European Retailers Adopt New Embedded Finance Offerings

Retailers in Europe are embracing new embedded finance offerings, with 56% of vendors saying they will be launching new products in 2022, a new study by Vodeno, a leading BaaS solutions provider. 

The marketplace has already had a robust adoption of services such as BNPL, with 74% of European retailers already offering the service at the checkout. 

According to reports, embedded finance seeing a strong adoption across Europe’s retail and eCommerce sector, with over half (56%) of retailers surveyed intending to either increase their offering (34%) or to start offering (22%) embedded finance solutions in the coming 12 months, new research from Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider Vodeno has revealed. 

Vodeno commissioned the independent research into 753 senior decision-makers in retail and eCommerce sectors across the UK (251), Germany (250) and Belgium (252).

The data reveals that the majority - 74% - of Europe’s retailers are already offering embedded finance products to their customers. However, the UK is in pole position at 82% - well ahead of Germany (75%) and Belgium (64%). 

The number of retailers not adopting such services is dwindling - with only 5% that don’t have integrated financial products into their customer journey have no plans to do so in the next year.  

New BNPL products are tempting retailers into BaaS solutions

Vodeno revealed it had also questioned decision-makers regarding which products they have adopted, and which are set to be implemented for investment in 2022. 

The data shows that cashback services through loyalty schemes, credit cards and debit cards are the most commonly offered financial products or services and 32% of the retailers that offer embedded finance solutions, also provide them. These were followed by current accounts and loans (both 29%). 

However, the study also showed that Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL – 35%), overdrafts (36%) and decoupled debit (37%) are attracting the majority of retailers investing in embedded finance over the coming 12 months.

Furthermore, the  vast majority (67%) of European retailers admitted that, in 2021, customers had indicated they would like to see financial products or services integrated into their offering. In the UK, the figure increased to 73%, in comparison with 71% and 58% in Germany and Belgium. 

A further two thirds (65%) of retail firms reported noticing more of their competitors offered embedded finance solutions in 2021. This view proved more prevalent in the UK (74%) than Germany (65%) or Belgium (57%). 

Interestingly, on a personal level, however, two in five (39%) senior decision-makers in the retail sector said they personally do not fully understand the term ‘embedded finance’.

Interest in embedded finance solutions is massively increasing

Speaking about the data and the trends it revealed, Wojciech Sobieraj, CEO of Vodeno, commented, “Interest in embedded finance solutions is rising rapidly among non-financial businesses, and with good reason. Smart brands understand the value of embedded banking because they know that creating a better checkout experience will increase conversion and customer engagement. This is the promise of Banking-as-a-Service.” 

”Our research shows that Europe’s retailers recognise the embedded banking opportunity and are planning to invest. But, it is important for brands to understand that not all BaaS providers are created equal. BaaS technology must be coupled with a licence and the compliance and regulatory expertise in order to offer these products.” 

He added, “This is what we provide at Vodeno, cloud-native, API-based technology alongside access to a European banking licence, to allow our clients to open new commercial opportunities, optimise their customer journey and enter new markets.”