Payfacs Make B2B Commerce Seamless

As consumers, we expect to have a seamless shopping experience online, in stores and on mobile apps. It’s only natural to expect the same frictionless experience when we transact in business. And yet, when it comes to payment transactions in the corporate world, many business owners wonder why commerce is slow, complicated and cumbersome.

A 2019 survey by Accenture of B2B buyers and sellers in 10 countries and 16 industries, found 80 percent of buyers switched suppliers at least once in a 24-month period. Researchers attributed buyer dissatisfaction to three challenges facing sellers: not meeting buyer’s needs; failing to marry technology and human interaction; and organizational resistance to change.

Jason Michaels, managing director and B2B marketing lead at Accenture Interactive, said, “Our findings highlight a clear misalignment between buyers’ needs and sellers’ offerings, which requires both technology and the human touch.”

Fortunately, there’s a proven way for small and midsize businesses to combine digital and human expertise to simplify and improve payments acceptance. It’s called payment facilitation (payfac).

Make payments easy, simple and fast

Pioneered by eBay and PayPal, the payfac model is designed to streamline, accelerate and simplify payments by aggregating a large group of merchants under a master merchant account. By working with payfacs, merchants get faster approvals and take payments in unique ways that fit their industries and billing models. Payfacs also provide other benefits, beyond just making payments simpler and faster.

Automate mundane, repetitive tasks

Payfacs use advanced technologies to fully automate manual, paper-based processes and protect merchants and their customers from fraud. These digital tools replace expensive, repetitive, inefficient processes with real-time transaction monitoring and enhanced identity verification. These capabilities enable business owners to receive alerts in real time to minimize risk, validate customers and react quickly when problems occur.

Use technology to grow and scale

Payfacs, by their very nature, are built to manage multiple channels, platforms and user accounts. This makes them nimble at navigating numerous technologies, integrations, data points and payment flows. Their flexibility makes them adept at providing a consistent customer experience and continuous revenue flows across numerous platforms, networks, geographies and industries.

Gain insights from advanced analytics

Payfacs can leverage the collective knowledge and metadata from their aggregated user base to gain keen business insights and a competitive advantage in their specific vertical industries. Their built-in artificial intelligence and machine learning help them react faster than humans to opportunities and threats while providing trend analysis, security alerts and real-time updates.

Get fast access to funds

Payfacs accelerate processing and support an array of payment types and currencies, including commercial credit cards and ACH payments. These processes enable businesses to accept payments in a secure, compliant and cost-effective way. Additional options for obtaining immediate funding are available.

Qualify for B2B rate reductions

Payfac partners recognize that B2B merchants are different than standard retail merchants and carry less risk. Visa’s new, lower rate structure specifically designed for B2B merchants reflects these differences. A reliable payfac partner will ensure that a corporate client is assigned the right merchant category code (MCC) to get correct rates and best possible pricing and service.

Level 2 and Level 3 compliance

Payfac partners will assist business owners in meeting Level 2 and Level 3 guidelines used in business-to-business and business-to-government transactions. This will help them capture additional data, such as purchase order numbers, invoice numbers and sales tax. These additional details help businesses reduce risk, improve back-office processing and qualify for lower rates.

Go to market with ready-to-deploy platform

Small and midsize business owners can choose from an array of payfac models to determine the best fit for their businesses. All options are designed to remove complexity from payment processing while providing a secure and tailored approach to accepting payments.

Accenture Interactive researchers found 96 percent of leaders increased profits, and 97 percent increased market share, by delivering a better B2B customer experience.

“B2B organizations that are embracing a higher standard of service have an opportunity to transform their businesses and overall buyer experience through intelligent, personalized interactions and a strong focus on shared success,” researchers wrote.

VyaPay is a secure PCI Level 1 payment facilitator gateway that businesses use to process a variety of electronic payments (e.g. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, ACH, eChecks, international payments, 3D Secure, 3DSv2) online and in-person. Contact us directly at 833-4-VYAPAY to see how VyaPay can help transform your B2B customer experience.