Italian Fashion Wholesaler: Boosting Global Growth with Payment & A/R Automation 

The Industry

When purchasing inventory, fashion retailers are often asked for upfront payments by the wholesaler. They typically have two options for making the payment. Either they will use a credit card or available cash on hand. Both options are likely to constrain the size and regularity of orders placed with suppliers by retailers, depending on cash or credit availability at the time of order.   

The Challenge

A successful Italian wholesale brand began as a reseller of leather goods within its home market. It expanded its business to become a distributor to a wider European market and then into the US where it has a strong customer base. The wholesaler now supplies both retailers and consumers directly. As is typical in the industry, they require immediate payment from retailers. 

The wholesaler saw great potential to grow its business further in the U.S. By 2021, they saw the rapidly rising popularity of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) payment options in the consumer market and were starting to feel the pressure to offer B2B buyers more choice and flexibility in payment terms. 

While the wholesaler realized that offering trade credit to its retail customers would be key, they did not have in-house capabilities to underwrite the required credit.  

Another important factor to consider was that the wholesaler was in the process of working with a specialist technical partner to integrate its eCommerce platform with the Shopify Plus cart.  

The wholesaler was determined that neither its lack of underwriting expertise or its cart integration project would slow down progress toward a trade credit solution or the achievement of its international growth goals. 

Why did the wholesaler choose TreviPay? 

• TreviPay is a trusted and proven partner, having underwritten credit and served buyers in the U.S. market since 1980, including key experience in the fashion sector 
• When paying with TreviPay, its retail customers could access significantly higher credit limits up to $20 million, which was essential to meet the needs of its global customer base of major retailers 
• TreviPay could be deployed immediately in non-integrated manual mode as a workaround while the complex third-party cart integration project took place  

The Solution

By offering invoicing and payment on terms through TreviPay, our client’s retailers can now apply for a line of credit that can be spent exclusively with the wholesaler. Responsibility for risk assessment and underwriting is taken care of by TreviPay. The application and risk assessment process usually takes place within a day, as part of an entirely digital experience. 

The wholesaler eliminated huge amounts of complexity all the way from the buyer’s user experience to the Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable functions. 

Approved buyers can begin spending their credit on the wholesaler’s TreviPay network immediately with a one-click process, making ordering quick and easy.  

This means our client is always paid at the time of order, even if a retailer defaults on their payments. DSO and the need to allocate resources to chase unpaid invoices are eliminated.     

While TreviPay could be fully integrated into their online operations, our client chose to make use of the option to deploy TreviPay in manual mode for an instant ability to offer trade credit to its customers. This enabled them to achieve speed to market for its credit offering in parallel with developing its Shopify Plus integration. 

The complex invoicing needs of their major retailer customers could be successfully accommodated.  Advanced options including credit and purchasing hierarchies, SKU-level purchase controls and centralized/decentralized billing are all possible when doing business on their TreviPay network.  

The wholesaler plans to continue its international growth into other markets already served by TreviPay, so our client can be confident of having the strongest foundations for its future plans.  

Benefits for our wholesaler client 

• Back-office efficiency – outsourcing Accounts Receivables keeps their internal resourcing requirements low as its B2B business scales 
• Reduced risk – as TreviPay underwrites credit for their retail customers, our client has eliminated the risk of late payments and unpaid invoices  
• Competitive advantage – our client will stand out in its market by offering its retail customers a line of credit and payment on terms 
• Increased sales & loyalty – the line of credit enables retailers to buy more and encourages repeat business 

For our client’s retail customers, benefits include: 

• Rapid decision making on their credit applications 
• Pay on Terms – place larger orders without using valuable working capital 
• Great customer experience – TreviPay has a 100% digital process 

Summary

The expectations for added payment convenience and flexibility have grown rapidly in recent years, especially in the fashion retail sector where BNPL solutions have gained appeal for consumers. Our client saw this emerging trend and wanted to create competitive advantage by offering its B2B customers a similar deferred payment option.  

Our client can meet the complex invoicing needs of major retailers, enabling them to easily place larger orders without the need for pre-funding or negatively impacting their cash flow.  

Unlike credit or corporate cards, the line of credit offered is for exclusive use at the specific marketplace so helps build loyalty and encourage repeat business. And because the trade credit is underwritten by TreviPay, our client never needs to chase late payments or bad debts.  

TreviPay is facilitating process innovation that delivers a seamless customer payment experience and competitive advantage for its clients.