them is the possibility to obtain financing directly from the purchase application. Its goal is that customers can quickly and easily access a bespoke credit facility with an online process, from the same business in which they are making that purchase, whether it is a physical or digital store.
Thanks to these APIs, any developer can, for example, add new functionality within applications, that of paying for products in installments. An option that had already been implemented by Amazon-like giants through Fintonic. Or the launch of a new standard launched by SWIFT last year, an API called Pay Later standard, through which any application can integrate a new feature (pay later) to its applications.
BBVA has launched its own API, Checkout Financing, which aims to offer recurring purchase financing to customers, who have a limit to be determined in each case. It is simple to process: a customer requests financing through BBVA’s online process, from any application or platform from which it is requested; BBVA studies the transaction and, if approved, the credit limit is activated and the purchase is completed.
Bespoke financing is an added value for companies that choose to implement it. It is a key tool for your business and provides a number of attractive advantages.
Because your customers can access financing at checkout in an easy, flexible, and quick way, it’s easier for the transaction to be viable, especially on high-end products. With a single click, customers can defer payment of their purchases and have some flexibility in deciding loan terms.
In addition, in the case of recurring purchases, the customer does not have to worry about having enough money, as a credit is enabled in their account that even renews automatically when the customer runs out of funds. In short, the possibility of being able to offer a bespoke financing service for your customers is a real boost to your sales.
According to a recent publication by Sequra, one of the most commonly valued factors for customers when buying online is the amount of means of payment that can be used. In fact, companies with better conversion rates offer up to eight different means of payment.
Bespoke financing associated with your business is another payment method, which will make any purchase much easier and more affordable and both parties will benefit. In this respect, flexibility, trust, and convenience are put at the customer’s disposal.
Your customer came to you for the quality of your product and so you invested in letting them know, but most of them stay for other reasons, such as the flexibility and versatility of your services or the possibility to use the best suited payment options at any given time.
When you offer added value that isn’t provided by your competition, you can retain your customer base and get them back the next day. And this is precisely what happens when you give the opportunity to finance purchases; customers know that your business has that option and it will be easier for them to come back if they are happy with the service provided.
Some sectors, such as the automotive, have their own financial institutions to facilitate paying for their products in installments, in this case, vehicles sold through dealers. An API like BBVA Auto Loan allows you to eliminate the need for your own financial institution to be able to offer you a flexible and simple credit payment system, and all the guarantees of an entity like BBVA in managing it.
Products and services offered digitally, but financing remains face-to-face. This is the reality that many companies that have an online business have to assume, and that results in the long-awaited digital transformation being incomplete. Thanks to APIs, companies can integrate financing within their platforms in a simple, flexible and above all low-cost way. Thus, business digitization is simpler.
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