Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Thank you or mobile,
you'll find WorldPay at the
heart of great commerceexperiences globally.
In this five-part series, we'lldive deep into seamless
commerce experiences across allcustomer journeys, including
from the consumer and merchantperspectives.
We'll also look at solutions inthe market today and where
(00:40):
Omnicommerce is heading in thefuture.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hello and welcome
everyone to this, the fifth and
final episode in our series, incollaboration with WorldPay,
about Omnicommerce.
Today, we're going to betalking about the future of
Omnicommerce.
In the last episode, wediscussed WorldPay's
Omnicommerce solution calledCommerce 360.
So I suggest you go back andtake a listen to that episode as
(01:03):
well.
It was episode 332.
Joining me today is Yael Barak,the VP of Product Management
here at WorldPay.
Thank you so much for beinghere today and welcome back to
the show.
Thank you for having me Great.
So let's go ahead and dive in.
Tell our audience a little bitabout yourself and your role at
WorldPay.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Tell our audience a
little bit about yourself and
your role at WorldPay.
Sure, so at WorldPay I lead ourproduct team that is thinking
about solutions and products forsmall businesses in the US.
Sometimes we go direct to thesesmall businesses, sometimes we
partner with financialinstitutions like banks, in
which case the products that wesell are always in the context
of services that these merchantsget from banks.
(01:44):
So it's a kind of a differentenvironment, and sometimes we
work with other kinds ofpartners.
So I guess a common denominatoris it's all small business,
small, ranging from very, very,very small micro merchants two
to three people working in abusiness all the way to what we
might even consider smallenterprise, maybe businesses
(02:04):
with a few locations.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Okay, and for those
that have listened to this
series, we've really beenfocusing on WorldPay from that
kind of focus the omnicommercefor small business merchants.
But just so people understand,WorldPay obviously is much, much
more than that.
So maybe give us a broadoverview of what WorldPay does
(02:26):
holistically.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Of course.
So, yes, worldpay is a beast ofa company one of the largest
acquirers of payments merchantpayments in the world, live in
more than 80 countries andsupporting businesses all the
way from the small, small micromerchants that I support to
global enterprises, wholesalenames that everyone knows,
(02:48):
recognizes and probablyinteracts with every day A
variety of services, fromaccepting card payments and
alternate payment methods tobeing able to make payouts and
foreign exchange, treasury type,movements of currencies,
solutions like point of sale soyou know, technology that you
have in stores, as well ase-commerce, and also some very
(03:11):
niche verticals that require,maybe, a higher adherence to a
strict regulatory and compliancerequirements.
So very, very vast andexpansive in terms of our
breadth of solutions andmerchants that we work with.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
So for this episode,
let's talk about the future of
Omnicommerce from twoperspectives let's talk about
Omnicommerce where it's heading,and then the future of your
specific solution, commerce 360.
So first let's talk aboutOmnicommerce today, you know,
and meeting customers where theyare.
That's sort of been the themeof what we've talked about.
Maybe, talk about Omnicommerce,but what's next?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Sure.
So we have been talking about,like you say, meeting customers
where they are, mostly from theperspective of their physical
context and what kind of devicesthey're on or what situation
they're in, whether it's onlineor in-store.
I think the next interestingthing is to be meeting them at
(04:10):
like a hyper-contextualized usecase.
So, for example, it's not justthe fact that I'm online with a
lot of AI applications thatwe're starting to see come to
market.
I can actually be veryhyper-focused on the context
that they're in and what theymight be looking to do or buy,
and so maybe, instead of waitingfor them to reach the merchant,
(04:33):
a merchant with the tools thatwe give them can get to the
customer at the right moment intime in which they're looking
for product or service, with theright offer at the right price
point and, of course, using theright payment method and the
right channel of commerce.
So I think it's really takingit to the next level of being in
(04:56):
the context of the customer andvery focused on what the
customer is looking to achievein that moment and the
considerations that they'retaking.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
And one of the things
that we often talk about, and
even the word Omnicommerce hasthe word commerce in it and the
way you've described over thelast few episodes.
Obviously it's much bigger thanjust the commerce part, which
is huge in and of itself, but domerchants want a solution that
(05:24):
helps them run all aspects oftheir business?
