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WePay, a US-based processor that handles digital transactions for platforms like GoFundMe, FreshBooks, and Constant Contact, announced its expansion into the UK market on Tuesday.
The firm will begin providing its white-label integrated payments service to UK customers, marking the firm’s first expansion outside of North America. That expansion, which also includes the opening of new offices in London and Rhode Island, could make the company a leading provider of payments-as-a-service for platforms looking to move into cross-border processing.
The UK’s strong e-commerce market gives WePay a broad addressable audience. The UK’s e-commerce market is the third largest in the world, trailing just the US and China. And consumer e-commerce spend in the UK was $1,524 per capita last year, higher than the European average overall as well as countries like Germany, France, and Sweden. Consumer willingness to spend online for goods likely translates to the platform-based merchants that WePay targets.
And the popularity of UK-US cross-border commerce gives WePay the potential to capitalize on growth among existing clients as well. Forty-nine percent of all US-based cross-border transactions go to UK sellers. By helping existing clients integrate international or cross-border payments, WePay could ultimately increase its processing volume, which in turn would raise the firm’s revenue.
WePay could gain a competitive advantage by easing frictions associated with international processing. WePay CEO Bill Clerico noted that going international is challenging for companies that offer payments. That’s likely because of complex and often inaccessible regulatory guidelines.
WePay worked with UK and EU regulators, credit card associations, and financial institutions in order to "ensure a robust European payments infrastructure," which could drastically simplify international integration for its clients. That simplicity could make […]
