Toolstation partners with Ecospend to offer ‘pay-by-bank’ services

By Joy Dumasia

Toolstation has announced that it is partnering with Ecospend, a leading UK provider of open banking technology, to become one of the largest eCommerce sites to adopt ‘pay-by-bank’ technology as a payment alternative. Ecospend’s Open Banking payments technology will allow Toolstation’s Trade Account customers to improve their cash flow significantly while also providing flexible credit limits and making their online account management much more efficient. 

The ‘pay-by-bank’ technology will be integrated into Toolstation’s customer app and website. In doing so, Trade Account Customers will be able to settle their account balance without the risk of inputting the wrong details, and fraud risk will be minimised. Payments will be made via Ecospend’s account-to-account technology, ensuring a smooth customer journey that requires no card details or any data to be imputed. Instead, customers select the pay-by-bank option, authenticate their identity with their biometric ID, and confirm the payment resulting in an instant transaction. 

Toolstation’s Trade Account customers will also pay their bills instantly via QR codes sent to them in the post. Customers need to scan the QR code and confirm the payment; Ecospend’s ‘pay-by-bank’ technology will ensure an instant payment to Toolstation.    

Finally, Ecospend’s ‘management console’ technology will be available to Toolstation agents, which allows them to send out payment links in bulk to anyone that needs to settle their balance. The technology can send payment links through all messaging platforms, instigating an instant account-to-account payment. This was previously a manual process, and through Ecospend’s open banking technology, Toolstation’s agents will be able to cut down on administration time spent on debt collection significantly. 

James Hickman, COO, Ecospend, comments: “This is yet another high-profile example of the benefits that open banking payment technology can bring to big businesses and their customers. It is especially positive to see Toolstation adopt open banking in multiple different forms, allowing them to really benefit from our technology. Through our ‘pay-by-bank’ pathway, Toolstation will not only be able to significantly improve the efficiency of their customer journey, but save both time and money which can be spent on further developing the business.”

Richard Lavin, Finance Director at Toolstation, comments: “We are excited to be embracing the latest technology to help ensure we offer our customers as smooth as service as possible. Ecospend’s wide range of tools meant that they are a perfect fit for us in delivering the best service to our Trade Account Customers. Additionally, by using this technology, we are helping our customers shop as securely as possible, which is imperative in a world where fraud risk is rising.”