Fueling growth and new customer acquisition with digital B2B payments

Kingspan, a leading global manufacturer of building materials, recognised the urgent need to modernize its traditional sales channels to meet the demands of the digital age. The acquisition of two e-commerce platforms in 2018 marked the beginning of a new era of direct-to-customer business. The partnership with Mondu, an innovative B2B Buy Now, Pay Later provider, proved crucial in overcoming the challenges in this new digital sales channel.

About Kingspan

Kingspan Group plc, founded in Ireland in 1965, has established itself as a global market leader in construction and insulation solutions. With an impressive annual turnover of €6.5 billion and 19,000 employees worldwide, Kingspan operates in more than 80 countries. The company is known for its innovative and sustainable building products and is aiming for net-zero carbon emissions in production by 2030. The digital transformation through the acquisition of e-commerce platforms for water and fuel tanks has proven to be extremely successful and represents the fastest growing area of the company. “The two websites have the highest return on sales of the entire Kingspan Group,” explains Jake Pound, Commercial & Operations Manager.

The battle with inefficient B2B payment processes

Upon entering the e-commerce sector, Kingspan encountered significant challenges in the existing payment processes. In particular, time-consuming credit checks and handling high-risk new customers were problematic, often leading to delays. The inconsistency of credit decisions and lack of transparency caused frustration as the sales team had to constantly inquire while the credit department acted cautiously.

This risk-averse approach led to Kingspan losing customers to faster competitors, costing them significant business opportunities. Jake estimates: “We were losing several orders a month, and they could be big orders – £20, £30, £40k.” In an industry with infrequent but high-value transactions, every missed opportunity was critical due to slow credit approvals.

To meet these challenges, Kingspan considered working with financial companies, but these approaches significantly disrupted the customer journey. The goal was to find a solution that would enable quick approvals with minimal touchpoints to create a first-class customer experience.

Shifting to digital B2B payments with Mondu

With delays, lost orders and a disrupted buying process threatening Kingspan’s e-commerce growth, a quick and effective solution was essential. Kingspan chose to implement Mondu’s innovative B2B Buy Now, Pay Later solutions, which offered key benefits for B2B payment:

• Immediate credit decisions both online and offline
• Flexible payment options such as 30-day net terms and installments
• Seamless integration into the existing checkout process
• Assumption of default risk by Mondu

Jake Pound is enthusiastic about the partnership: “Mondu offers a fast, smooth process for approvals of offline purchases in real-time.”

The result

Thanks to the simple implementation of Mondu’s digital B2B payments solution, Kingspan quickly achieved remarkable success and significantly boosted new customer acquisition. With an impressive approval rate of over 80%, the company was able to effectively serve both existing and new customers with the new payment option.

This flexibility proved to be a powerful customer acquisition tool, allowing Kingspan to not only acquire new customers, but also convert them into loyal repeat customers.

Mondu’s solution allows Kingspan to easily process orders up to £50,000 both online and offline. Additionally, Average Order Value (AOV) is 4.5 times higher with Mondu vs other payment methods. This partnership not only eliminated Kingspan’s payment problems, but also strengthened its position for long-term growth.