Today in B2B: India’s Expo Bazaar Launches US B2B Market; DimeTyd Adds Cash App and Reconciliation

Today in B2B payments, digital payments help expedite the speed of cargo movement and Paystand debuts its first business expense card with cryptocurrency rewards. Plus, YoKart launches a B2B platform and slow payments are a top challenge for one in four travel and tourism companies.

B2B Payments Firm Paystand Unveils Crypto Card

Paystand has launched what it calls the “first business expense card with native crypto rewards,” the California B2B payments company said in a Wednesday (March 30) press release.

The DeFi Corporate Card offers instant provisioning of virtual and physical cards, advanced spend controls, real-time expense reporting and bitcoin rewards. The card lets businesses earn bitcoin rewards with each purchase, rather than requiring them to go back and redeem their earned points.

Instead, users can make purchases as they usually would and earn bitcoin automatically without modifying their workflows.

India’s Expo Bazaar Launches B2B Market in US

Expo Bazaar, a subsidiary of India Expo Mart, is set to launch in U.S. following a debut Wednesday (March 30) at the IHGF Delhi Fair, India Education Diary reported.

The B2B marketplace offers curated merchandise to independent retailers, “for the first time ever giving these specialty stores and designers access to the wealth of handicrafts, gift and home décor products available from India.”

Developed by veterans of the gift and home industries in the U.S. and India, the marketplace will provide access to tens of thousands of products from hundreds of resources on its website www.expobazaar.com, according to a company press release.

24% of Travel, Tourism CFOs Say Slow Payment Is a Top Challenge

The majority of financial leaders in the travel and tourism sectors rate their firms’ payments operations as only “somewhat” effective, and one in 10 say their systems are ineffective. Just a quarter say they’re satisfied with their current approaches, according to the Smart Receivables Playbook, a PYMNTS and Flywire collaboration.

PYMNTS’ research identified five top AR pain points facing businesses in the travel and tourism sectors. Topping the list is an insufficient ability to handle payment questions from customers, with 32% of financial executives citing this as a pain point.

These executives also say that it’s too complicated to manage multiple vendor relationships (a pain point cited by 26%), that it takes too long to get new features into the market (24%), that it takes too long to receive payments (24%) and that it’s difficult to obtain real-time access to sales and transaction data (23%).

DimeTyd Launches Cash Application, Reconciliation for Amazon Merchants

eCommerce accounting and reconciliation provider DimeTyd has extended its platform to include automation and machine learning, the Dallas company announced Wednesday (March 30).

The logic-based online engine that offers Amazon sellers a way to recover lost profits introduced the availability of cash application and reconciliation consultancy.

The automation and machine learning feature was developed to help online product vendors navigate Amazon’s Marketplace, audit invoices and certify payments are applied correctly and on time to each ledger and ensure correct accounts receivable positions with Amazon.

India’s YoKart Launches B2B eCommerce Platform

Indian eCommerce marketplace builder YoKart on Wednesday (March 30) debuted YoKart B2B, a new B2B marketplace software tool, according to a company press release.

The marketplace gives manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and service providers “a centralized platform to connect with other organizations/businesses and conduct trade, creating a streamlined transaction process,” according to the release.

It also offers tools for sellers who offer logo design and custom packaging. Services are typically sold as an add-on with bulk products but can be sold separately, the release stated. YoKart has also introduced a verification tag, founding member tag, and Gold subscription tag for the sellers. These tags can be verified and enabled on the front end.

Digital Payments Speed the Movement of Cargo

On top of supply chain disruptions, another problem that delays deliveries is that cargo is sitting in holding for up to three days, awaiting traditional payment methods at a time when it could be released the same day with digital payments.

With imports, the delay is often due to auxiliary charges, such as import service fees or terminal fees at ports that must be paid up front before getting cargo. Traditionally, they’re paid via check or wire transfer — or even with cash or prepaid vouchers, if the cargo is coming in by air.

These slower payment methods are especially problematic for the intermediaries promising to get cargo to their customers’ warehouses on time — if they don’t deliver, they’ll lose the amount they quoted. Check and wire payments cause problems on the export side, too, with a challenge in reconciling when it was billed and when it was paid.