“In addition to our digital platform for used agricultural equipment, we offer our customers a unique fulfillment service.”
Jens Grawe, Head of Sales E-FARM
13%
Increase in new customers
81%
Acceptance rate for new and existing customers
100%
Satisfaction with BNPL payments
About E-FARM
Founded in Hamburg in 2015, E-FARM has established itself in the market with its digital platform for trading in pre-owned agricultural equipment. With a team of 40 experts, the company operates in 65 countries with over 1,000 partner dealers. Besides brokerage, E-FARM offers its customers a fulfillment service covering all the necessary steps to safely purchase used agricultural machines – from machine search to inspections and transport.
The company has achieved impressive results: in 2022 alone, transaction volume rose to €41 million, with €26 million generated by new customers. However, E-FARM is not resting on its past successes. The company is striving to digitize the entire sales process to offer its customers a unique and best-in-class buying experience.
Technological progress in agriculture
Agricultural machinery has seen enormous technological advances in recent years. Tasks that used to require laborious manual work are now primarily performed automatically and digitally. This trend in the digitalization of machines has also been recognized by E-FARM for the sales process, and the company is doing pioneering work in this area. In terms of payments, however, agriculture is only making slow progress. In most cases, the motto today is still: “Payment first, goods later.”
Since E-FARM considers prepayment less customer-friendly, they wanted to replace it on their platform with flexible payment solutions such as invoice or installment payments. These payment methods are familiar to modern farmers from their private online consumption and are now also expected for business purchases. Furthermore, E-FARM aimed to use a BNPL solution to support farmers in financially challenging situations, which can occur more frequently due to economic crises and inflation.
E-FARM’s challenges with flexible payment methods
E-FARM attempted to provide flexible payment options with their own solution. However, they soon encountered problems with their in-house system, mainly due to the high value of transactions the company handles. On average, a purchase at E-FARM amounts to €45,000, but prices for advanced agricultural machinery can go into six figures. Moreover, 63% of E-FARM’s sales come from new customers they haven’t worked with before.
Handling these large amounts became overwhelming for E-FARM due to the associated financial risk of non-payments and operational demands. Managing credit decisions, in particular, posed a significant challenge. Each request, regardless of whether it came from a new or existing customer, needed meticulous evaluation to reduce the risk of non-payment.
The solution
E-FARM was looking for a way to outsource the obstacles involved with offering flexible payment solutions so they could continue to focus on their core business. This led them to partner with Mondu. Mondu handles the operational tasks associated with credit decisions and dunning procedures. They also help resolve other key issues to enable customers to complete purchases smoothly:
- High acceptance rates: E-FARM relies on approving as many purchases as possible due to a low number of transactions. Mondu supports E-FARM here with a high acceptance rate for existing and new customers.
- High-value shopping baskets: Mondu supports high-value shopping carts, which is very important in E-FARM’s business. This allows E-FARM to reliably offer BNPL payment methods to customers when purchasing expensive agricultural machinery, which is also approved in the shortest possible time.
- Hybrid solution: Despite the progressive modernization in agriculture, customers still prefer to make high-value purchases through traditional channels such as the phone. Mondu offers a solution that enables E-FARM to accept BNPL payments seamlessly across all sales channels. E-FARM particularly appreciated this solution as it allows them to create consistent buying experiences for their clientele both online and offline. Implementation went smoothly, and E-FARM’s sales team was able to use the solution with minimal training.
The result: New Customers
MonduSell proved the ideal solution for E-FARM, enabling them to offer BNPL options to customers across all sales channels and for transactions with high-value shopping carts. This allows E-FARM to provide a smooth and flexible service that meets the needs of their customers.
Since implementing MonduSell, E-FARM has benefited from an impressive 81% acceptance rate for all purchase requests. By providing BNPL solutions, they can also support farmers in financially challenging situations, which has already led to a 13% increase in new customers.
The 100% satisfaction with Mondu’s BNPL solutions shows that E-FARM has taken the right step towards digitalizing the sales process. MonduSell enables E-FARM to optimize its operations and deliver a first-class experience while allowing the company to outsource the risks and operational burdens of BNPL.
“The partnership allows us to digitize our sales process, which enables us to close more deals and, in parallel – move the operational challenges to Mondu’s side.” – Jens Grawe, Head of Sales E-FARM.
