Article

21.09.2017

How will retail stores look in the future?

Many commentators predicted that the advent of online shopping would spell the demise of the bricks-and-mortar store.

However, physical shops are still very much alive, though the rise of e-commerce has forced them to re-think their approach.

Over the next few years, the role of the retail store is likely to be redefined, improving the way they work through the application of new technologies.

Between the growth of online shopping, the appearance of futuristic stores without sales assistants, such as Amazon Go, and the introduction of robots, it’s clear that the retail business is in a radical transition phase right now. And over the next few years there is little doubt that the shop as we know it is set to undergo a profound transformation. However, if you want to predict what’s coming in the future it’s often useful to take a look into the past.

The retail business has seen three major innovations in recent years. The expansion of the drive-through phenomenon, which originated with fast food outlets in the United States some 50 years ago, to grocery stores, saw the foundation in France over a decade ago of the pioneering Chronodrive, which enables customers to order online and then drive to the store to have their groceries packed in the car boot while they remain at the wheel.  Meanwhile back in the US, Amazon set up two Amazon Fresh Pickup grocery outlets this year, with retail giant Walmart following suit in Oklahoma City.  The second phenomenon has been the come-back, in opposition to the hypermarkets and ‘shopping malls’, staged by local shops where customers can make their purchases without having to take their car along and then search between endless rows of shelves. The third revolution has been the rise of online shopping, which began in the apparel and electric appliances segments but has since spread to groceries and fast-moving consumer products, as illustrated by the Amazon Fresh concept. 

Re-thinking the role of the bricks-and-mortar store

Matthieu Jolly, Service & Innovation Manager at the Echangeur, an Innovation meeting-point run by BNP Paribas Personal Finance, underlines that this triple revolution has been driven by the retailers’ desire to adapt to the changing expectations of their customers, notably for greater efficiency.  “The customer wants to save time,” he points out, adding: “However, this new reality raises a fundamental question: if nowadays the customer wants to spend as little time as possible inside shops, what are the shops going to do about it?” Does that mean they’ll simply disappear? Jolly argues instead that sales outlets will have to introduce new formats and take an approach that goes beyond the purely utilitarian, with three main areas for improvement. “The first is about turning the shop into a venue for new experiences, a place where you can be amazed, where you can have a good time,” he says. This might well mean giving customers greater freedom. For instance, the Nike store in the SoHo neighbourhood of New York City offers customers the chance to try out its gear in realistic situations, shooting a few basketball hoops or going into a full sprint. Similarly, US store Pitch, which specialises in luxury furniture and appliances, everything in the shop can be tested out – for example taking a shower or drying your hair on the premises.

Another option involves using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies. Given that the cost of these technologies is still rather high for the general public, brands will be able to vaunt their dramatic effect, offering customers a truly immersive experience. For instance, during a promotional campaign in Autumn 2015, The North Face store in Seoul, South Korea rolled out an initiative whereby it invited customers to sit on a dog sled, put on an Oculus Rift headset and experience for a few moments the life of a ‘musher’, being pulled through a snowy landscape by huskies. In the meantime, a sales assistant attached real live huskies to the sled, and when the customer took off the headset the dogs took off on a real race through the store. Similarly, in November 2016, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba invited its customers to put on a VR headset and be teleported to Macy’s store in New York. This kind of dramatic spectacle gives stores a ‘raison d’être’, creating a meeting-point where you can have new, fun experiences. “We’re moving from a transactional mode to an approach based on experiences,” explains Nicolas Diacono, Digital Project Manager at the BNP Paribas Personal Finance Echangeur.

A place for interaction and socialising

The second area for improvement actually goes in the opposite direction, concentrating on what is unique about shopping in a bricks-and-mortar store – i.e. the material aspect, the customer’s ability to see and touch. “A store is also a place where you go to get hands-on contact with a product, to feel how it works,” Jolly underlines. He does not think that the general public has yet been entirely won over by e-commerce. Retail stores therefore still have a strong hand to play if they focus on their specific features. The recently-announced partnership between US startup Casper and nationwide discount retailer Target is a telling move. The hypermarket chain has invested $75 million in Casper, a high-end, exclusively online, direct-to-consumer mattress business. As a result of Target’s financial injection, Casper’s mattresses can now also be bought at Target hypermarkets. Despite enjoying fast growth, Casper has struggled to attract buyers beyond a rather select circle of people who are happy to buy expensive items online without first trying them out. Partnering with Target opens the door to a wider potential clientele, while Target benefits from having attractive products at its premises. Customers like to try them out in-store, and they now have a reason to go to the Target store to do so. Similarly, French home appliance and multi-media store Boulanger is setting up areas within its stores where customers can try out all its products.

