In the quickly changing world of fashion apparel and other trendy items, wholesale marketplace FashionGo has been using breakthrough AI technology applications for years to help buyers sort through endless product selections.
“For us, AI is something like very much in our DNA,” says Grace Ryu, head of business initiatives and communications. “It’s second nature for us.”
Several years ago, for example, FashionGo — which has about 1 million registered buyers and offers over 3 million products from thousands of brand vendors — introduced an AI-powered style guide for image-based searching application called Style March. “Instead of writing text, you take a picture and put it on FashionGo, and through our database of products we’ll match the characteristics and display results of similar or exact pieces,” Ryu says.
Expanding buyers’ access to net terms
Paul Lee, CEO, FashionGo
Now, FashionGo is coming out with an AI-enhanced financing service designed to provide increased purchasing power to wholesale buyers at small and midsized retailers. FashionGo says that many of these buyers have been “traditionally underserved” by standard payment and financing services in B2B, restricting their ability to purchase the apparel, jewelry and other category brands they need to stock inventory and grow their merchandise sales.
But the Dynamic Net Terms FashionGo launched today will go beyond traditional credit-determining practices by considering a broader base of criteria to offer more flexibility in granting net terms, FashionGo CEO Paul Lee says.
The Dynamic Net Terms system was developed with financial technology firm Balance Payments Inc. using the Balance ZeroDecline financing model.
“Dynamic Net Terms is not just a payment solution; it’s a catalyst for growth, designed to empower retailers who have historically been underserved,” Lee says. “Our commitment remains in supporting our buyers and the wholesale ecosystem at large in an impactful way by broadening access to critical funds for smaller retailers, thereby increasing their purchasing power on the FashionGo platform.”
Lee adds: “FashionGo is looking to set the gold standard, if you will, and not have this binary application process where it’s either, yes, you’re approved, or no, you’re not. This is about having a more flexible approach to actually providing access to the funds for buyers.”
Depending on each buyer’s credit rating, purchasing history and business needs, the new net terms system may offer a financing mix including Net 30, 45 or 60 terms for part of a purchase price and approved credit card payment for the remainder.
A mix of real-time and deferred payment options
“Buyers on FashionGo will be given a number of both real-time and deferred payment options,” Balance CEO Ben Geron says, adding, “Net 30 or Net 60 may be industry standard, but they don’t begin to cover all the use cases for what buyers can be approved for.”
FashionGo expects the Dynamic Net Terms system to sharply increase the number of small and midsized businesses that get approved for net terms, which typically let them spread interest-free payments over 30, 45 or 60 days.
Grace Ryu, head of business initiatives and communications, FashionGo
“For SMBs, their approval rating for net terms is anywhere from 5% to 15%,” Ryu says. “Our goal is to at least increase that by five times.”
In addition to opening up net terms more to SMBs, the Dynamic Net Terms service is designed to analyze information on buyers’ ongoing order and purchase activity on FashionGo and adjust credit offerings based on that activity. FashionGo says the program will automatically enable higher credit limits to approved buyers registered with FashionGo.
“We understand that retail businesses of all sizes matter and are equally valuable in this economy,” Lee says, adding, “We are taking on the costs to deliver this game-changing solution, investing on both buyers’ and vendors’ behalf so they can ignite their business growth.”
Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].
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