R&I Jones Director Aled Roberts reveals how the Welsh wholesaler has seen a big impact
Hey Aled, how is R&I Jones using B2B Open Banking?
We've introduced B2B Open Banking into our business as a new way for our customers to make payments. The idea is to encourage more customers to use open banking instead of paying with cash or by card, therefore reducing the amount of fees we pay to process those transactions.
How are you encouraging customers to use open banking?
We've used a few different methods and had some success with each one. The first way was to put a QR code on our invoices, statements and order confirmations, so every customers who gets a delivery on our van can simply scan it and pay – it's quite a simple way to get the message across.
We've also promoted open banking using the banner and pop-up ads on our eCommerce site. We included an offer on the banner to incentivise use, so anyone using open banking for the first time gets a free case of water.
Have you had any feedback from customers?
Not much, but that's normally a good sign. I did have one customer who I dropped some products off for who thought the idea of scanning a QR code and paying there and then was great. He was about to get some cash to pay when I told him about open banking and he said 'that's brilliant, just what I need'.
When customer have used open banking once, are they sticking with it?
Yes, it seems that once people have used open banking once and seen how easy it is to use, they continue to use it. The mindset thing is important because you've got to change someone's habit from the way they've always paid to do it with open banking, but we're hoping it's going to become like second nature for a lot of customers.
Are there any other benefits of adopting B2B Open Banking?
We're taking less cash and have said to our customers that used to give us money upon delivery that we're no longer going to take that, which is a lot safer for our drivers. If we had one guy on the van and doing several drop offs, he could come back with a couple of grand on him by the end of the day, which wasn't ideal for his safety or for insurance purposes.
How do you see open banking usage growing among your customer base?
It's like any new technology, it does take some time for it to be adopted, but the numbers are increasing and within a few months we're already getting a fair amount of transactions coming through via open banking. It takes some people time to get on board, but there's no doubt it's being taken up more and more. It's like anything, though, that as more people use it and can see the benefit, they'll come to like it.
