Unzer: Tailor-made payment in sport

The fast-growing mountain sports outfitter Bergfreunde is full of praise. "For us Bergfreunde, good cooperation and collegial behavior are important. Even with external service providers, we always ask ourselves: 'Would we climb a mountain with them? And that's definitely the case with Unzer," says Ronny Höhn, Managing Director of Bergfreunde GmbH. That speaks for a great deal of trust in the colleagues at Unzer - a basic prerequisite for cooperation, especially with an existentially important partner like the payment service provider.

With the launch of its new store, Rose Bikes also decided to process all transactions via Unzer. And the interim results are excellent, and not just because of the processing of pure payment transactions: "Unzer's backend gives us a complete overview of all online payments on just one platform at all times," says Daniela Pröhl from Rose Bikes. Intersport and the Keller Group also rely on the services of the new big player in the industry, which is actually not all that new. Bergfreunde, for example, has been supported by the payment processor for years in its phenomenal rise from a small online retailer to the largest e-commerce platform in its segment.

In September 2020, the payment processor Heidelpay was renamed Unzer. A logical consequence of the company's acquisitions in recent years, thanks to which the company can optimally manage the entire digital journey of customers at all touchpoints. In 2019, for example, the debt collection specialist Universum Group was acquired. This was followed in 2020 by the acquisitions of Paysafe Pay Later and the technical service provider Lavego. The whole thing was co-financed with the help of KKR, one of the largest private equity investors in the world. KKR takes a long-term strategic view and supports Unzer on its growth path.

The aim is to become one of the top 3 payment service providers in Europe. But above all, as Mirko Hüllemann, CEO of Unzer, puts it, "we want to offer our customers holistic services and revolutionize retail". The new approach is to offer customers an all-round carefree package for omnichannel business, from e-commerce to the app to the retail store, which goes far beyond pure payment processing.

The "added value" includes a complete overview of payments in all channels at all times, smart checkout and POS systems for retail stores and the special "Unzer Insights" analysis tool for customer behavior. All of this can help to increase sales and conversion.

Just like the seamless payment on all channels that today's sports customer expects. And Unzer offers up to 200 offers, some of them exclusive, in all conceivable variants - from the card, mobile wallet, invoice and installment purchase, direct debit, prepayment and alternative payment methods. Unzer ensures secure payment transactions and maximum data protection.

The risk of fraud and payment defaults is minimized. For example, Unzer ensures immediate payment when purchasing on account or in installments, regardless of whether and when the end customer pays. This allows the sports retailer to concentrate on their core business. Meanwhile, Unzer's support team takes care of any financial problems. This complete product has won over well-known sports companies as well as large companies from other sectors such as Deutsche Bahn, DHL, Verivox and Netto.