The fintech ecosystem is thriving in Brazil. According to the study "Fintech in Latin America and the Caribbean – a consolidated ecosystem with potential to contribute to regional financial inclusion, published in June of this year by the IDB, Brazil is the country that has the most platforms of this type in Latin America, with 24% of the total. Furthermore, 21% of them are from the payments vertical; 19% of loans; and 13% of business financial management. Still, the research "Fintech Deep Dive", of 2023, from PwC, it indicates that only 6% of fintechs currently operate with an exclusive focus on B2C, offering solutions for the end consumer, what indicates market potential ready to be explored
Attentive to this trend, some companies have already been offering payment solutions to customers, mixing technology with financial services: Vivo, through Vivo Pay, recently received authorization from the Central Bank to operate as a credit fintech – previously the service was called Vivo Money and included the loan service; Natura is already gaining market share with Emana Pay, used to meet the financial and payment solution needs of the group's consultants
In this scenario where various companies and retail have swallowed banks, many sectors can offer financial solutions directly to customers, facilitating transactions and improving the shopping journey with more personalization, in a movement calledembedded finance, when non-financial companies originally start to offer services of this type. An estimate from Deloitte, consulting company, audit and management, it showed that by 2026 embedded services are expected to generate revenue of R$24 billion, with a focus on the retail sectors, consumer goods and other services, that account for more than 35% of GDP. With more and more companies and retail transforming into fintechs in thisboomof opportunities, payment solution platforms can act as intermediaries between the company and the customer by providing a complete structure for the service ofembedded finance.
This is the case of the RPE – Retail Payment Ecosystem, that has been working to consolidate embedded financial services in other segments outside traditional retail, covering various clients who would like to diversify their own income. Today, some of the clients who already benefit from RPE's service – Retail Payment Ecosystem is the Pereira Group, retailer operating in five states and the Federal District; MartMinas, wholesale network; Condor, supermarket chain; Tent Wholesale, retail of the self-service segment; Cassol; Torra Stores, fashion retail network; and Avenue
Pedro Albuquerque,co-founder and director of New Business at RPE,comment that, in general, some companies have no idea that they can also take advantage of this market. "There is a difference between"embeddingfinances in retail companies and in companies from other sectors, but who are also retailers. It is easier for me to tell a supermarket that it can offer a card to its customer than for a cosmetics store, but both can and benefit from it, analysis. According to him, what is lacking for the other sectors is a little more maturity to understand the benefits of starting in theembedded finance, to know the necessary investment and also how much more loyal the customer will actually be after hiring an embedded financial service
"Here at RPE, we focus on payment solutions for retailers from various segments. If the retailer has an e-commerce, he can use our tool to get to know the customer better. With her, it is possible to offer a more digitized shopping journey. Whether it is e-commerce or not, the retailer can also offer pre-approved credit for a specific customer profile, that he identifies through his own CRM tools along with RPE's payment journey tools. For example, if the consumer clicks on a blouse of a specific model in blue color, that costs a specific price, he will have fired several pieces of information about his interest in the product. When he enters a physical store, pick up a product, shelf strip, scan the product and place it back on the shelf, he also spreads various information about his buying behavior, data that can be collected and analyzed with the retailer's CRM tools. Among these distributed data, it also has the payment data, that is, how is the customer's behavior at the time of payment. This is where the RPE comes in, bringing technology and a smooth journey for the customer to make the purchase. So, what happens is the integration of the client's CRM tools with RPE's payment journey tools. In this way, the purchase guarantees the retailer more loyalty and a more loyal customer, driving retail sales and generating profitability for the retailer, explain Pedro, citing that this data is still used in a very initial way by Brazilian retail.
The specialist cites the credit card as another important tool for customer loyalty, that helps to understand his buying behavior and to deliver the best possible solution for what he needs. "The purchase with the card is one more piece of information that the retailer can use to know how to make a more targeted offer to what the consumer needs", using a data intelligence behind it. If the retailer does not have their own card, he does not have the information, "so having your own financial service ensures more autonomy and is another way to generate profitability for the business", reiterates the specialist, ensuring that offering proprietary financial services is a scalable opportunity
The first step that the retailer can take is to understand the business model and offer a proprietary card. From this, later, he can offer a journey without a physical card, transacting with biometrics, for example, and bringing more security and digitization to the process, complements Pedro.
“RPE solutions are hosted on serverscloud, ensuring scalability and security on holidays, like Black Friday and Christmas, when the volume of transactions grows exponentially and retail cannot lose performance and quality, mainly in the shopping and payment journeys, so that the retailer can continue to serve customers as expected, finalizes
