It’s been a relatively big news week for the accounts payable industry. News of China opening up its payments market to foreign competition is perhaps some of the biggest news, with the revelation that Amazon launched its business-to-business commerce engine a close second. Also, SAP’s Concur has made its flagship TripIt™ app is available on the Apple Watch—sure to be the first of many business apps to make the jump to wearables. Read on to find out more.
Amazon Goes Full Bore for B2B Commerce
Amazon launched its brand-new Amazon Business product on Tuesday, The E-Commerce Times reports. The new portal will feature thousands of business-specific products, and include the catalog of AmazonSupply.com, which is the ecommerce giant’s three-year-old foray into the world of B2B ecommerce. The new solution will offer third-party integration with procurement systems, the ability to create multiple users, and the ability to create purchasing approval workflows. The Amazon Business marketplace will carry more than 250 million items, including from third-party sellers, and offer products in more than 45 categories.
The launch of the Amazon Business platform marks how serious the ecommerce giant is at capturing a piece of the B2B ecommerce market. Estimates place the size of the B2B ecommerce opportunity at $1.2 trillion by 2020, which offers a significant market opportunity for Amazon. The Seattle-based company already revolutionized ecommerce on the consumer side of the market; there is really no telling what they intend to do in B2B. Read the full article at http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Amazon-Goes-Full-Bore-for-B2B-Commerce-81989.html.
China to Open Bank Card Clearing Market to Foreign Firms from June
Reuters has the news that China will open up its domestic bank card market to foreign companies starting on June 1. Prior to this year, China UnionPay had a state-sanctioned monopoly on the payment card marketplace in China, which meant all clearing transactions had to go through UnionPay. Starting June 1, however, foreign companies such as MasterCard and Visa will be able to apply to the Chinese central bank for permission to operate bank-card clearing businesses.
The move will save Visa and MasterCard millions in the long-term, as the two card networks were previously forced to piggyback on China UnionPay’s network and pay access fees. This changes the dynamic of payments in the $6.84 trillion Chinese payments market, offering tremendous opportunity to payment providers and card networks alike. Read the full article at http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/22/china-banking-services-idUSL4N0XJ28E20150422.
Kofax Reports Financial Results for its Third Quarter and Nine Months Ended March 31, 2015
Kofax (Nasdaq: KFX) reported its third quarter 2015 earnings this week, its first earnings in the wake of the announcement that Lexmark intends to acquire the scan-and-capture solution provider. The quarterly earnings report showed strong single-digit growth: total revenues for the quarter rose 4.6% to $74.0 million on a GAAP basis, with software license revenues increasing 7.5% to $30.2 million. Income from operations decreased to a $1.7 million loss for a profit margin of -2.3%. The nine months ended March 31 also showcased total revenues of $222.3 million, an increase of 5.6%, and a loss from operations of $2.8 million for a profit margin of 1.3%.
The acquisition by Lexmark for $1 billion is set for approval at a special shareholder meeting on May 18, which would place the close in the fourth fiscal quarter for Kofax. Also, this past year, Kofax’s shares were delisted from the London Stock Exchange. All in all, the California-based solution provider notched another strong quarter from a financial performance perspective. Strong results such as these make Kofax an even better coup for Lexmark, assuming the acquisition goes through. Read the full earnings release at http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150422006478/en/Kofax-Reports-Financial-Results-Quarter-Months-Ended#.VUD1HyFVikp.
C2FO Q1 2015 Working Capital Volume Grows 4x Over Q1 2014; Market Surpasses 100 Million Days of Accelerated Payment
Missouri-based C2FO announced huge growth in working capital volume this week; the company had $2.856 billion of working capital flowing through its platform in Q1 2015, compared to $734 million in the first quarter of 2014. This is a huge increase quarter-over-quarter, and includes a 540% increase in the number of suppliers using C2FO versus the first quarter of 2014. This is impressive growth in an environment of increasing concern over large corporates delaying supplier payments, despite efforts such as the U.S. government’s SupplierPay pledge and the Prompt Payment Code in the UK.
C2FO’s explosive growth in working capital flows across its platform in the past year only goes to show precisely how valuable supply chain finance can be. Suppliers are paid more quickly, and buyers can extend days payable outstanding without harming the supplier relationship; in many cases, supply chain finance like that facilitated by C2FO is very much a win-win. Read the full announcement at http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/c2fo-q1-2015-working-capital-volume-grows-4x-over-q1-2014-market-surpasses-100-million-days-of-accelerated-payment-300069921.html.
Concur Launches TripIt App on Apple Watch
In what is perhaps some of the first big news for business travelers, Concur’s TripIt™ app is now available on the Apple Watch. Buying Business Travel has the news, which notes that Concur added TripIt to the Apple Watch as part of the company’s bid to create the “perfect trip.” The app included on the wearable means that business travelers would now have all their flight information and other travel data easily accessible on their wrist instead of needing to reach into a pocket for their phone.
This looks to be the first in a long line of business-specific applications released for the Apple Watch. Business travel appears to be – at first blush – the area most likely to benefit from being included on a wearable devices such as the Apple Watch. Having travel data right on the employee’s wrist can certainly be useful, particularly as it cuts down on the number of steps to access information. Read the full article at http://buyingbusinesstravel.com/news/2724095-concur-launches-tripit-app-apple-watch.
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