With high inflation taking its toll on independent businesses and enterprise chains alike, the importance of providing customers with a good shopping experience is only growing. 

New research from Lloyds Bank and FreedomPay, a payment platform as a service provider, highlights the impact that embracing new payment innovation could have on UK businesses. Payment infrastructure can have a significant impact on ensuring customer satisfaction, and help build brand loyalty.

More than half (59 per cent) of UK retail, food and beverage (F&B) and hospitality companies appear to agree with this, as they already put payments at the heart of their customer experience strategy, reflecting the growing importance of implementing payment options.

The same proportion of retail-focused businesses believe that a good checkout experience is essential to building customer loyalty, with respondents believing it is as much a competitive advantage as having the best products.

Meanwhile, 57 per cent of retailers said that a poor payment experience could have a detrimental effect on their business, pushing customers to competitors who offer a better experience.

Melinda Roylett, managing director of merchant services at Lloyds Bank, discussed the importance of bettering the checkout experience for consumers: “The way we pay has undergone rapid shifts in the past few years.

“Accelerated by the pandemic, technological advancements and innovative ways of using open banking have led to the increasing adoption of contactless, digital wallet solutions and embedded finance options such as buy now, pay later. Consumers now have more choice than ever. This means that businesses also need to think about how they use the payment experience at checkout to build business growth.”

Combatting payment challenges with innovative solutions

However, while many firms clearly recognise the importance of providing a good payment experience for customers, many are finding this a challenge to implement.

Fourty-nine per cent of the businesses surveyed had not invested in payment solution updates at all, and only 27 per cent of respondents felt confident in their omnichannel payment experience offering.

This disparity highlights that businesses have a lot of room for growth, as investment in new payment technology could lead to significantly enhanced customer experiences and result in increased sales.

Other findings highlighted how businesses are using data, with many understanding that payment data can help them to make more informed decisions. Eighty per cent of respondents are using payment data to learn more about their customers to tailor services and products for them, which can be crucial to maintaining customer engagement and driving brand loyalty.

Chris Kronenthal, president of FreedomPay, commented: “What is evident from our research is that brands must focus on payment innovation now more than ever.

“Understanding what customers expect and want from a payment experience is fundamental to ensuring that customers keep coming back. Choosing the right payment partner can support strategic business decisions and streamline checkout to help deliver a personalised, seamless, and data-driven experience any time, any place.”

Belong, a brand new wealth-building platform has officially launched after securing £2.95million in pre-seed funding – the largest pre-seed round ever raised by female founders in Europe.

Belong offers customers an optional loan to scale up a long-term investment, creating a new low-interest ‘Boost loan’ feature, enabling more money to be invested upfront – magnifying the effect of compounding over time. Customers pay back the Boost loan separately, in small monthly instalments, enabling their investment to continue to grow.

Founded by former investment banker Avion Gray and behavioural economist Samantha Rosenberg, Belong hopes to make forms of wealth-building that have traditionally been the realm of a wealthy few, accessible to a wider demographic.

Originally from Trinidad, Avion Gray recently held the role of head of product and commercialisation at POS systems and merchant service provider Clover and is now CEO of Belong.

Gray commented: “We need two things in order to build long-term wealth – time and money, but we rarely have both of these elements concurrently. Millennials still have the time ahead of us to see any long-term investment we make now compound and pay off before retirement, but we often struggle to get started.

“Whether that’s due to not being able to secure a mortgage, lack of confidence around investing or feeling like we don’t have enough cash available to make it worthwhile – Belong is changing this.

“Historically, despite daily movements, the stock market has shown an upward trajectory over the long term – to the tune of 10 per cent per year. An investment in the broad market is inherently diversified, transparent in value, and accessible. This makes the Boost loan attractive for anyone with excess cash, a steady income, and the mindset to stay the course and be long.”

Millennials missing out on ‘primary wealth-building years’

Belong explained that millennials are the first generation in history to be worse off, financially, than their parents. While they make up the majority of the population (22 per cent), they own less than five per cent of the stock market.

However, Belong estimates that 18 to 44-year-olds in the UK alone have access to an estimated £300billion in cash savings. This tends to sit in low-interest savings or current accounts. As millennials themselves, Belong’s co-founders are on a mission to change this and shake up the investment space.

The positive demand from Belong’s beta customers is early evidence that this product is highly appealing to the target demographic – to date, 84 per cent of customers have opted for a ‘Boost’ loan, with 100 per cent retention and on-time repayments after 15 months.

Raised in South Africa, co-founder and COO Samantha Rosenberg is an economist, specialising in behavioural finance. Rosenberg commented: “The excess money millennials keep in savings accounts or cash ISAs is simply not working hard enough for us. Not investing it, means we are losing out on our primary wealth-building years.

