Louis Carbonnier, co-founder and President of Hokodo
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Despite a number of significant market challenges including the cost of living crisis, Brexit and the remnants of Covid-19, new businesses have continued to crop up across the UK throughout 2023. In fact, the first half of the year saw 101 new businesses established every hour.
The food and drink industry is no stranger to expansion – food market revenue is expected to grow annually by 4.02% between 2023-2028 in the UK. Although there’s a bigger market to own a piece of, there’s also much more competition. So how do you give your business a competitive advantage in 2024?
From understanding what your customer wants to utilising the latest tech and analysing new market opportunities, here are the steps that your business can take to stand out from the crowd in 2024.
Understand what your customer wants – and give it to them
It’s important to stay on top of market trends and provide your customers with what they expect. Right now, the market is crying out for digital payment terms. So much so, that giving customers the option to pay later online has been found to increase conversion by up to 40% in the B2B segment. There’s a huge chunk of additional revenue that your business could access by adopting current trends and listening to customer feedback.
50-90% of B2B transactions take place via trade credit or a similar facility – meaning that failing to offer flexible payment terms could be deterring customers from shopping with you. Missing out on opportunities to take a greater share of the market and grow your business is not an option in this landscape heading into 2024, so it’s more important than ever to adopt financing solutions that are attractive to your customer. This will give your business a clear differentiator compared to your competitors.
Update your offering with the latest technology
Integrating innovative tech solutions into your platform could help you to retain customers and streamline your processes, putting you one step ahead of the competition.
Giving your customers access to flexible payment terms as part of a fully integrated package can improve their cash flow and loyalty, while ensuring that your business remains 100% protected from risk. This way, you can offer your customers payment terms that suit their business, without putting yourself in a compromising financial position.
Time is precious in a fast moving industry, so it’s essential to free up as much of it as possible by streamlining your processes. This means searching for the most cost and time effective technological solutions. Fortunately, partnering with a payment terms provider like Hokodo eliminates the need for complex manual processes and paperwork, making transactions seamless and efficient. Payment solutions like Hokodo’s mean that you can stop wasting time on admin, and instead invest it in planning strategies to build your business in 2024.
Take advantage of new market opportunities
Accessing a new customer base by expanding into overseas territories could put your business on the map in 2024.
E-commerce is not limited by borders, and a significant 44% of B2B sellers are preparing to extend their e-commerce operations into Europe in the coming year, acknowledging the abundant opportunities that this region presents. Payment terms will play an important part in this growth phase across Europe, as 50% of merchants and marketplaces surveyed for a recent report by Hokodo and Balance consider offering payment terms as vital for influencing business growth in their respective markets
Fortunately, Hokodo’s offering empowers businesses to expand across Europe by offering a fully digital, unified payment terms solution – enabling buyers to access flexible payment terms regardless of their location. This means that businesses have got the tools needed for international expansion at their fingertips.
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About Louis Carbonnier
Louis is the co-founder and President of Hokodo where he leads the product strategy of the company’s B2B Buy Now, Pay Later solution.
Louis was previously the head and founder of the Digital Agency at Euler Hermes, the world’s leading trade credit insurer and part of the Allianz Group. Louis started his career in strategy consulting at Oliver Wyman where he was a Principal in the Financial Services practice.
