WebFronts® Go Drives Consumer Buying Power Online

WebFronts® Go Drives Consumer Buying Power Online

Instant financing, the latest payment method in e-commerce, is widely considered a win-win for those selling and purchasing products online. A growing class of point-of-sale (POS) lenders offering instant financing solutions are embedded in the checkout processes at major retailers from Walmart and H&M, to Sephora, Dyson and Adidas, according to a recent article in The Atlantic.

The article states that while these lenders encourage consumers to spend more money more often, they also “give retailers greater access to a demographic whose purchasing power is relatively untapped: the nearly half of Americans in their 20s who don’t have a credit card.”

Add to the mix the pandemic’s acceleration of the online shopping shift. As a result, eMarketer projects:

“U.S. retail e-commerce sales will grow to $843.15 billion in 2021 (up from $794.5B in 2020). While this isn’t as pronounced of an increase as we saw in 2020 from 2019 ($600.1B), these are levels of e-commerce that experts didn’t expect we would reach until 2024.”

As for consumer sentiment and understanding of financing options, the Klarna survey reported that instant financing empowers consumers by providing them with additional freedom, flexibility and buying power.

It’s no wonder the digital version of “buy now, pay later” has grown exponentially. TotalRetail reports that “more online retailers recognize POS credit is an important tool in reducing friction at checkout and increasing consumer buying power.”

Enter WebFronts® Go, a set of technologies developed and deployed by Retailer Web Services (RWS) to evolve your WebFront into a smooth (and delightful!) online shopping experience. The latest powerful feature of WebFronts Go: Wells Fargo integration for instant financing.

A free extension of Level 4, this “apply and buy” financing option at checkout can reduce cart abandonment and increase overall sales, two key metrics driving the rise of e-commerce instant financing. According to a survey by Klarna, an e-commerce payment solutions provider:

Nearly half of online retailers (46%) confirmed instant financing reduced cart abandonment; two-thirds (64%) believed that providing financing options at checkout increased overall sales.

As for consumer sentiment and understanding of financing options, the Klarna survey reported that instant financing empowers consumers by providing them with additional freedom, flexibility and buying power.

“The Wells Fargo ‘apply and buy’ integration all by itself is an exciting Level 4 feature,” said Adam

Gilbert, RWS chief growth officer. “Shoppers can apply and get approved for financing with a Wells Fargo credit card within minutes—all from an RWS WebFront.” He added that in addition to Wells Fargo, integration of instant financing from Synchrony Financial is forthcoming this year.

PayPal Integration and Advanced Availability

Along with “apply and buy” WebFronts options for consumers, Paypal integration became available in January across all WebFronts levels following beta testing during the fourth quarter. Providing RWS retailer sites with a leading online payment system for fast, easy and secure transactions was a key initiative last year, according to Gilbert.

Other notable WebFronts Go features for seamless online transactions: The ability for consumers to enter credit card information by taking a picture of their card; and, coming to WebFronts in early spring, an Advanced Availability feature will allow retailers to create and adjust inventory filters, using automated rules, informing consumers of various product availability levels such as “in stock,” “out of stock,” “special order” or “low inventory.”

“RWS retailers can expect more future features and capabilities to be rolled out from WebFronts Go in an effort to continuously evolve their websites and encourage prospects to convert,” said Gilbert.

He points out, just as WebFronts Go is the engine that drives customer conversion, it’s the industry-leading marketing automation capabilities of Level 4 that power the engine. In fact, Level 4 consistently outperforms other levels. For example, in August 2020:

• Level 4 retailers experienced a 205% increase in online sales over Levels 1-3.

• Level 4 retailers with AdRocket Boost saw an additional 32% in online sales, an increase of 237% over Levels 1-3.

When you combine the cutting-edge technology features of Level 4 (marketing automation, progressive profiling and Hot Prospects, email re-marketing, abandoned cart emails and automated Facebook posts) with WebFronts Go, it’s a “powerful, all-in-one solution,” noted Gilbert. “Our retailers aren’t nickeled and dimed for this set of technologies to help their businesses stay ahead of the game.

“Last year was really impactful,” said Gilbert. “We saw firsthand our retailers’ livelihoods on the line. We also saw their success stories. The pandemic cemented what we believe to be true: a clear focus on digital and always advancing their websites result in greater dealer success.”

RWS Announces New FlashTags Vendor

The release of FlashTags in January 2020 marked the flagship digital solution of WebFronts Go. A free extension of WebFronts® Level 4, the FlashTags software makes it easy, affordable and lightning fast for independent appliance, electronics, furniture and mattress dealers to power electronic shelf labels (ESLs) on the showroom floor.

After successful beta testing in the third quarter 2019 and launch in 2020, more than 130 RWS retailer locations have implemented FlashTags. The instant popularity of the FlashTags feature prompted an integration with a second ESL vendor, Pricer.

FlashTags provides a seamless way for retailers to assign a product to a tag, choose from a variety of templates and send all necessary data to their ESLs. FlashTags automatically updates retailers’ ESLs when prices on their WebFronts—or any other conditions they define—change.

“Digital tags are the wave of the future,” said Chief Growth Officer Adam Gilbert. “They keep in-store tags up to date and automatically flag items “On Display” on retailers’ websites. We’re excited to bring our retailer-customers another vendor option this year.”