I mean, if you agree, then whatwould some of those things be
in the future?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, absolutely, and
we're starting to see some of
that today.
Again, I'm going to lean on AIhere, but something that we've
been working on with ourpartners is tools that help a
merchant let's say, listinventory on their website.
So if I'm a merchant, a smallmerchant with, let's say, 100
SKUs, 200 SKUs in my store,probably I'm not using
(05:54):
enterprise level tools to buildand manage my inventory, but a
nice tool from you know that'sAI driven can help me do that
easily.
We consume a spreadsheet.
Build from that, let's say, amenu from a restaurant with
product descriptions, withmodifiers.
Or, if I'm a retailer, build myinventory, list it on my
(06:17):
website or on my mobile app, dothe pricing for me.
Those are things that we'realready starting to work on and
I can see that extending intohow do I then, if I'm an online
retailer that works withlogistic companies, like for
shipping product, how do Ioptimize the way I ship
multinationally?
(06:38):
How do I work with thedifferent customs and all of the
countries that I ship to?
Those things exist today, butthey exist as let's call it,
maybe hard-coded, like a presetPresets capabilities.
You know, if I'm going to shipto this country, it's going to
be the supplier.
It's going to take the customs,it's going to be this much, but
maybe, to help merchantsovercome setting all that up, we
(07:00):
can give them tools thatintelligently do it for them.
We can give them tools thatintelligently do it for them.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
So thinking maybe
outside the box a little so
outside of inventory andpayments.
I mean, I assume If you justput yourself in the shoes of a
small business owner, any aspectof running their business could
be from getting a bank loan togetting paying payroll to your
(07:27):
employees to insurance for yourbusiness.
You could just kind of go downthe list of everything that they
may do to run their business.
Is that kind of the vision thatyou think will eventually
happen for Commerce 360 and kindof the word Omnicommerce?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Sure, and again, part
of it is already happening,
both in Commerce 360 and other,I would say, vetted finance type
product offerings from WorldPayand others.
So, yes, there are products likeyou mentioned all of them
insurance and payroll managementand small business landing and
(08:06):
today they are being offeredperhaps kind of a la carte.
Here's a menu of things we cando for you and then in the
future, of course, continuing onthe theme of context, they will
be offered at the right pointin time and at the right
configuration.
So, if it's a loan, knowingexactly how much a merchant
(08:26):
might be looking to finance orwho the right provider of that
financing is, because of theirlevel, of the amounts that they
want to lend or the level ofrisk that they're willing to
take on merchants, the termsthat they're willing to offer
those are things that are goingto start coming in.
I would call it the merchantexperience learning from the B2C
(08:48):
experience of getting offers tocustomers at the right time in
the right context for the rightprice point through queues and
data that is coming throughassistance like their
transaction volume, like theirseasonality, like things like
their levels of refunds, maybeof chargebacks, so being able to
(09:08):
project or forecast a businessthat might need some cash
induction, or a business that isseasonal and maybe needs to
tide over for the next littlebit of time and maybe needs to
tide over for the next littlebit of time.
Those are absolutely all thingsthat we're looking to transform
from being fixed Like I said,here's a menu of all the things
we can do for you to beingtargeted not just to the profile
(09:35):
of a merchant but also to thepoint in time and events that
are happening for that merchant.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, I almost think
that there's another term or
concept that will emerge thatwill encapsulate sort of that
exact idea, because you'retalking really about running
your business, not just commerce.
So what do you think about that?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
We see in many
verticals today all of the
business management softwareplatforms, that it almost seems
like every vertical has itsplatform.
Today, you know, I've seenplatforms for I'm not kidding
funeral homes management right,that's pretty niche.
So someone figured out, though,that that vertical has specific
(10:17):
needs that aren't covered bygeneric solutions.
So all these things are alreadyhappening, and they're just
going to continue to accelerate.
Where we're going to sit in themiddle is by providing the, the
infrastructure and the I wouldsay rails on which all of these
platforms can run.
(10:38):
So if, if I go back to ourCommerce 360 platform, it can
extend to different use cases ofmerchants, either by us
building into differentverticals, or today we already
have a marketplace, partnershipmarketplace where other software
providers can come in andliterally build plugins into the
(10:58):
point of sale, so that, if youare that niche business that
relies on very specificrequirements, functionalities,
services, you don't necessarilyhave to wait for WorldPay to
build it.
