As a B2B marketplace or eCommerce business, you might be considering a B2B Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) payment solution because: 

• You need to offer payment on credit term options to your customers 

• You want to meet modern buyer payment expectations 

• You don’t want to manage credit risk or chase payments yourself

There are many great branded and white-label B2B BNPL solutions out there. And, of course, there are also the famous B2C players such as Klarna and Scalapay. 

With so many options available, how can you be sure you make the right choice? In this article, we’ll explore: 

• Why B2C BNPL solutions don’t work for B2B commerce

• 10 questions to ask a prospective B2B BNPL solution (and how Tilta measures up)

Prefer to speak directly to an embedded payments expert? Get in touch to arrange a demo.

Why B2C BNPL solutions don’t work for B2B

B2C BNPL brands like Klarna have gained huge traction in recent years. So, it’s natural that many B2B businesses start by considering widely known B2C providers. However, B2C BNPL was created to solve a different problem. Its emphasis is on conversion rather than B2B financing. It doesn’t work for B2B because: 

• Returns are expected, so payment is delayed: Consumers often use BNPL to try before they buy, and return rates are often between 30% and 60%. To allow for this, B2C BNPL solutions pay out late, which doesn’t solve the working capital challenges of B2B sellers.
  
  

• Speed is prioritized over everything else: B2C BNPL can authorize a purchase of a €100 pair of sneakers in milliseconds. However, when you’re looking at a €150,000 purchase of automotive parts, speed is much less important than the ability to finance the deal.
  
  

• Payment terms are rigid: B2C buyers are used to a limited choice of payment terms (such as pay three or four installments or within 30 days). But B2B buyers need more flexibility than that.
  
  

• Buyers can’t plan ahead: B2C solutions will only provide a financing decision at the checkout. That’s fine when it’s a matter of whether or not you can buy a pair of jeans. But businesses need to be able to plan ahead and won’t welcome their financing request being rejected at the last moment.
  
  

• They intercept the customer relationship: B2C BNPL providers are consumer brands in their own right, and they establish their own relationships with the end customer. This doesn’t just dilute your own brand experience, you run the risk of the provider endorsing a competitor over you.

10 questions to ask a prospective B2B BNPL solution

Even when you discount B2C BNPL solutions, there’s still a huge choice of providers offering BNPL solutions for B2B businesses. To help you evaluate one solution against another, here are 10 revealing questions to ask: 

1. What’s their acceptance rate?

The acceptance rate (sometimes called the ‘offer rate’) refers to how likely the provider is to approve the financing request. For example, if a provider authorizes a deferred payment for six customers in every 10, it has an acceptance rate of 60%. 

Acceptance rates can vary greatly from region to region. So, it’s vital to understand a vendor’s geographical coverage to ensure that it can be applied to all your merchants and their buyers.

Tilta, for example, offers coverage across the EU, where we can often achieve acceptance rates as high as 95%. This is thanks to our real-time, automated credit checks, which allow us to offer credit terms in seconds – No credit application forms necessary.

2. How reliable is the technology? 

When evaluating a potential B2B BNPL, there are two important technical KPIs to consider:

1. Uptime (time spent online and live): Service interruption is a sure way to drive your customers to your competitor’s site, so you must be live and processing at all times. 

2. Latency (delays to the buyer receiving a confirmation): Latency keeps customers waiting to receive their payment confirmation, and you should avoid providers with a latency of one second or over.

Tilta, for example, has an average uptime of 99.99% and a latency of 0.8 seconds.

3. How robust is the risk engine?

Understanding the extent of a partner's risk coverage is essential if you want to avoid nasty surprises down the line. Things to look out for include: 

• Credit limits: B2B transactions are often as high as €250,000, so the provider must be willing and able to take on a large exposure.
  
  

• Acceptance rate: If this is inconsistent, it might indicate some issues with the underwriting setup.
  
  

• Data: It’s important to understand what data the solution has access to, and how it uses it to make risk decisions. For example, if it is basing decisions on credit bureau data only, its decisioning capabilities will be limited.
  
  

• Exclusions: Are there lots of caveats in the level of coverage provided? If so, it’s essential to know upfront.

At Tilta, every financing request we approve is 100% guaranteed, with limits up to €250,000. This also includes fraud risk. So, if a buyer makes a fraudulent purchase, we’ll cover the downside. 

Our holistic underwriting solution uses data from multiple sources, including transaction history, recent company financials, past purchase behavior (if available), company website, credit bureau, and macroeconomic information. We use this to build a detailed picture of your customers within seconds and make informed credit decisions. So you never have to worry about customers defaulting. 

4. How flexible is the solution? 

Different industries have different requirements and expectations, so the best solutions will be able to adjust themselves to your specific needs. To understand the extent of customization available, it’s important to know whether you can:

• Set your own payment terms and fees. 

• Accept payments across different channels (for example, via payment links for in-person or telephone sales).

• Process payments in different currencies.

• Automatically extend credit to your customers.

With Tilta, you have the freedom to set the payment term options that make sense for you and your customers. We’ll leave it up to you how much you decide to charge. You can also choose when you get paid, turning your receivables into cash whenever you need to. And you can even extend credit automatically to your customers the moment they log in. So you can boost your buyers’ purchase power and increase sales – at no risk to your business. 

