Curtain & Blind Co: ‘PayTo is option number one for us’

If you opt for DIY curtains and blinds, you can – according to Curtain & Blind Co – “save a stack”.

It’s a mantra the Perth-based online store lives by beyond its products. Stung by high card fees, Elliott Woolf – Curtain & Blind Co’s Owner and Director – had long been keen on finding a faster, more economical payment method.

PayTo had been on his radar for a while. Could this be the person-to-business version of PayID he’d been looking for? And if so, could he find an integration via his e-commerce platform, Shopify?

We caught up with Elliott to find out whether Volt has met his needs, why customers are happy using PayTo for high-value purchases, and how getting used to a new payment method is often an exercise in psychology.

Elliott, give us a quick overview of who Curtain & Blind Co are…

“Curtain & Blind Co is an online store that’s been in operation for about five-and-a-half years. We offer bespoke, made-to-measure curtains, blinds and shutters that are sent to homes around Australia.”

How did you hear about Volt?

“I was looking for a direct debit system for a while, but nothing really existed. We have high order values; people often spend between $5,000 and $10,000 on an order. The fees were killing us.

“We also had a number of customers calling us to ask for our bank details so they could make a manual transfer. Again, because the order values are high it’s often above their credit card limit.

“Around a year before I came into contact with Volt I heard about PayTo, and began researching providers. None offered the Shopify plug-in we needed. I came across Volt at an event in May and, on day one of the plug-in being available, we were onboard.”

How was the integration?

“The integration and onboarding process was pretty easy, and our customers are using it. Like anything new, we don’t expect mass adoption right away – but by the same token no one has called us and asked ‘Hey, what’s this?’

“PayTo is becoming instinctive for our customers. It’s designed to be transactional and quick. We haven’t made the integration a bigger deal than it needs to be; we’re just seeing adoption grow organically, alongside some very healthy order values.”

How does PayTo appear at checkout?

“We’ve pushed it as high as we possibly can. It’s option number one for us. We have tried to help our customers by publishing an article about it on our website, and sending them an email when it launched.

“It’s true that a lot of people don’t know what PayTo is yet, but if I look at it through a consumer lens, rather than a business owner lens, then of course it would be my preferred payment method for high-value purchases.

“In our communications, we tie PayTo to PayID, which most people are familiar with and use all the time to flick money between one another. So part of what we say is that PayTo is just like PayID, but you’re paying for stuff instead of giving someone money. It’s an obvious point of comparison, rather than introducing customers to something completely new.”

You’ve touched on adoption already, but have you noticed any patterns emerging?

“Initially we had a few customers who were repeatedly using PayTo to pay for smaller things like samples or roller blinds. Before long we had our first big one – a $4,000 order for a variety of products, which saved us a couple of hundred dollars on fees.

“It also helps shoppers bypass card limits and, by extension, additional admin for us. Customers before have asked to put x amount on their card initially and then settle the balance soon after, which can get complicated. It can also delay orders, because we can’t process them until the money’s dropped.

“The team will often email me saying ‘Can you keep an eye out for this sum?’ because they want to dispatch. It gets messy and cumbersome. So, if someone has a 3k card limit but wants to make a 5k order, PayTo will absolutely come into play.”

If you’re a retailer in Australia that uses Shopify, find out more about our PayTo plug-in. Intrigued by PayTo’s possibilities beyond the e-commerce platform? Here’s the page you want to peruse.