Q&A: Frederic Frizzarin, Head of Pre-Sales – Global Sales & Verticals at Worldline Global
Ingenico, now Worldline, are the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I have been with Ingenico, now Worldline, for 12 years and currently head the UK Pre-Sales team within the Global Sales & Vertical organisation. Prior to Joining Ingenico I worked in the Telecoms industry for Nortel and Avaya selling and supporting Contact Centres applications and solutions.
What does your company do? / What is your USP?
We are the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry and #4 player worldwide. We provide solutions, which cover the whole payment value chain, to small and large merchants, banks and third-party acquirers as well as public transport operators, government agencies and industrial companies in all sectors.
Reducing supplier management costs and overheads by having one partner that is accountable for every element of the solution (including domestic and cross-border commercial acquiring, both in-store and online, highly-secure payment transaction processing, a broad portfolio of payment terminals as well as e-ticketing and digital services in the industrial environment) is unique to Worldline.
What’s special about the platform and your approach?
Our payment acceptance platform processes over five billion transactions a year and we are market leader in the convenience retailing sector where speed and a frictionless checkout experience is essential. We never take for granted the trust our customers place in us and our investment in our people, processes and infrastructure has provided reassurance to some of the very largest brands with the highest transactions processing peaks.
What advantage does it add?
We have a clear understanding of what it means to be a strategic provider of critical infrastructure to large retail organisations and have built our teams, technology and processes accordingly. Our customers benefit from having a provider with crystal clear accountability who always operate with respect, openness and above all, integrity.
How does a product/service implementation actually look like and how do you measure success?
Any payment platform provider should have industrialised, proven processes and a structured approach is key to the success of any major project undertaking. As such, we use proven methodologies to deliver successful projects and implementations. We have learnt many lessons from previous engagements and are therefore able to address risks before they manifest themselves and, ahead of any impact being felt, to a timeline and budget. How do we measure success? When a customer project is delivered to the requirement, on time and on budget.
How are retailers using your systems to gain competitive advantage and what does best practice look like? Can you share a case study with us?
There are many ways retailers can gain competitive advantage by using our systems and solutions. For example, they can support new consumer experiences and journeys across multiple sales channels, introduce new payment methods in-store and online in order to provide the right payment mean, to the right consumer or offer value added services (loyalty, coupons, gift cards, donations etc….) at the point of sale.
Are there other companies you partner with?
Yes, we have developed a number of partnerships within the industry. For instance, we have partnered with Apple and Google to enable retailers to digitise their loyalty card using an Apple or Google wallet so that consumers can enrol into a loyalty program during the checkout process as well as collect loyalty points and receive discounts or coupons.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in UK retail for 2021 / What challenges are retailers facing right now to prepare better?
With the shift to online, we have seen e-Commerce growing at double its pre-pandemic speed and although in-store purchases are still taking place, shoppers are now expecting a seamless and consistent checkout experience regardless of whether the transaction was processed online or in-store. Shoppers also want to be able to easily switch between channels and start their journey in one channel but complete it in another. So, it’s no longer enough to offer different channels, retailers must now ensure that the shopping experience provided in-store and online is seamless.
How will you address these challenges and turn them into successes?
At Worldline we are well placed and positioned to offer products and solutions that meet today and tomorrow’s challenges and I am genuinely excited to see what we can achieve in the next three to five years.
What is on the horizon for you as a company?
The future is really exciting and the recent merger of Worldline and Ingenico has provided a wider range of digital payment capabilities through integrated payment solutions, improved technology, enhanced innovation capabilities and also extended global footprint.