The third area for development is turning the store into a place for interaction and socialising. “Many people go shopping as a way of getting out of the house. Shopping malls in the United States are now widely used as a place where young people can meet up,” points out Matthieu Jolly. Amazon showed that it has fully understood this phenomenon when it acquired natural and organic food company Whole Foods Market, a brand known for its community feel and its pleasant stores where people enjoy walking around, up and down the aisles. 

However, making customers feel welcome isn’t enough, you also have to teach them something", argues Jolly. Carrefour’s store in Villiers en Bière, in the Greater Paris region, now offers classes in cooking, wine-making and make-up. 

Meanwhile French postal service La Poste provides premises for would-be drivers to take the written part of their driving test, and other companies are setting up co-working facilities. 

The Virgin Megastore in London has combined these three trends. Customers are hailed in the street by a hologram of Richard Branson, and then welcomed inside the stores by hostesses. They can then go downstairs where they’ll find a bar, a café, a piano, a relaxing space with armchairs, TV screens, and even a real-life Virgin Atlantic business premium cabin where they can watch the sky go by through the porthole windows. Children can play on the consoles at the video games space. You can even rent part of the premises for events, and every Friday evening a film is screened.

More efficient, better-managed stores

The store of the future will therefore play a different role from the one we know today and will moreover provide customers with a more efficient shopping experience. In the medium term, there will no doubt be many AR-based experiences on offer. Using a future version of Google Glass or the Oculus headset, tomorrow’s consumers will be able to navigate around the supermarket aisles and see the products they are interested in highlighted in front of them. These might be food items corresponding to a diet – vegetarian, gluten-free, stone-age diet, and so on – or the products they need for a cooking recipe, suggested by their personalised virtual assistant, depending on what they already have in their connected refrigerator. Also highlighted might be the wines that go well with the dish a customer intends to cook. “We’re entering the era of ambient shopping, where everything will be interactive,” predicts Nicolas Diacono, who sees the advent of this technology in ten to fifteen years’ time.

Yet another area for potential improvement is the checkout process. “The checkout queue remains today the least enjoyable part of the in-store experience. Streamlining this process, reinventing the payment procedure, will be one of the most important innovations,” stresses Nicolas Diacono. This means allowing customers to leave the shop without first having to go through the checkout. The items in their trolley would be recognised and tallied up on the customer’s smartphone app. Says Diacono: “This is for instance what Amazon is aiming for with Amazon Go, but the technology isn’t yet sufficiently mature. The costs are still too significant for this to be a profitable approach for a shop.” So the right system still needs to be developed. Explains Matthieu Jolly: “There already exists a technology that enables a retailer to automatically recognise the items in your basket when you pass the checkout – RFID, which is used by for example Nespresso. So it’s technically feasible to scan your selected articles, pay with your smartphone and leave the shop. However, for this to work, all the products on sale would need to be fitted with an RFID chip, which is still far too expensive for all the items purchased at a grocery outlet.

Lastly, the store of the future will be optimally organised through the use of advanced technologies. It will be equipped with robots set up to answer basic questions – this is what Pepper does already – or to direct customers to the products they are looking for, while human sales assistants focus on giving more sophisticated advice and on building the customer relationship. Robots will also no doubt have a role to play at the store’s warehouses. Supplying and restocking will be made easier through the use of AI and image recognition technology. As they move along the shelves, robots will be able to scan products and identify those that are out of stock, a task that could equally be carried out by connected trolleys equipped with cameras. Overall, sophisticated data management will enable retailers to get a better grip on what lies ahead. Nicolas Diacono foresees: “The store will be optimised by drawing on a threefold data input based on the customer’s needs, the environment – i.e. the weather, events that are taking place in the town, etc. – and the store itself. They will thus be able to make more accurate stock forecasts, taking into consideration seasonal factors, and will therefore be more efficient at restocking. A Decathlon store would for example be able to predict three or four days in advance how many bicycles it will sell during the coming weekend.”. So at the end of the day, this well-established social institution that we know as a ‘retail store’ still appears to have a bright future.

