The Covid-19 crisis has had a hefty impact on the retail industry, and some merchants have had no choice but to set up an online store to safeguard their business following lockdown and government-imposed store closures.
Some businesses have even taken a fully online strategy, like Strasbourg-based start-up Lao Care. Lisa Schino launched her brand of fully natural haircare products in the midst of lockdown, with a range comprising shampoos produced using organic active ingredients grown in France, including hemp from Alsace and nettles from the south-west of the country picked by hand and distilled traditionally in copper stills without the use of preservatives. Products are sustainable right across the value chain through to packaging, with the use of recyclable aluminum bottles that use a deposit system.
This young businesswoman has not been so affected by the crisis so far, as she set up a fully online store. However, during lockdown phases Lisa had to change the way she worked, as the hairdressers she partnered with to take in bottles as part of the deposit system had to close.
With the support and expertise of fintech Payplug that specializes in payment solutions for SMEs, Lao Care was able to finalize its website and access a simple, fast, efficient and secure payment solution.
Lisa Schino takes us behind the scenes at her business and tells us how Natixis supported her throughout the process.
PayPlug, a Natixis Payments’ fintech
Payplug offers a seamless and dependable solution, while also ensuring optimal payment security for its clients
PayPlug was set up in 2012 with the aim of supporting SMEs and merchants in processing card payments made online or in store.
PayPlug uses modules that are installed very simply on the CMS (Content Management System) at the merchant’s e-commerce site to support receipt of the customer’s bank details. PayPlug then retrieves the funds to transfer them to the merchant.
PayPlug also meets the needs of clients who want to be present across all points of sale, supporting merchants who want to use its solutions in store and providing omni-channel solutions.
Did you know?
In France, online sales of goods and services hit the €100 billion mark in 2019 according to the French e-commerce and distance selling federation (Fevad). In 2020, e-commerce should achieve sales volumes of €110 billion (source Fevad), despite the health crisis.