We accept payments in Euros and GBP, processing locally to remove FX charges and cross-border bank fees. And, thanks to our Pay by Link solution, you can capture digital credit-backed payments from anywhere.

5. What payment methods do they support?

67% of consumers will abandon a purchase if they can’t pay how they want, so it’s vital to offer the right payment methods based on your customer’s region, their order value and frequency, and your industry. In some cases, this will be business credit cards. But, given the high average transaction values in B2B, it’s important to support the more common credit transfer and direct debit methods as well.

At Tilta, we therefore offer: 

• SEPA Credit Transfer

• SEPA Instant

• SEPA COR Direct Debit

• SEPA B2B Direct Debit

• FPS for UK payments

We’re adding new methods all the time, so watch this space.

6. How much will it cost?

The short answer is that a BNPL solution shouldn’t cost you anything. At least not in the long run. In fact, a good provider will increase your revenue because you’ll be able to charge for value-added services such as flexible payment terms, fast payouts, and upfront capital. They should also give you the freedom to set your own margins and decide what you charge and what you pay.

You should avoid partners with hidden fees such as set-up costs, rolling reserves, or non-payment or late payment fees. Remember: A cheaper solution is usually a false economy. To make an informed decision, you need to look at projected margins over time.

At Tilta, for example, we charge a fee on a transactional basis and don’t require any commitment through fees or volumes. You can configure any fee to be charged to your customer and earn on every transaction.

7. Is it white-label or branded?

An important consideration when evaluating BNPL solutions is whether to choose a white-label or a fully branded provider. Both have their advantages, but we recommend white-label.

Branded BNPL

A branded BNPL solution is often a recognized brand in its own right, which can help build buyer confidence. However, it can also disrupt your customer relationship and potentially lead to lower conversion rates. 

White-label BNPL

A white-label solution, on the other hand, gives you full control over the customer experience. B2B relationships rely heavily on trust, which must be upheld throughout the buyer's journey. A powerful way to enhance the relationship is by offering payment terms as part of your own solution. A white-label provider allows you to do this without the heavy lifting of underwriting and compliance (which they’ll handle for you in the background).  

Tilta is a white-label solution, which means you can keep your brand identity intact throughout the checkout process and ensure a consistent customer experience. You can set your own pricing and even offer different payment terms to different customers. And since we integrate directly into your systems, you get full access to data insights and control over updates and modifications.

8. How long will it take to integrate, and how much help will you get?

No one wants to dedicate time or resources to battling a complicated API or wading through reams of confusing documentation. A good provider will offer a straightforward set of integration options ready to go within days or weeks (not weeks or months). It should also provide a robust testing environment to ensure everything is set up properly for a smooth go-live.

Tilta, for example, offers the following integration options: 

• A single RESTful API integration

• eCommerce plugins, such as Shopware and Magento

• Direct ERP integrations, including SAP Business One

• Hosted frontend with zero coding 

You’ll also want to know from the start how much support you can expect. How available are they? Can you always reach them on Slack, email, or by phone? Will they help you optimize your settings? Do they provide guidance? Or are you on your own once integration is complete?

Tilta’s service level is white glove. Our engineering and customer success teams are always on hand to support you throughout the integration, go-live, and beyond.

9. Are they a partner or just a vendor?

A good solution is also a good partner. They should be willing to take the time to understand your specific setup. They should be transparent about customer credit scores, rejection reasons, and ongoing acceptance rates. And any data they collect should be shared with you so you can jointly optimize the offering to your customers.

With Tilta, the credit limits you provide to your customers are exclusively yours and can’t be used outside of your platform. Plus, since we’re white-labelled, we don’t cross or upsell. Your customers remain yours – we’re just here to help you serve them better.

10. Is the solution truly end-to-end? Does it rely on third parties?

A piecemeal approach to payment processing can be very time-consuming because you have to source and manage multiple providers, integrations, and data sets. An end-to-end solution, on the other hand, takes care of the whole process, including credit checks, risk checks, financing, payment processing, credit insurance, and collecting and payouts. This means you have just one contract, one integration, and one support number to call.

However, although many providers claim to be end-to-end, they may still rely on integrations with third-party solutions to complete certain tasks. In many cases, this approach is the most efficient because it allows the provider to focus on their core offering. Either way, they must be transparent about any third parties they use. 

At Tilta, for example, we outsource KYC and AML to ComplyAdvantage because we believe they provide an excellent solution. In doing so, we can benefit our clients more by focusing on refining our core solution: Making it simple to embed payment terms and financing into the B2B checkout.

Businesses deserve better BNPL solutions

B2B eCommerce businesses and marketplaces don’t just need to facilitate payments, they need to proactively drive sales. 

High acceptance rates, a robust risk engine, and flexible payment options will ensure that you can offer your customers the financing they need while keeping your risk and admin to a minimum. A white-label solution will allow you to maintain your brand identity while reinforcing customer trust. And a seamless integration to an end-to-end solution will keep things running smoothly behind the scenes.

The result? A B2B BNPL solution that turns payments from a cost center to a revenue driver. 

“All payment providers process transactions but Tilta does more. It’s not just a payment solution, it’s a cashflow solution as well. This is a huge value-add for us and our members.”

Marcin Krzączkowski, CEO, Automa.net, Read the full story