OroCommerce and Allianz Trade partner to provide powerful B2B e-commerce solution

March 18, 2024

OroCommerce and Allianz Trade have partnered to provide a powerful B2B e-commerce solution with integrated e-commerce credit insurance. We sat down with Laurent Desprez, Executive VP and GM Europe at OroCommerce and Liesse Houari, Global Head of Distribution & Partnership, E-commerce at Allianz Trade to find out more about the partnership and the opportunities it has unlocked. 

Laurent Desprez (L.D.) - Founded twelve years ago, OroCommerce is a pioneer in e-commerce solutions for B2B companies. We provide companies with e-commerce platforms, CRM tools, open source applications and marketplace solutions. Our tools come with market-leading features and capabilities such as personalization, localization, intelligent marketing tools, powerful reporting, and groundbreaking segmentation. Our customers are in a range of sectors, from building materials to chemicals, and include midmarket manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. 

L.D. – B2B companies that are growing need the tools to match their goals, and we strive to refine our e-commerce platform to meet their specific needs and expectations– from those moving to online trade for the first time to those that want to expand and strengthen their online architecture to drive operational efficiency. We believe that creating a tailored product for B2B ecommerce, rather than a catch-all product or one made for B2C companies that B2B ones have to adapt to, is our strength, together with our team’s passion for the product. This is what we are doing with OroCommerce.

B2B companies have completely different needs and trade practices to B2C: from the products themselves to the pricing mechanisms, payment processes, KYC checks and inventory and logistics management. To give a concrete example, there’s a world of difference between buying one notebook, ten notebooks, and ten pallets’ worth of notebooks. Each scenario requires payment processing systems and logistics structures that meet the seller’s and buyer’s needs. 

Liesse Houari (L.H.) – We are a global company, and we want to support companies in different markets, regardless of size, sector or country. Our solution empowers B2B online checkout to offer customers instant payment terms and enables us to serve a wide range of businesses, and we are very happy to have it embedded in the OroCommerce solution. With our credit analysis and instantaneous credit assessment available to integrate in e-commerce platforms, we are a one-stop shop for B2B specialists such as OroCommerce that want to add flexible payment capabilities in their solutions. Our colleagues at OroCommerce are always responsive and ready to grow and innovate together.

L.D. – Allianz Trade first reached out to us at a trade fair, and we have worked in partnership ever since. We provide the e-commerce platform and they bring the e-commerce credit insurance brick at checkout, which allow our customers to provide flexible payment terms.

We have partnered to combine our strengths – ours with the technical solutions that answer our customers’ needs and pain points, and Allianz Trade bringing its payment intelligence and expertise. We are integrating our two solutions to offer our customers the best B2B e-commerce solution possible, including options in deferred payment which is key for this specific market. 

L.D. –With OroCommerce, we are combining both Allianz Trade and our strengths, and as such we are giving businesses the opportunity to grow their sales and turnover without exposing their cashflow to any non-payment risk.

Offering credit assessment and an instant decision on payment terms has a number of benefits; I’ll list a few. It gives companies that are nervous about e-commerce the confidence to offer payment terms to their customers, with the assurance that transactions are backed by a well-known and credible insurer as Allianz Trade. It automates various processes such as KYC and onboarding, optimizing the user experience, freeing precious time and increasing efficiency. And it allows buyers to purchase in larger quantities (in other words grow their basket size) at a much lower cost, which increases their margins. All in all, it offers a key competitive edge to companies that want to develop their e-commerce activity without taking any risk.

L.H. – Our partnership gives us invaluable insight into B2B online payment behaviors, since OroCommerce’s points of contact with their customers are different to ours (ours are credit managers; theirs are in sales, marketing, digital and IT roles). This data and these different perspectives go on to enhance our credit intelligence, which will benefit our common customers as it will help us to grow our predictive capabilities and thus to increase the efficiency of our coverage.

L.D. – Even though Allianz Trade is a global company, we have a small, dedicated team and point of contact. We always know who to talk to, and appreciate the responsiveness of our counterparts. Their technology is pretty unique on the market, their expertise is undeniable and we are glad to have embedded their solution in our platform. We truly feel that we are building something together, and that our values are aligned. I am convinced that this partnership will benefit many companies in such a fast-changing economic landscape and a continuously transforming business environment.

L.D. – I think we have a lot in common with our colleagues at Allianz Trade, and that is essential to enhancing our products and provide market-leading B2B e-commerce solutions. The sky’s the limit!

L.H. – Our partnership was in discussion for some time and we are thrilled that it’s underway and exceeding our expectations. The biggest beneficiaries are our customers!