Print smart, get paid smart. FLYERALARM.

FLYERALARM sounds like a casual start-up, but it has long been a German industry leader on its way to the top of European e-commerce. With its own football stadium, a never-ending source of innovation in boss Thorsten Fischer’s office and an annual turnover of 385 million euros. The company, which started as an online print shop, now processes 15,000 orders a day. There are reasons for this success, one of which is the constantly evolving portfolio: instead of just flyers, folders and business cards as in the beginning, the company now supplies everything from customer magazines to truck tarpaulins to complete trade fair stands via locations all over Europe – a total of over 3 million products for a perfect brand presence.

Challenge

The majority of FLYERALARM’s customers come from the B2B sector. Because German companies in particular prefer to pay by invoice and explicitly want to do so, it was clear to FLYERALARM that purchasing by invoice should be part of its own payment method portfolio. At the beginning, there were a lot of questions. After all, the company wanted to meet customer requirements 100% and ensure the best ordering and shopping experience for the end customer. Surcharging yes or no, what happens in case of invoice changes, how to deal with the different distances between order and delivery (confirmation deliver), how is the handling with FLYERALARM resellers and what has to be considered legally?

“WE FELT WE WERE IN GOOD HANDS AND HAD THE IMPRESSION RIGHT FROM THE START THAT EVERYTHING WAS WELL-FOUNDED.”

Because FLYERALARM already had a lot of experience with the payment behaviour of its customers and they have an excellent payment record, there was initially also the consideration of mapping invoice purchasing internally. After researching the market and due to the complete package offered by outsourced factoring, FLYERALARM ultimately opted for the external solution. According to André Jaschinsky, FLYERALARM Manager of Treasury, the company felt very well looked after by Ratepay in its search for a suitable partner “because we realised that Ratepay already had practical experience in the B2B segment and was therefore able to understand our concerns and offer appropriate solutions”.

“IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR US TO GET THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE SPEED ON THE ROAD IMMEDIATELY DURING THE IMPLEMENTATION.”

Customers should be provided with a smooth purchase on account and the best customer experience. A crucial factor for the company was to achieve the highest possible acceptance rate, taking into account the risk aspects. For example, the challenge was that public institutions, universities and other organisations are among the customers where names of private individuals are mixed with location addresses, thus confusing the algorithms in the risk assessment. But here, the end customer should by no means be the one to suffer. In this area, Ratepay has provided convincing arguments through its empirical values and individual solutions.

Solution

FLYERALARM felt it was in good hands with Ratepay right from the start. This was not least due to the fact that Ratepay responded to the company’s individual needs and was very

solution-oriented, but above all because Ratepay was able to incorporate its customised solutions for the B2B sector. However, things did not run completely smoothly right from the start. But it was precisely here that FLYERALARM was once again confirmed, says André Jaschinsky, that it had chosen the right partner. After the successful connection, Ratepay, together with all those responsible at FLYERALARM, proactively participated in the improvement and individualisation of the product and the processes and is still available today.

“THE UNCOMPLICATED HANDS-ON MENTALITY IS STILL CONVINCING TODAY.”

After the implementation, FLYERALARM and Ratepay jointly set about ongoing fine-tuning in live operation. How can the processes be further optimised? How is the throughput handled? What is the best way to handle dunning processes? The pleasant cooperation on a friendly basis, the constant interest on both sides to further develop the processes and solutions in a customer-oriented way and the uncomplicated hands-on mentality still convince the FLYERALARM employees today, says André Jaschinsky. As a result, they are happy to recommend Ratepay, for example to their partner and franchisee in neighbouring Austria. The appreciation is mutual, by the way, because Ratepay also cares about professional cooperation and interpersonal relationships. In addition, print materials are also regularly ordered from FLYERALARM.

Result

“HIGH LEVEL OF SERVICE, PRAGATISM AND SOLUTION ORIENTATION. THAT´S WHY WE LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH.”

Today, invoice purchasing is one of the most popular payment methods at FLYERALARM and Ratepay is proud to have played a part in this. Due to the great popularity of invoice purchasing among German companies, the invoice has been able to take a piece of the pie from other payment methods. Since purchase on account can often be offered at a lower price than expensive payment methods in eCommerce (such as credit card or Paypal), the shift in payment methods at FLYERALARM towards purchase on account ultimately also brought economic advantages.