“People like the idea of having easy access to their cash, but this is often due to present bias – the tendency to discount one’s future self in favour of more immediate gratification. Our future self feels like a stranger, and it’s difficult to make sacrifices for that person today.

“Investing is also something that, in the past, was seen as reserved for the rich or finance-savvy, but that’s no longer the case. We want to use what we know about financial decision-making to change perceptions around investing, creating a social movement around ‘being long’ and getting more young people set up for a wealthier future.”

Investing in the future

Other investors to date include Octopus Ventures, Viola Fintech, Connect Ventures and Portage Ventures, along with prominent fintech angel investors, William Todd, co-founder of Nutmeg, a digital wealth manager, UK Economist, John Kay and tech industry maven, Edwina Johnson.

Zihao Xu, fintech partner at Octopus Ventures, also said: “We are proud to be on this journey with Belong and look forward to supporting the company in its quest to be a true pioneer in long-term wealth-building. Samantha and Avion’s shared vision and complementary expertise puts them in a great position to help more people get on the path to a better financial future.”

At launch, Belong users are able to choose from five different broadly diversified index-tracking funds to invest in. This includes the MSCI World, S&P 500, FTSE as well as climate and ESG-focused funds.

Aritificial intelligence has captured the world’s imagination throughout the last two years, and companies of all sizes are embracing – having recognised the long-term benefits the emerging technology could offer. In its latest report, financial management solution Qonto reveals how this trend translates for SMEs across Europe.

In the Qonto report, European SMEs revealed their intention to massively invest in tech, such as AI, and digitisation in 2024, especially in Germany, Italy, and Spain. More than three-quarters of respondents share at least some level of optimism about the benefits that fintech and AI could offer their business.

While this optimism for new digital solutions persists, most respondents are also seriously considering putting their money where their mouth is. In fact, around 73 per cent of all the Qonto respondents were at least ‘likely’ to invest in fintech and AI services in the future.

This may come as a surprise to some, especially considering the fact that the majority of EU SMEs have only adopted basic and not advanced technologies – indicating a shift in attitudes toward tech, and the adoption of a more holistic and open approach to business practices.

However, this attitude does not appear to have spread to all aspects of emerging technologies. SME leaders appear far more sceptical about cryptocurrency, Web3, virtual reality and metaverse platforms. Across all four markets, 37 per cent of respondents admitted being ‘pessimistic’ or ‘very pessimistic’ about Web3 and cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, 33 per cent felt the same way about virtual reality and the metaverse.

Qonto also revealed that when it separated respondents by industry, it found that the finance and insurance sectors were the most enthusiastic about new tech. However, the construction sector emerged as the least hopeful about the potential benefits of new technologies.

Any investment left for talent?

While SMEs prepare to invest in tech, the same does not appear to be true when it comes to hiring new talent. In fact, a majority of SMEs surveyed intended to stop or slow the hiring of new talent at the back end of 2023.

However, Qonto revealed that 42 per cent of SMEs intended to hire more employees in Q4 compared to Q3 2023. According to the survey, the market with the highest proportion of SMEs saying they will accelerate their recruitment is Italy, where 48 per cent said they hired more in Q4 2023.

The random sample of business leaders (CEOs, CFOs and other executive positions) also revealed that women remain underrepresented in leadership roles. Across all four countries studied,
only 29 per cent of the respondents were women.

France (38 per cent) and Italy (32 per cent) appear the closest to gender parity of the four markets. However, Germany seems the furthest from it, with women making up 23 per cent of respondents, followed by Spain (25 per cent).

The European Investment Bank has revealed that throughout the past year, over half of European firms have taken significant steps towards digitalisation, focusing on enhancing their digital presence.

The latest report Digitalisation in Europe 2022-2023 has revealed that following the pandemic, 53 per cent of companies in Europe have expanded their online services. In the US specifically, this has helped close the technological gap. Sixty-nine per cent of EU firms have implemented advanced digital technologies in 2022, in contrast to 71 per cent in the US.

However, the report also highlights a disparity in digital adoption across the EU. Only 30 per cent of microenterprises prioritise digitalisation. This is compared to 62 per cent of larger firms, underlining the need for inclusive digital strategies to encompass businesses of all sizes.

The European Union’s commitment to digital transformation is evident in its allocation of over €165billion towards the Digital Decade objectives. This investment, particularly through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), is a testament to the EU’s dedication to supporting digitalisation in both the public sector and businesses. Different levels of digital transformation and funding allocation are observed across EU member states. These have received a significant share of the Digital Decade budget.

UK surge in investment

In 2023, UK businesses are heavily investing in digital transformation, demonstrating resilience and adaptability in the face of economic challenges. According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, as referenced in Consultancy.uk, a significant number of executives from large companies are planning to increase their spending on digital initiatives.