Source: L’Atelier

Article

20.12.2024

Mobility in 2025: Arval’s view

Laurent Mélignon, Corporate Sales Director of Arval, the market leader in full-service car leasing and new mobility solutions, looks ahead to 2025. What does the future hold for the industry and mobility?

Arval is part of the Commercial, Personal Banking & Services division of the BNP Paribas Group. As the market leader, it plays a key role in offering full-service car leasing and new mobility solutions. Laurent Mélignon, Corporate Sales Director of Arval, is thus ideally placed to share his thoughts on what's in store for Arval in 2025.

Arval is the market leader in a sector in flux: how companies and private individuals see and approach mobility has changed significantly. Mélignon sees several reasons for this: "In our country, taxation is the primary driver of many change processes. This taxation is linked to wage costs: many companies see company cars as a tax-friendly alternative for maximising the remuneration they want to pay their staff. Employees, meanwhile, see company cars as a way to be compensated with tangible benefits, without the tax authorities targeting them. In the coming year, the tax framework will continue to evolve in line with this social evolution. The federal mobility budget and the bicycle allowance, for example, or options such as the cafeteria plan or the flex income plan: these are just some of the ways in which companies can use their salary package to motivate their workers."

But Arval's Corporate Sales Director sees even more drivers of change for mobility. Mélignon: "Our entire mobility culture is also changing, a trend that is set to continue in 2025. The younger generation is much less attached to the status that company cars have been associated with for so many years. They are just as happy to hop on a bicycle, take the bus or use car sharing, depending on the company's location, of course. Finally, there are also several macroeconomic factors driving this change. These include the growing traffic crisis many cities are facing, as well as the increasing awareness of people and economic players regarding the energy transition. We are all gradually seeing the need for change and alternative mobility choices. This has been clear for quite some time."

Flexible complexity

The mobility mix will only become stronger in the future. Mélignon: "That is a big part of our mission: to be and remain a one-stop shop, offering companies the opportunity to think in terms of flexible remuneration. A new employee, for example, someone who is single and without a family, has different mobility needs than their colleague, who is married with two children and has their own home in the countryside or in the city. Now that this need is becoming stronger and more established, Arval is the ideal partner to provide companies with knowledge about mobility and take the burden off their hands. We enable employers to offer flexibility by taking care of the complexity associated with it."

Positive mindset

Mélignon expects the transition to electric mobility to continue in 2025: "When I look at corporate customers, I see that 80% of all new orders are electric. This is quite different from the private market, where we barely reach 20%. The electrification of the Belgian fleet is therefore mainly driven by companies. I see that the government has recently made some announcements and initiatives to slightly adjust and refine the federal mobility budget. In the coming months, more and more people may thus give up their company cars and opt for this adjusted budget instead. Arval can also be of service there, with a positive mindset and a lot of know-how, in our role as a 'full mobility provider'."

Tipping point

According to Mélignon, the shift to electric mobility, which the market has been anticipating for so long, will also have consequences for companies. Mélignon: "We expect to see many more affordable models in 2025. Electric vehicles will no longer be just for the lucky few. This benefits the private market, but it also gives companies more opportunities. In addition, I expect the price of cars with combustion engines to rise. We often receive this feedback from manufacturers. As a result of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which regulate their CO2 emissions, they will soon have to pay huge fines if they fail to meet these standards. It is therefore in their interest to steer the market towards electric cars. They will also adjust their production capacity accordingly: 'made to order' instead of holding large stocks will become the industry standard from next year."

The road ahead

On a final note, Arval expects the market to open up to smaller and medium-sized enterprises and individual clients in the near future. Mélignon: "We believe that the change in the market will mean that many companies, which currently still favour purchasing company cars or financial leasing, will switch to operational leasing. They will outsource the risk related to, for example, residual value to us. And that is where we can make a difference as the market leader: we see this as a scenario for the near future, for which we are already preparing."

