Content provided by ShelfNow:
Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business. Yet poor credit access puts the brakes on many independent retail Buyers, leaving them with an unfair cashflow disadvantage compared to large corporate buyers and chain stores.
Access to credit is such a major problem that in 2020 almost 10% of all SMEs in the European Union cited access to finance as the most important problem facing their business in the past six months.
Dissatisfied with this current state of affairs, ShelfNow teamed up with Hokodo, a pan-European fintech startup, to try and fix the problem. The result: Buy Now, Pay Later. Credit terms made simple, seamless, and straightforward.
How does Buy Now, Pay Later work? Buy Now, Pay Later gives instant credit to all eligible Buyers when making purchases on the ShelfNow platform, with the option to pay in either 30 or 45 days. At zero interest, and with no additional fees!
Retail Buyers can order all the stock they need to sell to their customers and simply pay later, reducing the amount of cashflow headaches. Producers don’t need to fret as they will be paid immediately on delivery. Buy Now, Pay Later is guaranteed to improve cash flows for both parties.
Pressurised cash flows combined with lack of credit access severely limits the ability of independent Buyers to thrive. The Covid pandemic has sadly demonstrated this all too well. Creating greater credit access for independent Buyers, especially on favourable terms, leaves them less vulnerable to sudden shocks. This advantage has until recently been enjoyed almost exclusively by larger corporations.
Unfair credit practises damage not only individual Buyers and Producers but also the entire food supply chain. They encourage consolidation and homogenization in the food and beverage industry, thereby reducing its diversity and vitality. This is always to the detriment of the final consumer.
Our mission at ShelfNow is to empower small and mid-sized producers and independent retail buyers in the food and beverage industry. We believe the surest way to achieve this, is by levelling the playing field between smaller independents and larger corporates in the food supply chain through a focus on digital innovation.
The collaboration between ShelfNow and Hokodo is a small but important step towards a fairer food supply chain. Both startups are animated by the belief that extraordinary things happen when ordinary businesses and people are given uncomplicated access to the right digital tools.
Buy Now, Pay Later is just the start.
