Your Questions Answered: How Digital Transformation Reshapes Payments for OEMs like General Motors

Org-wide digital transformation initiatives are putting pressure on A/R departments and payments practitioners to meet buyer demands that are increasingly demanding for OEMs across the globe. Enterprises are modifying their procurement processes and demanding terms, rebates and not-to-exceed pricing as well as stipulating how invoices must be delivered if suppliers want to get paid. Teresa Cain, director of product and UX design at TreviPay, answered additional questions from the webcast from the October 23 webinar "How Digital Transformation Reshapes Payments for OEMs like General Motors."

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Question: How have market conditions accelerated the need to upgrade payments tech? 

Teresa Cain: What we saw during the pandemic a lot of our B2B contacts created eCommerce sites not just out of demand, but out of need because customers either couldn’t come in stores or were coming in less often, and it’s hard to replicate the in-person experience on a phone, especially in automotive or manufacturing, so with these online eCommerce experiences they are no longer being treated like a business you want those experiences to be one in the same not different for whether you are in-person or online. One of the things we are seeing become more common are hybrid experiences where someone may buy online but someone else picks up in store which can make authenticating the buyer because it’s not always the same person that made the purchase, so we are constantly work on ways to solve ways to enhance the experience, but create paths and verification that decrease fraud.

Question: What are the biggest challenges OEMs face when it comes to payments?

Teresa Cain: The biggest challenge OEMs face is digitalization. B2B customers expect the same marketplace checkout experiences as B2C customers but not every organization has those capabilities, that’s where TreviPay comes in. We invest a lot of our time in talking to our clients and their customers to deliver that experience through our tech offering net terms in all channels. That by itself creates loyalty, when customers can use a trade credit line in any channel, and they tend to buy more and the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer continues to go up in that channel with their credit line.

Question: How are buyer invoicing requirements creating challenges? 

Teresa Cain: The biggest invoicing requirements creating challenges are the ask for automation and e-invoicing. We are changing that for our clients, creating automation all the way from payment to the invoice. The checkout experiences ranges based on the industry so paper does still exist in many industry versus paying with a card or mobile app, but we are seeing a generational shift in who the buyer is and that’s not just changing our tech but our customers expectations, too.

One key challenge is creating loyalty for these buyers. Businesses don’t want to track points like in B2C but they want to be rewarded with loyalty upfront, so this is managed through special pricing, discounts and rebates to bring those buyers back to make repeat purchases. 

Question: What are the most important steps manufacturers can take to meet buyer demands when it comes to purchasing? 

Teresa Cain: The biggest value for manufacturers is predictability of sales and the ability to measure the impact on customers. Three strategies I recommend are creating a loyalty program, subscription models and customer value tracking. First, harness the power of customer retention by offering a loyalty program for your customers. Loyalty programs build trust with your clients and reward them for being a repeat customer. A loyalty program is more than the buying experience, it’s about creating a positive association with the purchase and the desire to purchase again – loyalty begins at the payment. Second, offer a subscription service. Subscription services offer the ability to predict revenue and can be used in combination with a loyalty program to rewards customers with discounts or incentive for subscribing. Last, track the value your customers experience through the purchase journey including before, during and after. Get feedback from your customers by inviting them to focus groups, through NPS surveys, or free swag and discounts to learn why they first bought your product and how to make them a repeat-buyer.