Article

16.12.2024

The digital divide persists

“It's not just the elderly who lack digital skills, young people and workers are also affected,” says Linde Verheyden, Director Public Affairs at BNP Paribas Fortis and Chair of DigitAll.

Despite the acceleration in digitalisation, many people are being left behind. In Belgium, 40% of the population between the ages of 16 and 74 are at risk of digital exclusion. Although older people are often seen as the most vulnerable group, younger people are also struggling in the digital age. Among young people aged between 16 and 24, almost a third lack basic digital skills, with a peak of 52% among those with a low educational attainment.

Figures that are surprising to say the least, considering young people grow up surrounded by digital tools.

"People often assume that young people are digital natives because they are adept at using social media. But making a TikTok video or scrolling through your Instagram feed doesn't necessarily mean you know how to carry out online banking transactions or complete an application form.

Does poverty play a significant role in the digital divide?

"Absolutely. For 25% of people living in poverty, a smartphone is their only digital device. Although they provide a basic form of access, smartphones are often inadequate for important tasks such as preparing a CV or filing a tax return. Without a computer or a stable internet connection, many digital opportunities remain out of reach for those who don't have access to these tools.

What are the other reasons for this digital divide?

"People often lack the necessary basic digital skills because they never learned them. They may not know how to use a search engine, attach a file to an e-mail, or download an app. Without this knowledge, the digital world becomes inaccessible. Furthermore, there is also the issue of digital stress. Many people worry about making mistakes, being hacked, or their privacy. Some people deliberately choose not to use digital services even though they have the skills. Technology instils a sense of distrust and unrest in them, creating a significant barrier.”

How can companies help close this gap?

"Companies can play a key role on several levels. In addition to being a social problem, digital exclusion is also an economic challenge. Today, less digitally adept individuals are both customers and potential employees. Being aware of this as a company is the most important first step. But it’s also essential to provide support to your staff. For example, employees at the municipal parks and greenery service in Ghent received training on how to file their tax returns online. These kinds of initiatives give people practical skills and confidence. In addition, companies need to do a digital check. To measure is to know. Just because someone uses a laptop daily, it doesn’t mean they have digital skills."

What does BNP Paribas Fortis do specifically to promote digital inclusion?

"We have launched several initiatives. In 2020, we established DigitAll, a platform for sharing knowledge and best practices around digital inclusion. Today, we bring together more than 130 organisations. DigitAll has developed a range of tools, including a checklist that companies can use to test how accessible their apps and websites are. A simple interface can make the difference between joining or dropping out for people who are less digitally adept. Since 2021, the bank has also supported a chair at the VUB that investigates the link between digital inclusion and human rights."

How important are tools in bridging the digital divide?

"User-friendly tools are a must. We have partnered with Emporia, a manufacturer of user-friendly smartphones for the less digitally adept. We pre-install our app for customers who buy one of their smartphones."

We mentioned digital stress earlier. How can you mitigate this?

"With awareness campaigns. We want our customers to use our tools with confidence. The bank also takes its less digitally adept customers into account. Thanks to our partnership with bpost, all our customers can go to their local post office for all basic banking transactions."

Do companies stand to benefit from promoting digital inclusion?

"They do. Digital inclusion requires a sustained effort from all stakeholders, including governments and educational institutions. No one should be left behind. Companies that act now can contribute to a more inclusive society while also securing their own future in an increasingly digital world.”

“Without key digital skills, many digital opportunities remain out of reach.”
“A simple interface can make the difference between joining or dropping out for people who are less digitally adept.”
“Limited digital skills remain an obstacle to closing the digital divide.”

Linde Verheyden, Director Public Affairs at BNP Paribas Fortis and Chairman of DigitAll
Article

09.12.2024

Managing business uncertainty with BNP Paribas Fortis

Every entrepreneur will tell you that financial markets are unpredictable, entailing inherent risks. We provide tailored solutions to protect your business as you navigate these volatile markets.

Whether you’re a small or large business, operating domestically or internationally, one thing is certain: if you enter a market and do your utmost to grow your business, sooner or later there inevitably will come a time when you expose yourself to risks. Frédéric Raxhon, Head of FI Midcap Sales, BNP Paribas Fortis Transaction Banking, is our go-to expert. Here, he explains how BNP Paribas Fortis helps customers manage this uncertainty.

