Q&A: Chris Kronenthal, President of Freedompay
FreedomPay is a world-renowned tech company that transforms existing payment systems from legacy to leading edge. They provide innovative commerce solutions to merchants across many industries including retail, hotels and lodging, food and beverage, hospitality, and stadiums worldwide.
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I’m Chris Kronenthal, the President of FreedomPay. I’ve been a part of this leading FinTech company for nearly 15 years, during which time we’ve experienced tremendous growth and become one of the world’s fastest-growing payment solution providers.
My work at FreedomPay focuses on understanding the needs of companies globally and identifying opportunities to improve and streamline our processes to serve them better. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide secure and innovative payment technology solutions to leading global retailers, such as Foot Locker, Inc., Sephora, and Inditex.
What does your company do? / What is your USP?
FreedomPay is a world-renowned tech company that transforms existing payment systems from legacy to leading edge. We provide innovative commerce solutions to merchants across many industries, including retail, hotels and lodging, food and beverage, hospitality, and stadiums worldwide.
Our agnostic Next Level Commerce™ platform puts merchants in control of their payment strategy. It offers businesses unparalleled security, speed, and personalisation; empowering them to deliver exceptional, seamless commerce experiences for their customers.
What’s special about the platform and your approach?
Merchants, particularly at an enterprise level, increasingly rely on multiple technology partners and solutions. Many still need to optimise their outdated legacy systems that lack relevant data delivery and functionality.
Rather than replacing outdated and disconnected tech, we surround and expand on the existing infrastructure. We unify the commerce experience and enhance our clients’ payment capabilities.
We understand that our clients and their customers desire a seamless experience at every step of their in-store or online shopping journey. By partnering with FreedomPay, merchants can maximise their flexibility, efficiency, and capabilities at checkout to offer their customers an unparalleled payment experience.
Through our dedication to innovation and the integration of diverse systems, we have emerged as a frontrunner in the payment technology industry. We empower merchants of all sizes to thrive in an increasingly dynamic and cut-throat global market.
What advantage does it add?
At FreedomPay, we offer a range of platforms and services, but what sets us apart are our incredible middleware SDKs and software. These tools make it easy to integrate with various Point of Sale (POS) systems, e-commerce sites, and mobile devices.
FreedomPay is the only truly agnostic commerce platform globally. This means that we don’t care what kind of POS system, payment type, or bank you’re using – our SaaS platform can handle it all.
We work with all significant acquirers and banks and make offering a range of digital, alternative payment methods at the Point of Sale straightforward for our merchants. We integrate seamlessly with hundreds of POS, e-commerce, and mobile systems.
Through our integrations, we empower merchants to offer payment optionality for their customers. For example, we facilitate secure transactions using contactless and chip-and-pin cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, Pay by Link, payment with loyalty points, and QR code payments, including QR code payments through Alipay and WeChat Pay. FreedomPay takes merchants and their customers beyond a standard payment offering.
How do you measure success?
For us, success means providing unique, innovative value propositions that align with merchants’ business and customer needs. We support them in delivering an exceptional customer experience using the channels which are most relevant to their business.
How are retailers using your systems to gain competitive advantage and what does best practice look like?
Retailers are using our platform to gain a competitive advantage by optimising their customer journey, experience and loyalty.
By providing merchants with detailed insights into customer behaviours, preferences, and purchase habits, FreedomPay empowers merchants to effectively tailor their communications and offering to meet their customers’ demands.
A frictionless checkout experience is critical to driving sales. Through our integration with banking and payment infrastructure, we facilitate a secure, seamless customer journey.
We offer a complete end-to-end solution that includes everything from payment processing to loyalty programmes and data management, in one coherent solution.
For us, best practice implies speed, security, transparency, and compliance with global and regional regulations.
Are there other companies you partner with?
Every business, without exception, relies on partnerships. For FreedomPay, these partnerships form an ecosystem encompassing sales systems, network providers, payment processors, banks, and more.
Our extensive partner network plays a vital role in the delivery and success of our platform. It ensures that our technology reaches customers worldwide. We have trained thousands of individuals worldwide to resell our toolkits and technologies, allowing us to engage with customers on every continent.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in UK retail for 2023
The pandemic has significantly impacted consumer behaviour, and retailers must adapt to evolving preferences and behaviours. Economic uncertainty and inflation catalysed by Brexit and the wider geopolitical climate have contributed to rising rents and inventory costs, staffing shortages, and supply chain issues. These are impacting consumer spending and putting pressure on retailers’ profitability.
Retailers must differentiate themselves to remain relevant, and 2023 presents many opportunities for UK retailers. By using data analytics and artificial intelligence, retailers can offer more personalised online and in-store experiences that cater to individual customer preferences and needs. Retailers can leverage technology to improve supply chain efficiency, offer new payment options, and enhance the overall shopping experience.
How will you address these challenges and turn them into successes?
Our platform makes it possible for businesses to connect with their customers in deeper, more meaningful ways.
With our Business Intelligence platform, merchants can aggregate customer insights to segment their customer base and personalise communications, interactions, and loyalty incentives. For example, how do adverse weather conditions impact your shoppers’ online versus in-store purchase habits? Who are your highest-spending or least engaged customers?
Consumer behaviour has shifted significantly towards online ordering, contactless delivery, and other innovative solutions. Merchants must keep up with technological advancements in-store and online. Failure to do so puts them at a disadvantage to their marketplace competitors, jeopardising customer retention.
What is on the horizon for you as a company?
FreedomPay prioritises the evolution of our platform, leveraging advanced technology to support our ongoing global expansion. We focus on providing a fully integrated and comprehensive approach to customer payments and loyalty services for the retail sector and across other verticals.
As we expand into new markets and consolidate our presence in established ones, we remain committed to helping retailers future-proof their payment technologies.
We equip businesses with the tools they need to stay ahead of the curve and meet the evolving needs of their customers, while delivering a seamless and personalised payment experience.
Any final thoughts?
Merchants who wish to enhance their customer experience should re-evaluate their payment infrastructure, embrace unified commerce, and adopt an omni-channel approach. As consumers’ desire for seamless interactions and increased optionality drives the market, we strive to help our customers reach Next Level Commerce™ by Unleashing the Power of Pay.
To found out how Freedompay can help your retail operation, click here.
