SHOPLINE levels up with Airwallex’s embedded finance solution

Headquartered in Singapore, SHOPLINE is one of the top choices for merchants looking to build online stores. From the initial website build to omnichannel solutions, SHOPLINE has been accelerating its expansion into markets such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Japan, and other new regions.

As SHOPLINE serves over 500,000 global brands, it needs to provide a one-stop financial service for merchants and help them meet changing consumer demands for more local payment methods. 

As payment technology has improved, consumer expectations have also risen. When shopping overseas from merchants, consumers now expect to see products priced in their local currency and expect to pay via the payment method of their choice. In fact, Airwallex’s cross-border eCommerce whitepaper that polled 1,000 global businesses revealed that 77% of global consumers are likely to abandon their cart if their preferred payment method is unavailable.

SHOPLINE’s merchants, like a good majority of the 1,000 enterprises Airwallex surveyed in our report on embedded finance, are interested in accessing financial services through SaaS platforms and marketplaces. Additionally, merchants are happy to pay extra for the convenience of accessing multiple financial services through a single platform. 

While SHOPLINE partners with several traditional banks that provided them with competitive prices, as it accelerated its global expansion plan, SHOPLINE quickly realised it needed more robust financial partners.

Raymond Hsu, the General Manager of Payment at SHOPLINE, shared that there were three key factors SHOPLINE considered in their evaluation of partners:

1. Comprehensive product solutions. An end-to-end solution that can be integrated through open APIs that will empower their financial product launches in new markets, avoiding repeated integrations.

2. Global coverage that aligns with SHOPLINE’s target markets. Extensive geographical coverage that maps with their growth strategy.

3. Sufficient payment licences. A licensed provider that could comply with the various legal regulations of local markets.

Airwallex was a clear choice with its comprehensive product solutions, processing capabilities with major card schemes and local payment methods, payout capabilities in over 150 countries and regions and over 60 licences and permits globally.

Partnering with Airwallex 

Charles Vitry

Product Lead, Platforms at Airwallex

“Embedded finance brings new opportunities for SaaS platforms like SHOPLINE. It enhances platform products, discovers new revenue streams, and accelerates global expansion without affecting the original UI and user experience.”

With Airwallex’s Payments for Platforms solution, SHOPLINE is now able to upgrade its financial capabilities from multiple dimensions:

• Power SHOPLINE Payments using Airwallex’s embedded finance 

Through SHOPLINE Payments, SHOPLINE merchants can customise local payment methods to enhance the checkout experience and get diverse financial services such as Global Accounts, digital wallets, FX and payouts. This product has unlocked new revenue streams for SHOPLINE.

• Empower the building of SHOPLINE’s account system

Programmatically create accounts, automatically split funds, and raise SHOPLINE’s control over merchants’ fund flows;

• Empower SHOPLINE merchants with more financial capabilities

The potential financial capabilities for merchants include white-labelled wallets, the collection, payouts, management of funds and FX. Merchants can also accept payments globally in 180+ currencies and 160+ payment methods to improve conversion rates;

In addition to enhancing SHOPLINE’s product capabilities, the Airwallex team also worked with SHOPLINE to optimise the risk management and full-cycle operation of the onboarding process in key markets, improve risk management in payment acceptance services and continue to provide professional financial consulting services for SHOPLINE.

How embedded finance has improved SHOPLINE’s customer retention rate

After plugging in Airwallex’s embedded finance solution, the positive changes at SHOPLINE have exceeded their expectations, according to Raymond Hsu. The major changes include:

• Significant increase in customer retention rate

Merchants can complete various financial operations on the same platform, which improves the user experience and customer stickiness of SHOPLINE.

• New revenue streams unlocked with more diverse financial capabilities

With Airwallex’s solution, SHOPLINE can provide payment services for merchants but also explore more diversified products such as FX, funds collection and payouts and issuing, further enriching the platform’s revenue streams.

• Quicker merchant onboarding, resulting in reduced entry time to new markets

Airwallex’s comprehensive and flexible APIs and over 60 global payment licences have enabled SHOPLINE’s integration, significantly speeding up the launch of their financial products in new markets.

• A more business-friendly deposit policy

Airwallex payment capabilities provide more friendly guarantee rules and settlement cycles, which helps merchants manage healthy cash flows even during peak sales seasons.

Raymond Hsu

Payment General Manager at SHOPLINE

“The Airwallex team is ready to hear our feedback at any moment and provide prompt follow-ups and actions. They shared in-depth understanding of acquiring, issuing, and other product details, and had profound insights into embedded finance solutions. Their robust technological iteration capability also allows our demands to be met rapidly.”

The boundless future of embedded finance

Today, many industries are embracing digital transformation and moving operations online. For non-financial platforms, independent development of financial capabilities can be challenging and impractical. The ideal solution is to work with a fintech company that offers embedded finance solutions that can reduce time, cost, and resources. 

Looking forward, Airwallex is committed to being the reliable partner that our platform customers can count on, delivering solutions that will always be more seamless to integrate and operate, balancing risk and growing revenue.

SHOPLINE will leverage embedded finance to power its global expansion and provide more comprehensive financial services to global merchants. “Together with Airwallex, we will set a new benchmark for the application of embedded finance across industries,” said Raymond Hsu.