This surge in investment is driven by the need to adapt business models and capitalise on new revenue growth opportunities, even as a global recession looms. Key technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are garnering substantial interest, with executives convinced of their crucial role in business success.

However, the path to digital transformation is fraught with challenges for UK companies. A study highlighted in Grand View Research reveals that many large UK businesses are struggling with a shortage of technical skills and the challenge of integrating new technologies with legacy IT systems.

This situation is a significant barrier, potentially delaying the transformation process. Additionally, the healthcare sector in the UK is expected to witness substantial growth in digital transformation. This growth is primarily driven by the need for enhanced quality of care and the ability to respond effectively to changing health scenarios, as indicated by the increased adoption of technologies like electronic health records (EHR) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Firms need a digital identity

In this digital evolution, digital identity solutions, encompassing identity document verification, electronic IDs, identity proofing or authentication based on biometrics, access to identity data sources, and electronic signatures, among others, play a crucial role when it comes to digitisation. Digital identity technologies not only streamline business processes but also strengthen security, leading to significant time and cost savings.

A very simple and clear example of how digital identity solutions are key for companies of any size and sector to digitise their processes is electronic signatures. Signicat, the pan-European digital identity firm, released a study commissioned from Forrester Consulting on the total economic impact (TEI) of Signicat.

It found that companies saved on costs and processes through the use of the digitalisation of signatures as well as avoiding more than 1.1 million printed pages, after the first year of implementation of their solutions.

On the other hand, the study found that digital identity solutions could improve the operational efficiencies of a company from an automated identity verification process resulting in 40,000 hours per year saved in identity verification.

Embracing digital transformation

These findings not only underscore a growing opportunity for businesses in the digital identity sector but also for the private and public sectors: as European companies continue to embrace digital transformation, the demand for robust digital identity solutions is expected to rise, offering a promising market for innovation and growth.

While businesses and governments in Europe are on the right track toward their digitisation, there is still a lot of work to be done, especially with the arrival of the eagerly awaited EU Wallets. A key element in Europe that will once again test the ability of both public administrations and private companies to offer 100 per cent digital access to their services, this time through a single point of access: their national digital identifications.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has publicly announced the company’s intent to support “pro-crypto’ candidates during the 2024 United States election season. The company is among a group to have pledged a total of $78 million to support the Fairshake political action committee (PAC).

Fairshake announced that prominent industry firms and players had contributed to a significant “war chest” to back candidates who support American crypto and blockchain innovation and responsible regulation in the upcoming 2024 elections.

The list includes individuals like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Circle, Coinbase, Kraken, Messari and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).

Related: Coinbase initiative announces crypto-themed US presidential forum

Garlinghouse took to X (formerly Twitter) to condemn regulatory overreach in the country and said Ripple would be “leading the charge with other industry leaders” to support candidates lobbying for complimentary regulation of the industry in 2024.

Team @Ripple is putting a stake in the ground, leading the charge with other industry leaders to support pro-innovation and pro-crypto candidates in the 2024 US election cycle. The US cannot afford to continue taking a back seat on the global stage.
Regulatory overreach (esp from… https://t.co/hpkqNf7Y99

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) December 18, 2023

“Regulatory overreach (esp from the SEC) is actively moving the U.S. in the wrong direction, and other countries are taking full advantage of the lack of US leadership. We need to advance leaders who will champion innovation and spearhead paths towards responsible regulation,” Garlinghouse wrote.

The Ripple CEO added that the industry needs to encourage initiatives that promote “transparency, innovation and a compliance-first approach.”

Cryptocurrency firms operating in the U.S. have faced an uphill battles against regulators over the past two years. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in particular, has copped widespread criticism from industry players for its “regulate-by-enforcement” approach.

Related: US politician uses AI campaign caller ahead of 2024 elections: Report

The securities regulator set its sights on both Coinbase and Binance.US in 2023, instituting separate legal proceedings against both companies for alleged securities offering violations.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) founder and managing director Chris Dixon also announced that the firm would contribute to the Fairshake PAC in 2024. The PAC aims to elect leaders that “champion thoughtful crypto regulation” that balances consumer protection.

“There is a battle in Washington about the future of blockchain technologies: Certain policymakers believe it should be banned, while other people think it should have no guardrails. Neither of those options will allow the technology to reach its full potential and realign the future of the Internet away from Big Tech to the people who use it,” Dixon wrote.

The a16z founder said that the coalition will aim to raise funds to support the PAC and help advance “clear rules of the road” to support technological innovation and route out bad actors.

According to Politico, the Fairshake PAC has already spent $1.2 million on television advertising campaigns in the U.S.

Magazine: Lawmakers’ fear and doubt drives proposed crypto regulations in US