Amsterdam-based payment services provider, Mollie, became a unicorn after it raised a whopping €90M in its series B funding round in September 2020. Back then, the company mentioned that it would utilise this capital for accelerating its international expansion plans. Now, the fintech has announced that it is expanding into the UK market to help merchants expand their businesses in Europe.
The expansion plan
With this development, Mollie has enhanced its services for the UK companies who can incorporate various EU payment methods into their e-commerce websites, thereby allowing them to cover new markets. As for the EU customers, they will be able to use their preferred payment methods, even when shopping with a UK retailer.
Through Mollie’s partnerships – including with Klarna, Magento and EU gateways, UK merchants can trade competitively in the eurozone. These strategic partnerships and integrations with established payments companies will help brands like Gymshark and Facetheory to increase their cross-border sales.
In order to further support its UK customers, Mollie has also launched a weekly newsletter for UK merchants selling cross-border. This newsletter would be a compilation of key developments, best practice, case studies and useful resources on Brexit and international expansion.
Josh Guthrie will lead the project
The fintech company has appointed Josh Guthrie to head the UK operations. He will be responsible for helping SMEs to navigate their international expansion post-Brexit.
Guthrie says, “Overnight, the Brexit deal has made doing business with the EU so difficult for UK companies. Challenges include tariffs and unexpected delivery fees that make goods more expensive, and country of origin rules that have impacted logistics and shipping. Establishing a presence quickly and efficiently is vital for reaching a wider addressable market, at a time when UK retail needs it most.”
He further adds, “With our long-standing heritage in Europe and our focus on creating localised payment experiences, Mollie is uniquely placed to help customers navigate this shift and continue to grow internationally.”
SMSs will be offered Mollie’s services to expand into new geographies as well as use their preferred payment methods, even when shopping with a UK retailer.
UK: The land of e-commerce and m-commerce
When it comes to online shopping, the UK is Europe’s undisputed champion, says Mollie in one of its reports on e-commerce. Card payments top the charts while e-wallets are also on the rise. The nation alone accounts for one-third of the total European e-commerce market value – which is €178.5B. In the current scenario, about 51 per cent of online purchases are made using mobile devices.
According to Mollie, mobile commerce is expected to continue its growth in the country, reaching about €188.8B by 2021. “Mobile commerce, particularly in-app shopping, is rapidly becoming the norm in the UK. In 2018, in-app purchases already accounted for 43.5 per cent of mobile commerce. So it can be a good idea to offer an app where your shoppers can place their orders easily, securely and conveniently,” mentions the company in the report.
It also mentions that, currently, UK’s most popular online shopping apps are eBay, Amazon and Groupon. Social media apps are also being increasingly used to sell products as well. Therefore, the company believes that secure, seamless payment options for these channels are definitely a worthwhile investment.
According to the company, it plans to develop its product and engineering division to realise its vision of becoming the “most-loved” payment service provider (PSP) in Europe.
Mollie says Growth mindset merchants are more optimistic
According to a new report by Mollie, which was undertaken by Coleman Parkes, Growth mindset merchants tend to be more optimistic and ambitious about revenue growth. About 93 per cent of growth mindset merchants expect to grow online revenues in the next 12 months as compared to 83 per cent of fixed mindset merchants.
Also, about 46 per cent of fixed mindset merchants are completely focused domestically, compared to 38 per cent of growth mindset merchants. Hence, growth mindset merchants are almost twice as likely to sell online globally than their fixed mindset counterparts.
The difference that sets growth mindset merchants apart is that they are more international, offer more relevant ways to pay, and are more focused on finding ways to optimise their conversion.
What does Mollie provide?
Founded in 2004 by Adriaan Mol, Mollie is a payments platform that offers a process for integrating payments into a site or app.
It is a technology-based company processing payments for more than 50,000 clients with local payment methods such as Mastercard, VISA, Amex, PayPal, iDEAL, Bancontact, Bitcoin, SEPA Direct Debit, Cartes Bancaires, ESP, Giropay, SOFORT Banking, and more.
Mollie aims to make online payment simple for merchants by taking away the complexity from payment methods and offering a simple, but powerful API.
