‘Massive’ B2B Marketplace Growth Spurs New BNPL for Business Pairing

Hokodo and Lemonway have partnered to help B2B marketplaces in Europe offer trade credit online.

The collaboration on B2B buy now, pay later (BNPL) will bring together Hokodo’s ability to evaluate a business’ buying power in real time and Lemonway’s services for reconciling payments and helping platforms with payment regulations compliance, the companies said in a Wednesday (Jan. 18) press release.

“Together, we have the potential to create tomorrow’s European champions in a market that is expected to grow by 194% in 2025,” Lemonway Founder Antoine Orsini said in the release.

Several industries are currently catching on to the B2B marketplace trend, Deutsche Bank Global Head of Cash Management Ole Matthiessen told PYMNTS in an interview posted in November.

This creates a ripe opportunity for financial institutions to make a significant impact in that “massively growing area” by helping ensure quick and seamless payments and leveraging the data gathered to better understand and meet their clients’ current and future needs, Matthiessen said at the time.

PYMNTS research has found that the B2B buyers who have taken to online commerce now have higher expectations for their customer service and the terms they receive from their vendors.

Eighty-five percent of B2B buyers value a positive experience with their partners as much as their products and services, and 69% want their partners to provide novel ways for them to access products and services, according to the “Global B2B Payments Playbook,” a PYMNTS and Worldpay collaboration.

As PYMNTS reported in November, a new wave of BNPL providers is using data to extend B2B-focused loans, which is cheaper than traditional funding. The risk models can use advanced technologies and determine payback periods.

BNPL makes it possible for a new business to spread out its initial spend on inventory, advertising or other aspects of its operations more evenly and see how business picks up over time.

With the partnership of Hokodo and Lemonway, business buyers will have more ready access to trade credit, sellers will receive an upfront payment and B2B marketplaces will be able to enhance the payment experience, according to the press release.

“We are passionate about the industry and want to offer B2B marketplaces the best possible way to stand out from the competition,” Hokodo Founder Louis Carbonnier said in the release.

The growing share of B2B buyers who are millennials prefer to buy online and want the same frictionless and seamless purchasing experiences that they are used to, Carbonnier told PYMNTS in an interview posted in August.

“In their day-to-day purchase from [marketplaces like] Amazon, these [millennials] have a great seamless experience and then they come to the workplace, and they have to procure on email and blue screens. That [only] makes the disconnect [bigger],” Carbonnier said at the time.