Global Businesses Seek Fresh Efficiencies, Solid Partners to Upgrade Cross-Border B2B

For many businesses in today’s fast-paced, interconnected world, the need for solutions that make cross-border payments more efficient is growing. Even companies that have operated internationally for decades are finding it increasingly important to improve the cross-border payment experience, and Unique Carpets Ltd. is a prime example.

“Up until about 20 years ago, we would wire payments to suppliers using our local bank, but as our company expanded and we conducted more business internationally, we needed to find a more efficient solution to pay our suppliers,” Bob Binford, executive vice president at Unique Carpets Ltd., told PYMNTS in a recent interview.

Unique Carpets Ltd. first started importing wool carpets from Europe in 1985. Since then, the company has grown to become one of the largest importers of tufted 100% pure wool broadloom carpets in America. Binford explained that as the need to make international payments grew, Unique Carpets Ltd. started using American Express as its conduit to wiring payments around the world.

The Top Three Qualities of a B2B Cross-Border Payments Partner

Binford said that when it came to selecting a B2B cross-border payments partner, three qualities stood out as the most important:

Simplicity and ease

Safety and security

Solution-oriented mindset

He explained that simplicity and ease were important because Unique Carpets Ltd. was seeking a way to simplify the payments process.

“Put simply, we need to pay our suppliers on time and efficiently,” he said. “We don’t need a payments solution that overcomplicates the transaction process. We just need the funds to get where they need to be in a timely and easy manner.”

The emphasis on safety and security, Binford explained, stemmed from the fact that fraud is always top-of-mind — especially in the cross-border transaction environment. Therefore, the company was looking for a trusted and dependable partner that offered a secure platform for sending and receiving payments. This partner also had to have a solution-oriented mindset because problems invariably arise, and it helps to have a partner that can quickly resolve them.

Better Solutions Mean Better Outcomes

The company’s decision to find a B2B cross-border payments partner paid off, and one of the biggest improvements came in the form of speed. Binford noted that transaction speed became particularly salient when comparing his company’s current experience of paying suppliers to past experiences.

For the last 35 years, Unique Carpets Ltd. has paid its suppliers on Thursdays. Approximately 10 years ago, before selecting its current cross-border payments partner, the money that the company sent to its supplier on a Thursday would not reach the supplier’s bank account until Monday morning. Now, the payment almost always arrives in the supplier’s bank account the following morning, sometimes even earlier.

“The speed at which payments and information is shared around the world is a game-changer,” Binford explained. “It’s made us all more productive. Today, I can go online and schedule a payment — regardless of [whether] I’m sitting in my office or in a local café — and be done with it.”