The omnichannel challenge starts with digital payment management

Adyen’s technology platform improves the customer experience. Enabling more efficient and integrated payment management, as in the case of OBI, Legami, Uniqlo and Xiaomi

Being truly omnichannel is the declared or undeclared goal of many retailers. A dream that can turn into a nightmare. Especially for consumers, when they decide to move from theory – searching for information and discovering the product – to practice, namely purchasing and therefore payment. Because that is where the difference between physical and digital is measured: how many people, irritated by queues at the tills in a physical shop, abandon their basket after filling it? It is difficult to give an answer, but it is certainly a minimal percentage. However, when the digital payment process proves too slow, there is an answer: 40% abandoned purchases. Adyen, a financial technology platform whose missions include helping companies in retail achieve their ambitions more quickly, supports this.

Endless aisles for OBI

In the case of OBI, a German DIY chain belonging to the Tengelmann Group with over 660 shops in Europe, the collaboration with Adyen began as part of the “Endless Aisle” strategy, aimed at overcoming the barriers between physical retail and the digital marketplace. In practice, customers can pay directly at the till for products from third-party sellers, exactly as they do for those purchased in store.

Thanks to the Adyen for Platforms solution, the same terminal can activate two different settlement routes: part of the payment is allocated to the entity of the relevant market (for local products), while the other part is directed to the platform entity.

Following a successful rollout across thousands of terminals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the system is now being expanded internationally. It will also be introduced in Italy, while further expansions into other countries are already planned.

A marketplace truly integrated with the shop

Nils Benning, OBI’s Vice President Global Digital Product, explains the strategic value of this collaboration: “We are increasingly evolving into a true solutions provider and, with this in mind, we offer a fully integrated marketplace for everything related to the home and garden. If an item is not available in store, customers can order and pay for it directly at the till through our marketplace, smoothly and in a single transaction, exactly as with a normal checkout purchase. With Adyen, we are building a simple and reliable shopping experience for our customers.”

Legami manages its own e-commerce

Bringing its company e-commerce site in-house, having previously been managed by an external partner, was the goal of Italian accessories brand Legami, which aimed to further improve the customer experience and build a direct relationship with its customers. The project required building all the processes from scratch to manage the accounting and tax affairs of a B2C online shop, as well as the scalability needed for future growth.

For Alberto Fassi, founder and CEO of Legami, “The challenge was overcome thanks in part to a partner such as Adyen, which provides simple, well-documented technical integration, a modern and functional platform, and customer service that is always active and ready to support users.”

After bringing its e-commerce service in-house, Legami’s staff spend 20% less time on online payments than estimated.

A single partner for multi-market operations

Another element of complexity from an omnichannel perspective is an international presence. Choosing a single payment partner delivers immediate benefits, eliminating the need for contracts with multiple providers. This is what Uniqlo, part of the Fast Retailing Group, did by entrusting Adyen with managing the brand’s in-store and online payments in different markets, making it easy to consolidate and reconcile information across multiple channels.

In the case of Chinese multinational Xiaomi, more than 100 markets and regions are covered through its e-commerce website and physical retail shops. This is where the value of its partnership with Adyen lies: Adyen processes payments for the consumer electronics business unit in 18 markets, including Singapore, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Mexico and the European Union. By managing online and in-store payments through a single integration, Xiaomi can focus on delivering value to its global customers.

More conversions, fewer fraud cases

The ability to process payment transactions in just a few seconds and across different payment methods – Adyen claims to support more than 200 of them – brings a further, far from secondary, advantage: increasing conversions. While also enabling financial reconciliation to be automated and fraud to be reduced. So that retailers’ (and consumers’) omnichannel dream can become a reality rather than a nightmare.

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.