PAYMENTS

One Click Is All It Takes

On a recent late-night scroll, I noticed that a retailer I won’t name here had a crowded payment options page. I shot off a vague tweet-complaint, overwhelmed by all the choices. Several replies came back with the same answer: “Fast can fix this.” 

What’s Fast? A fintech platform that launched September 2 with a Ricky Bobby value prop. Fast claims to make online ordering speedier than any other service. Here’s how it works:

• Shoppers fill out a single Fast form that encrypts their preferred shopping info. 
• Once they’re enrolled, they can check out with one click at any of Fast’s retail partners.
• Fast then aggregates all receipts and shipping info into a post-purchase dashboard.

“None of the other payment methods solve this, whether you pay with PayPal or a normal credit card or Apple Pay [or] Google Pay,” Fast CEO Domm Holland told me. “They may make the payment process easier if you can use those products, but the post-purchase still sucks.” 

Is Fast legit? Launch partner BigCommerce (with 60,000+ merchants) and investor Stripe seem to think so. Fast also ran a ballistic social media campaign for shoppers to test its service with Fast merch orders; responses varied. 

Battle of the buttons

“In the U.S., there are only a handful of digital payment methods with significant traction,” Lily Varón, senior analyst at Forrester Research, told Retail Brew. And they’re growing, she added: “Digital payments have seen an adoption boost since the pandemic hit, as consumers are shopping more online or using contactless payments in stores to avoid touching terminals.”

Fast’s founders say it “sells itself” because its click-and-it’s-yours tech could reduce friction and result in fewer abandoned carts for retailers. But the existing payment offerings—think big tech firms with “Pay” tacked on the end—already do this with two-click services and other perks. 

• Shopify claims Shop Pay can increase conversions by 50% or more. 
• Varón said PayPal currently has the most market share across payment providers. 

Brands on buttons: Taylor Sicard, cofounder of Win Brands Group, told me that offering two to four payment methods is “the best option.” Not every consumer uses every payment platform, and some are limited to certain browsers. So retailers have to walk a fine line between meeting customers’ needs and overwhelming them with options. 

For Fast to break through, it’ll need to build affinity with shoppers first. “The real test will be if Fast can [...] turn their logo into an actionable step similar to the PayPal logo, so consumers intuitively know what Fast is when they see it,” Sicard said. 

 Looking ahead...“Our goal is to process every payment on the internet from the consumer perspective,” Allison Barr Allen, cofounder and COO at Fast, told me. 

That’s an ambition best described as aspirational, but there’s interest: Holland said that Fast received as many inquiries from sellers on its launch day as it had in the entire previous month.

SPONSORED BY PAYCOM

HR Software for Actual Humans

As someone charged with choosing and implementing HR software, we have a feeling you’ve seen all manner of, “What the heck is this and will my employees even use it?”

For something called “human resources,” it seems most people designing it are doing so for aliens with superior prefrontal cortexes. 

That’s why Paycom created HR and payroll technology that is both simple and robust. It’s easy for your employees to use, so they can quickly select benefits, complete training, submit time-off requests, and much more—all in a single software with only one login, even on their mobile device.

Paycom empowers your employees to take control of their information, but it also empowers your HR leaders and C-suite by giving them more time to focus on their actual jobs. 

So if your HR software looks like something an E.T. would tweet to another E.T., give the humans on your team the benefit of Paycom.

Learn more here.

SWAPPING SKUS, SUPERSIZED

10 insightful retail stories to browse when you’d usually be in meetings, in no particular order.

1. Sometimes I think I have a fun job, and then I learn that “TikTok stylist” is a career. Learn how these internet geniuses sniff out partnership opportunities for small brands. (Vogue)
2. The old DTC playbook is headed for the paper shredder. This is the clearest look I’ve seen at what comes next. (Built In)
3. One shopping writer tracks the mask market’s evolution since COVID-19 arrived. Oh, how things have changed. (The Strategist)
4. As shoppers take up the #SupportBlackBusiness movement, brands wonder whether the recent surge in interest will turn into consistent sales. (The Goods)
5. In all my reporting on the upcoming holiday season, I haven’t considered the fate of the Mall Santa. Turns out, there’s not much to carol about this year. (NYT)
6. Bicyclecore: What is it, which brands make it, and why it’s a trend. (Man Repeller)
7. “People think that it’s hippies,” one restaurant owner says about trying a co-op structure, but “the reality is, this is a very real business model.” Read and tell me if you agree. (Eater)
8. From Louis Vuitton to Balenciaga, designers shared how they really felt about the pandemic’s disruptions to fashion week. Welcome to the lost season. (The Cut)
9. I didn’t truly appreciate how challenging it could be to reopen a business post-lockdown until I read this photo essay about a Brooklyn nail salon. (Allure)
10. Here’s a debate for your LDW cookout: Should brands drop the drop model for good? (Input)

SPONSORED BY SQUARE

Holiday selling is changing this year. Square is here to help retailers be prepared. 66% of shoppers plan to increase their online holiday spending this year. Be ready for the surge with Square’s guide to holiday selling.

PERSONAL SHOPPER

Handpicked guides, professional development tools, and more to boost your brand.

For retail marketers: 18 examples of brand emails that would never, ever go straight to spam. 

For aspiring founders: Swap out The Daily for an audio lesson in building community, ID-ing consumer trends, or defining your mission.

For career-changers: If it’s time for a new opportunity, may I humbly suggest the Retail Brew job board?

HOMETOWN HEROES

Let’s bring it home with a Retail Brew trivia classic. I’ll share the city where a retailer’s pre-WFH headquarters could be found and its product category; you’ll have to guess the company. 

1. Austin, TX (jewelry)
2. Cleveland, OH (ice cream) 
3. Ottawa, Canada (SaaS)
4. Kerrville, TX (grocery)
5. Springfield, MO (outdoors and sports)

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed

• Celebrities Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Launching Beauty Brands
• Why Ugg Is Launching a Fashion Collection
• 700+ Companies Are Giving Employees Time Off to Vote

HOMETOWN HEROES ANSWERS

1. Kendra Scott
2. Mitchell’s 
3. Shopify 
4. H-E-B
5. Bass Pro Shops