支付產業的另一個紅海，誰會是英國中小企業支付市場上的最後贏家？
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A piece of news about the UK SME payment industry caught my eye today: PayPal Launches Zettle Terminal in the UK
My first thought when reading this article is, does it mean PayPal is targeting Square’s UK payment customers? After all, offering a simplified checkout solution for SMEs is one of Square’s strong suits.
As Square entered the UK market in 2017, no doubt it still gets a head-start over Paypal among small merchants running physical stores.
Then I saw this article about two new CRM tools of Square took me by surprise. Square is offering marketing and customer loyalty tools to its UK customers.
Square launches marketing and loyalty tools in the UK
As it may seem, Square’s ambition is to be a one-stop solution for all SMEs.
Building a CRM tool is troublesome, especially when many of these merchants don’t have much digital readiness. I shall know, given that I was doing omnichannel marketing for those SMEs for 5 years!
By helping SMEs know their customers better, deliver more effective digital marketing campaigns, and strengthen customer relationships with robust loyalty programs, Square can significantly increase client stickiness and discourage potential new players.
At the end of the day, it’s not only about providing a better customer experience but more about how to create a Super App and build an “economic moat” (a word attributed to investing guru Warren Buffett). Let’s wait and see who will be the last man standing.
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今天有個關於英國支付產業的新聞引起了我的注意：PayPal Launches Zettle Terminal in the UK (Paypal 要在英國推出 Zettle Terminal)
當我看到這個新聞時，第一個閃過我腦海的念頭是，Paypal 這個新工具是要對準 Square 的英國客戶嗎？ 因為 Square 的強項之一就是提供簡單的結帳功能給中小企業。
然而 Square 早在 2017 年就進入英國市場，我想它相較 Paypal 還是在實體店面為主的中小型商家間有不少競爭優勢。
然後我看到了下面這篇讓我大吃一驚的文章：Square launches marketing and loyalty tools in the UK (Square 要提供英國客戶做行銷方案跟客戶忠誠計畫的工具)。
顯然，Square 的野心是提供中小企業一站式的服務。
建一個 CRM 系統很麻煩，尤其當這些商家很多數位化程度都還不到家的情況下 (這個部分因為我過去有 5 年時間在對中小企業做全通路行銷所以頗有體會)。
藉由幫助中小企業更了解他們的客戶、執行更有效的行銷活動、甚至透過客戶忠誠計畫加強客戶關係，Square 可以大大增加客戶黏稠度，並嚇阻潛在的競爭者。
到頭來，提供更好的客戶體驗是不夠的，更重要的是如何打造一個 Super App，建立「經濟護城河」(這是投資大師華倫巴菲特多年前提出的概念)。讓我們繼續看下去，看看最後戰場上誰能撐到最後！
希望這篇支付產業的文章可以給你一些啟發，有什麼想法歡迎在下方留言或透過 email 跟我分享。
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