Worldpay can provide a platformon which others can come in and
enhance and participate in thismarketplace.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, I think that's
a good segue.
You mentioned Commerce 360.
So let's kind of flip over totalking about that again.
So maybe, for those who haven'tlistened to a prior episode,
can you just give us thehigh-level overview of what the
product is today?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Absolutely so.
Commerce 360 is an omni-channelpoint-of-sale solution for
businesses ranging in size frommicro to, I would say probably
like small enterprise.
It's got different form factorsof the actual point-of-sale
terminal.
So, again, if you're a verysmall business, something very
(11:53):
simple.
Or if you're a moresophisticated business, that
also has some requirements forthe look and feel of the
solution that you have in-houseand it gets pretty sophisticated
and pretty nice in terms ofform factor.
But it also allows you to runfrom the same system your retail
location, your online, yourcall center, for example, your
(12:16):
services, if you have peoplecalling in.
There's a dashboard and aportal that sits in the center
of it, from which a merchant caninteract with all of the
different products and servicesthat Commerce360 provides.
So it's all run from thatcentral location, which again
gives you that omni-channelexperience of wherever the
(12:39):
customer, your customer, iscoming from.
They're coming into the sameplatform that you are working
with.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Okay, and then, if
you don't mind, share at least
what you can about the productroadmap and where the product is
headed in the near-term future.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Sure.
So things that we're working onright now, I would say, first
of all, extending the number ofpayment methods that a merchant
can accept and also the types ofpayment rails that those
methods work on.
So very soon we will have a tapto pay on phone option Commerce
360.
(13:16):
So merchants will be able toaccept payments without actually
having a payment terminal, justby by using their mobile phone.
And then, I think, things thatyou'll start seeing unfold is,
uh, going deep into certainverticals so that you know if
you're, if you're running asalon, if you're running a bar,
if you're running a lawn carebusiness, you'll start seeing
(13:37):
more features that that makesense in the context of your
business.
It might be appointment booking, it might be the ability to
manage customer profiles andinvoices and all of that.
And we already have all thesethings but going deeper and
deeper into your ability tocustomize them for your business
and your use cases and thethings that matter to you.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And as we kind of
step back and really kind of
look at the product from afuturistic perspective.
So maybe these things haven'teven met the roadmap yet, but
you as kind of the product owner, when you're thinking about
years down the road and trendsand macro things going on and
(14:19):
finance and technology thingslike crypto and blockchain and
you mentioned AI a couple oftimes so what are your thoughts
on things like that, how theymight play a part of this,
knowing that some of them aren'teven really integrated into the
ecosystem yet?
But I'm sure you've given somethought to those types of things
(14:41):
.
So any input there?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Yeah, I think one
very interesting thing.
You mentioned cryptocurrenciesand the thing that I think they
introduced into all of our maybecognizance is the sense of
value is shifting a little bit,so that maybe you know right now
value is inherently maybe themoney I have in my checking
(15:02):
account or the line of creditthat I can extend to on my
credit cards.
But there might be other thingsthat I have or own that hold
value.
Certainly.
Obviously cryptocurrencies isone of them, but could be my
loyalty points, could.
Can I lean into all of theseforms of value from my customer
(16:00):
because maybe there is a usecase for me for that value?
No, I'm really stretching intosome conjuring of my imagination
here, but I'll get back to thepoint of value isn't just the
(16:21):
thing that sits in my bankaccount or can translate into
credit anymore.
Maybe we'll see it first in P2Pservices, because maybe people
will be more comfortableexchanging things that aren't
currency, hard currency.
But I think when human beingsstart doing you know, get
(16:42):
comfortable with, very quicklycarries into commerce.
Social media is a good example.
Influencers are.
Who would have thought rightthat someone dancing on TikTok?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Right.
What do you think about the wayand you mentioned this the way
consumers have taken to theZells of the world and those
types of products almost paywith your bank, which we all do
at least I think most people doin some way, shape or form
(17:16):
already, whether that's a lot oftimes setting up your bank
account with your local utilityor water company or whatever,
where they're just taking themoney out.