Raxhon knows how market volatility can impact the daily operations of small, medium and large enterprises. Thanks to his experience of working as a banker in corporate finance, shares and derivatives, and advising holding and listed companies, he understands how the market works like no other.

Raxhon: "We are keenly aware that price uncertainty, in the form of volatility on the financial markets, can have a serious impact on the operations and profitability of businesses. That’s why we constantly monitor the markets and their volatility: if prices fluctuate sharply, our customers run the risk of buying high and selling low. The past few years are a good example of what can happen, with a sudden rise in interest rates, an energy crisis with very volatile prices, and a sharp rise in inflation. We will continue to see volatility in these markets, due to geopolitical tensions and ongoing wars. However, elections can also cause volatility, as they often cause a change in economic policy. President-elect Donald Trump has already said that he will hike tariffs on goods coming from outside the U.S., which will have an impact on global growth and inflation. The transition to a more sustainable society because of the energy transition, however positive this may be, is also a source of uncertainty. Companies will be required to make significant investments, and it is not yet clear which technologies will prevail.

All of these factors show that companies need guidance in the form of a tailor-made solution to ensure that volatile markets minimise the impact on their operations so that they can focus on their core business."

Solution-oriented

The solution to this volatility comes from a partner who is a market leader when it comes to safeguarding national and international business.

Raxhon: "At BNP Paribas Fortis, this often means managing the risks of companies that have a number of straightforward wishes: they want to conduct business on a daily basis without unnecessary complications; buy at a stable price where possible; pay wages in a stable environment; sell to customers with a profitable, stable margin, and so on. If they experience market uncertainty in their business operations, we are there to advise them and suggest solutions in different scenarios. This can range from companies that want stability when buying or selling goods in another currency, to controlling fluctuating interest rates on current or future loans, or even creating a stable financial environment in which they can steadily pay their wages. We also hedge raw materials: companies that require large quantities of energy, metal, or wheat, for example – just a few of the commodities that are subject to price fluctuations –  can rely on our expertise to turn their uncertainty into certainty. When companies are calculating their budgets for the coming years at the end of the year, assumptions about budgets and costs are a factor that future markets do not take into account. This, in turn, could lead to inconsistencies in business operations during the next financial year. We regularly suggest solutions for this, which inject trust into the entire process. We help entrepreneurs make their business more resilient to market fluctuations. Because at BNP Paribas Fortis, we are always focused on finding solutions, in any given scenario."

International intelligence

Belgian companies are increasingly expanding their horizons, which is why an international perspective is so crucial.

Raxhon: "Everything is intricately connected in the economic space. The energy crisis, for example, was not a national crisis. In Belgium, electricity prices were directly impacted by the drop in nuclear power production in France in 2022. The American elections have a direct impact on international business, with anxiety gripping investors and the markets. And I can give you many more examples.

Moreover, we expect this interdependence and volatility to continue for quite some time: there are a large number of economic and global trends that are feeding this uncertainty. And that is why it is so important that we keep up with developments in this uncertain global environment. At BNP Paribas Fortis, we rely on a global network of experts who are always on the lookout for the latest updates. Whatever happens and wherever it happens, there are always people from our bank on the ground who monitor the situation and provide us with real-time advice on how best to inform our customers. This network has proven its worth time and again, both for us and our customers."

Article

07.11.2024

BNP Paribas Fortis Factor: the oxygen to your growth story

Factoring is playing an increasingly important role in promoting the growth of Belgian and international companies. BNP Paribas Fortis Factor provides the oxygen to their growth story.

You want your business to grow and thrive, and so all the help and guidance you can get are more than welcome. The reason is clear: support brings extra energy to your entrepreneurial spirit and essential resources to fuel your innovative growth plans.

BNP Paribas Fortis Factor, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas Fortis, offers a service designed precisely for that: to relieve stress and motivate, to promote and nurture your growth. In this interview, Jef Ramaekers, Head Factoring Benelux at BNP Paribas Fortis Factor, and Audrey Bourguet, Working Capital Advisor at BNP Paribas Fortis Corporate Banking, come together to discuss one key topic: Factoring and the positive role it can play for Belgian businesses and their international branches.

