Prepayment to put a stop to negotiation!
You may have experienced this situation before: You put your sofa up for sale on an ad site. A person is interested, they come and visit, tell you that they want to buy and when it is time to pay, they try and negotiate further. Embarrassment, anger, and fear of losing the deal… these are the unpleasant sensations that LE BON COIN is trying to fight by offering the option of paying online using prepayment. You could call it outsourcing, or payment delegation, which removes all the tension around payment (security, having the right change, etc.) and it is now inspiring other stakeholders.
Prepayment for a better customer experience.
That’s the direction DELIVEROO is taking in the take-away food market. In Brussels, customers can now order their meals on the app and collect it from the restaurant, skipping the delivery stage all together. Customers save time and restaurants see their orders increase. It’s a convenient solution for those who want to stop by and collect their dinner on their way home from work. Others are taking it one further.
Order, prepay, eat, go.
In Texas, UBEREATS conducted a full scale test integrating a new feature into its app: order your meal and pay on your smart phone, then eat in the restaurant itself. This Dine-in option lets the customer save time – or take time – without ever having to talk about money. The practice is likely to become more widespread thanks to the different apps and platforms that simplify prepayment. They allow the retailers to refocus on service and even rethink their retail space or whole business model.
The Main Think
Experience with the ride service companies such as UBER has shown us that when no money is exchanged and the transaction is paid, the business relationship is more relaxed. That is why more and more retailers are wondering whether to move to prepayment.