In a competitive arena like food delivery, everything hinges on easy customer sign-up and a high rate of retention. So a laser-focus on streamlining the order process and eliminating potential points of failure is crucial. Willem van Driel explains how Adyen has enabled foodora, a Berlin-based online food delivery company, to overcome these challenges and shares their experiences along the way.
The foodora app lets customers browse local restaurants, place an order, and track it as it’s prepared and delivered by a bike courier or delivery driver. And, in an industry where speed and convenience are paramount, it’s important to get it right every time.
“Our customers are hungry”, explains Alexandru Dorobantu, Payments Manager at foodora. “We have to process the payment, check for fraud, and deliver all in under 30 minutes. If we mess up it can cost us tens of thousands of dollars per minute.” Adyen has been responsible for foodora’s payments across Europe, Australia, and Canada since 2013. This includes credit cards and local payment methods, browser and in-app payments.
Easy mobile orders
Mobile apps are an ideal channel for repeat orders, and foodora has invested a great deal in its in-app experience, which accounts for 46% of its total orders.
The in-app payment needs to be invisible; customers don’t want to be redirected to an external page, they should be able to do everything in one place with as few actions as possible. Adyen’s SDK lets foodora process the whole payment without redirecting the customer.
The restaurant can also tokenize the customers’ cards so they can pay with one-click. This is helpful since conversions are much higher if the customer doesn’t have to enter card details every time. As a result, foodora can process repeat orders while Adyen shoulders the burden of PCI compliance.
Taking a bite out of the Apple (Pay)
Apple Pay has played a key role in foodora’s optimization of its mobile payments. Its frictionless flow makes it an ideal method for quick orders, and its fingerprint authentication means it is very secure. This results in high conversion rates and fewer chargebacks, which is good for everyone. As Alexandru explains: “iPhone users simply click ‘pay’ and the card is charged. We’ve seen a lot of success with this in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Europe and Canada. And we’re thinking about adding Google Pay as well.”
Local delivery on a global scale
foodora was built to scale. The company wanted to grow from one city in one country to 40 cities in 10 countries – in a year. Adyen, with its global reach, makes it easy for foodora to enter new markets quickly with local payment methods. The payments company has teams of local experts around the world, so it can advise the company on the best payment strategy in each new market. And, thanks to Adyen’s mobile-optimized integration with key local methods, it was straight-forward for foodora to add new payment methods like iDEAL and SOFORT.
A local flavor with Adyen Acquiring
When operating in many markets across Europe, it’s helpful to do everything with just one contract and one platform.
Adyen acts as both a processer and acquirer, connecting directly to the card schemes to give foodora visibility into every part of the payment flow including the reason behind a refusal. By leveraging machine learning, its suite of optimization tools helps its customers increase authorization rates. We’re delighted that our global acquiring solution has proved useful to foodora, as Alexandru confirms: “Adyen is continuously working on new and innovative ways to increase its acquiring potential. As a payments manager, this is something I really value.”
An enduring partnership
Adyen is always working to add new payment methods and support new functionalities as the market dictates. So foodora doesn’t have to wait for half a year of development to get the latest innovations. This is important to ensure the user gets the best possible experience now and in the future. In addition to this, Adyen offers total visibility into the payment process – Something foodora really appreciates: “I can track a payment every step of the way. I know what the interchange fee is, and I have all the reporting I need. This is really helpful, and I don’t think many payments partners can do it” Alexandru concluded.
About Willem van Driel
Willem is a graduate of the University of Delft with a Masters in Science and Information Architecture. As Product Manager at Adyen he helped develop the Adyen Checkout, which lets businesses create mobile-optimized checkout experiences for customers around the world.
About Adyen
Adyen is the payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies, providing a modern end-to-end infrastructure connecting directly to Visa, Mastercard, and consumers globally preferred payment methods. Adyen delivers frictionless payments across in-store, mobile and ecommerce channels. With offices across the world, Adyen serves 9 of the 10 of the world’s largest Internet companies. Customers include Facebook, Uber, Netflix, Spotify, Delivery Hero, Etsy, and L’Oreal.
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