Explaining factoring succinctly, however, is a challenge. Jef Ramaekers, Head Factoring Benelux at BNP Paribas Fortis Factor, clarifies: “To start with, factoring is a means, not an end. It’s a tool for business owners or CFOs to optimise working capital. Every financial manager, in any company, will at some point ask the same question: ‘Who do I need to pay, when, and how can I pay them with the resources I have?’ Simply put, factoring enables businesses to pay suppliers without waiting for customer payments to come in. We finance invoices by converting them into directly available cash for the business.”

This process actively alleviates concerns and reduces stress factors, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on what they do best – running their business. Ramaekers adds, “We like to say ‘giving oxygen to growth stories.’ But I certainly see the value in the term ‘relieving stress’ here. By giving an entrepreneur or CFO the freedom to focus on core activities and by taking on a key part of the financial management, we create extra time and opportunities. And they also have less to worry about."

Positive shift

According to Ramaekers, the traditionally negative perception of factoring is a thing of the past: “Factoring was once seen by many business leaders as a ‘lender of last-resort’ – a way to borrow money from the bank by using assets, receivables, or customer invoices. In other words, a company’s last resort. Fortunately, those days are long behind us. We’ve evolved towards a very open attitude to factoring, allowing our division to grow into a true service provider. Our clients’ primary need remains short-term financing. Today, one in five invoices in our country is paid through factoring. Factoring is now a substantial market, representing more than one hundred billion euros per year. BNP Paribas Fortis Factor manages 41 per cent of this market, accounting for EUR 55 billion at the end of 2023.

Growth

From the bank’s perspective, factoring also represents a significant growth story. Audrey Bourguet, Working Capital Advisor at Transaction Banking for BNP Paribas Fortis, explains: “Today, factoring is the financial product that nicely aligns with the rising turnover of our companies. It provides a practical solution for working capital and is part of a suite of Transaction Banking services. In addition to Factor, this also includes Global Trade Solutions, Cash Management, Fixed Income, and Working Capital Advisory. All these services share a common goal: provide the best possible solution for our clients’ financial needs and be there for them in all situations where they can benefit from our support.”

Factoring, from the bank’s standpoint, represents an increasingly strong and positive story, unlinked from its past connotations. Bourguet adds, “You can see this in how we truly integrate factoring within our bank and the group, and in how we offer this service to businesses across all sectors and sizes. We work with a wide range of companies in the Belgian economy. As a result, we have seen that it is precisely those companies that succeed in optimising the funding of their working capital by making use of our factoring services, among other things. This reinforces our belief that it is a very positive story: we’re talking about a form of financing that seamlessly adapts to the growth of any business, large or small.”

Natural evolution

Factoring is available to small, medium-sized, and large companies alike. Ramaekers says, “We aim to provide a solution that supports businesses throughout their entire lifecycle – we’re genuinely unique in the market in this regard. This means that we are there for start-ups, SMEs, multinationals, and every type of business in between. We are the only bank on the market to have a digital solution for small businesses in the form of Easy2Cash. This digitalisation makes it a very cost-effective option with highly competitive margins, but also a reliable, particularly fast and up-to-date link with our customers and their accounting, using a digital yet personal approach. Although Easy2Cash is digital, it includes a dedicated contact person, making the solution both personal and accessible. For start-ups, for example, it’s often challenging to secure credit. For these modest, short-term credit needs, we provide a solution in consultation with the BNP Paribas Fortis banker, enabling them to keep growing without being hindered by their expanding requirements for financing, automation, accounting, etc. Factoring gives them additional resources to meet these needs.”

Ramaekers notes that the steady growth of young companies also demands an adaptation of financial services: “It’s a natural evolution that benefits both partners. If your business grows, we grow with you – it’s that simple. During all those specific growth moments – when entrepreneurs start considering additional staff or potential exports – factoring grows with them. And we do this together with the bank; the group behind this story plays as a team. And let’s not forget, we’re here even if more challenging times come. We’re well aware that a company’s journey is not always easy. It’s at those moments that the value of our expertise and the support we provide really stands out.”

