The business challenge
Visa is a world leader in digital payments, and one of the first B2B payment provider to offer virtual card for B2B transactions.
As part of their offering, they provide a suite of B2B payment solutions including virtual card, covering multiple business-spend use cases to improve cash flow and streamline operations within organisations. This includes supplier payments, corporate travel and mobile payment options.
Sapio Research was commissioned by Speed Communications* and Visa to uncover the opportunities for Visa within the B2B virtual card market and deliver valuable insights to inform their strategy and help shape the future direction of their B2B payment segment.
*Speed Communications are an award winning PR agency with a longstanding relationship with Visa. Having carefully curated the content calendar for the year, Speed Communications spotted an opportunity for primary research to boost their content program and deliver new, never before published data on the state of virtual B2B card landscape. This data would also provide Visa with key strategic knowledge to inform their business and marketing strategy.
Understand unmet customer needs and challenges for an emerging payment technology, strategically positioning Visa in the B2B payment landscape.
Our research solution and approach
The project explored pain points within B2B businesses current payment estate, and identified entry points for emerging payment solutions, such as virtual card.
By conducting this research, our client aimed to position their commercial payment solutions effectively within the B2B space, and therefore:
- enhance their competitive advantage, grow their presence and become the leading brand in a high-potential market
- best serve the needs of its corporate customers and partners in the banking and corporate sectors
Audience understanding, market sizing and opportunity analysis
Through a global reaching survey and in-depth discussions with critical corporate financial decision makers, our team focused on:
- Sizing and segmenting the addressable market for B2B card usage based on industry, company size, unmet needs, and challenges customers face in their payment processes
- Regionally tailor insights into the competitive landscape, identifying barriers and opportunities for B2B virtual card on a market level
- Evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, market presence, and offerings of competitors
- Analysing nascent trends and opportunities within the B2B payment landscape
Our bespoke approach and methodology
- Desk research: we explored trends, competitor landscape and potential opportunities for our client’s B2B payment card proposition.
- Online quantitative research: we ensured data collected was statically robust by interviewing 1,000 choice decision makers in financial roles spread across 5 key regions and a range of sectors. The methodology targeted a total of 25 countries globally.
- Qualitative research: we conducted a series of in-depth interviews with business owners/CEOs, directors, c-level executives and VP/head of departments to get a deeper understanding of the drivers and barriers to utilising B2B virtual cards, their perceptions and current use cases in the market.
Outcomes
Sapio Research conducted a global analysis of B2B card usage (incl. region-specific data and insights) and produced the following deliverables:
- Provided a comprehensive overview of the market, assessing the potential of the B2B virtual card space
- Delivered a full insights report covering opportunities, pain points, use cases, competitor analysis
In addition to the above, Visa worked with Speed Communications to showcase the research findings in a completely bespoke whitepaper, further allowing them to own the narrative in this space.