That concept's been aroundforever.
But do you ever think aboutbeing a day where a retailer,
you'd go in to pay for your drycleaning and you pay with your
bank account somehow, as opposedto pulling out a card?
(17:39):
I mean, is that something thatyou're seeing today in kind of
that different use case, or youstill think that's kind of
futuristic?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
No, I definitely see
it.
I think it's very culturaldependent and I'll give you an
example I live in Canada andhere in Canada we're not as
credit loving as our neighborsin the US.
It's still very.
We have a very strong relianceon credit.
But there is a form of paymenthere called Interact, which is
(18:09):
our local debit scheme, and inthe context of retail people
still very much love that formof payment, whereas in the
context of online they still goto their credit card.
But I think, if I go farther outinto other countries or other
geographies like Asia, india orChina, where we see more
(18:29):
reliance on mobile wallets, andmobile wallets not just
accessing again the cash on mybank account, but mobile wallets
accessing cash through mymobile carrier, so through my
mobile account, which is again,those are things that I think
happened organically in thesemarkets, both because the
(18:51):
technology and the rails toaccess what we know in the West
here as traditional forms ofpayment weren't in place so
organically, they just developedthe alternatives and then it
became also the behavior of.
You know, I'm already doingeverything through my mobile
phone.
So now I have this super app onmy phone which allows me to pay
(19:11):
my electric bill and shop inthe supermarket and basically
run my life through one device.
We haven't seen that so much inNorth America yet, but I think
again, in different geographiesand different cultures we're
seeing different behaviors.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, and I can't
believe that that's not coming.
We talk about it a lot andwe've talked about it on this
series about Gen Z and themusing mobile devices as their
go-to for everything, and it hasto be frictionless and all of
that.
I think there's other countrieswith PICs and other things,
like in Brazil.
I mean, basically, if you haveyour phone, you don't need a
(19:51):
wallet, you have everything youneed.
I think the US is.
I don't know about Canada, butI think the US is getting there.
I mean, today, the only reasonI carry a wallet, quite honestly
, is I have my driver's licensein there.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
That's the same for
me, and I live for the day in
which I can have a digitaldriver's license and my digital
insurance card and my digitallike everything.
You're right, so I don't haveto carry that wallet, because I
definitely don't like using cashanymore and every other form of
payment I have is tied to mywallet, to my sorry my phone.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, yeah.
So I definitely think that'ssome of these consumer trends
that we've talked about.
I think also kind of play intothe future of the product that
you're building.
So as we come to the end of theseries, we come to the end of
this episode.
Is there anything else oranything that we've missed, or
anything else you want to talkabout?
Or maybe give the audience kindof a summary of what we've been
(20:44):
covering, if you don't mind.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
I think if anything
comes through, if one thing
comes through, I hope that it'sthe fact that what we do, we
always do from the point of viewof our customer.
Who is that small business?
And trying to understand thechallenges that they have, which
are unique to them, differentfrom the bigger enterprise
businesses whether it's cost,you know, margin compression,
(21:11):
competition, cash flow andeverything that we do is in
order to meet those needs, butalso to support them and their
journey for growth, so that theydo grow and they go from that
micro to small to medium-sizedmerchant, and to give them a
good experience while they do it, so it's easy for them, it's
(21:32):
cost-effective, it's a nicephysical experience,
ergonomically, and that it doesthe and it serves their customer
well as well, the consumers.
I hope that that came through,because that really is what
we're so hyper-focused on andwhat we keep in mind all the
time, what we all work for everyday.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Well, yael, thank you
so much for being on the show.
Thank you so much for being abig part of this series as well.
I know your time is veryvaluable, so I really appreciate
you being on the show.
Thank you so much for being abig part of this series as well.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
I know your time is
very valuable, so I really
appreciate you being on the showtoday.
It's been a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And to all you
listeners out there.
I thank you for your time aswell, and until the next story.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Thank you for tuning
in today to this special series
on Omnicommerce brought to youby WorldPay.
To learn more about WorldPayand their Omnicommerce products
and solutions, please visitwwwworldpaycom.
Slash en slash products, slashcommerce 360.