When a company grows into a large enterprise with the profile of a multinational, the importance of factoring further increases. Ramaekers says, "More than 65% of the really large companies in Belgium, with a turnover of more than EUR 1 billion, use factoring services. And half of them are our customers. Factoring often provides additional economies of scale for large enterprises. For example, we can finance receivables that have no impact on a company’s debt ratio. By combining invoice pre-financing with credit insurance, companies can avoid having debt on their balance sheet, with the approval of the company auditor. It’s a technical matter, but it is this combination of various financial elements that makes factoring efficient, high-performing and valuable for many companies.”

Economic fabric

The two agree on the value of factoring in supporting the economic fabric. Bourguet explains, “Part of this supportive role is due to the fact that factoring is a completely transparent financial service – you can only finance what is effectively there.” Ramaekers adds, “Absolutely. Plus, factoring sits right in the middle of the value chain, embedded in the economic fabric. We work alongside our clients, their customers (debtors), the bank, and so on. This makes us a key figure in this chain. We coordinate and facilitate. And for this we need to have our feet firmly planted on economic ground, often for the benefit of all our customers. When we succeed in, for example, reducing the payment terms of invoices for a business, it has a positive ripple effect not only for that company but for the economic process as a whole. This is why I am convinced that we play a broad role in the economic ecosystem – often broader than is generally perceived.”

Opportunities and fair guidance are also crucial in this financial field. Ramaekers says, “At Factor, we engage in transparent discussions with the bank and our clients to find the best solution for their needs. This means we identify opportunities and often suggest them, but also act as an honest, proactive sounding board. It’s about dialogue, analysis, and constructive critique.” Bourguet concurs: “I completely agree. With a service like factoring, we are deeply involved in our clients’ economic activity – the entrepreneurs who rely on us. So, we take a broad view of every case, looking beyond just a banking product or a single solution. This is what makes BNP Paribas Fortis’s approach so strong: we operate as a team, consisting of specialists from both Factor and the bank. This group of experts from different, well-coordinated entities provides entrepreneurs and companies with a comprehensive approach, even for complex cases. These are the moments when we truly rely on our internal expertise: years of experience; colleagues with solid knowledge; reliable economic data applicable to numerous scenarios. This combination enables us not only to guide companies in the right direction but also to provide financial support that is fair, safe, and sound.”

Future

Just like the bank itself, BNP Paribas Fortis Factor frequently considers its strategic direction for the future. As a provider of forward-thinking services, it’s essential to adopt a future-oriented approach to financial services. Ramaekers notes, “Earlier, I mentioned our digital solution, Easy2Cash. I think we can be quite proud of this because it is a glimpse into the future – today. Beyond that, our services are evolving very organically towards the future: we’re constantly striving to make them accessible to an ever-wider group of clients across the economic landscape. Additionally, we’re very focused on sustainability.”

Bourguet adds, “This last aspect is a natural extension of what we do at the bank every day. Our commitment to sustainability extends seamlessly to factoring: we encourage and motivate our clients to join us on this sustainable path.”

The two teams also collaborate closely in developing new services. Ramaekers explains, “We see a significant evolution in the commercial sector, with many online stores offering deferred payment options, such as a 30-day extension. This practice is also increasingly common in the B2B market. Factoring can innovate in this area, so we see it as part of the future we’re actively developing. From a European perspective, there are other innovations too: e-invoicing, for example, is soon to become the standard for all businesses. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity in terms of services and advisory, which we’re shaping together with the bank.”

The two partners have also developed new services. Ramaekers: "We have observed a remarkable evolution in the commercial sector, where many online stores offer payment delays of 30 days, for example. This practice is also increasingly common in the B2B market. Factoring can offer an innovative solution, so this is part of the future that we are currently developing. On the European level, there are also new features: e-invoicing will soon become the norm for all companies. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity in terms of services and advice, which we are developing together with the bank."

Bourguet concludes, “It’s clear that this is a story of synergy, one where we work together seamlessly. This isn’t just rewarding for us but also for our clients. We’re rooted in the heart of the economic marketplace, yet we’re also focused on creating platforms and products that will lead the way and shape the future of this market.”

More information: https://factor.bnpparibasfortis.be/

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