Against the backdrop of the rising popularity of on-demand services, Washmen, a UAE-based startup, has successfully transformed a boring chore into an enjoyable and modern experience.
Through its app, Washmen offers a wide range of on-demand and convenient laundry, dry-cleaning, repair and restoration solutions. Customers can have their laundry conveniently picked up, cleaned, and delivered back to them in as little as 24 hours.
Via the user-friendly app, customers select their required services and choose from a range of payment options. Every aspect of Washmen’s offering has been carefully created to provide the best possible customer experience, including offering a seamless payment journey.
With this goal in mind, Washmen decided to partner with Checkout.com to power its payments. Using Checkout.com’s platform, Washmen delivers a seamless customer journey at every step of the transaction - including the payment.
To succeed in this niche market, Rami Shaar, CEO of Washmen, needed a powerfully-advanced payment service provider (PSP) to allow users to seamlessly pay for their laundry services.
“We've built our business on quality, consistency, and convenience,” explains Shaar. “So when we evaluated various PSPs, we focused on finding a solution that would deliver a smooth payments journey for our customers and give us exceptional technical support.” These elements would be critical to an enjoyable user experience and therefore the widespread adoption of Washmen.
After initial conversations, Shaar and his team were impressed with the flexibility and efficiency of Checkout.com’s platform. “What immediately stood out to us was that Checkout.com offered the most sophisticated payment solution in the market,” recalls Shaar. “Their advanced technology, combined with their dedicated approach to customer support and account management helped us make the decision to work together. The fact that Checkout.com offered multiple payment options and wallets widely accepted across the MENA region was a big plus.”
Offering the correct payment methods has dual benefits. Firstly, it drives up authorization rates and lowers fraud for the company. Secondly, customers benefit from being able to pay using their preferred method, which amplifies the convenience factor for users and increases adoption.
In the region, digital payment methods, including digital wallets and BNPL, are rising in popularity as published in our Digital Transformation in MENA 2022 report. In 2022, 26% of all eCommerce transactions in MENA were completed using digital wallets, compared to just 17% in 2020. In addition, 16% of customers cited digital wallets as their number one preferred payment option for eCommerce in 2022.
After being given the greenlight, Checkout.com kicked off the strategic partnership with Washmen by beginning the integration process. “It was straightforward and all went smoothly,” recalls Shaar. “And we were reassured by the simplicity of the onboarding process.”
Ever since, Checkout.com has played a significant role in supporting Washmen’s growth, as Shaar explains; “Between Q1 2022 and Q1 2023, Washmen grew by 55% month-over-month. We really value Checkout.com’s advanced technology, global payment options, and ability to connect us with strategically-important partners.”
As the app gained traction with customers, Checkout.com and Washmen worked in partnership to offer users additional, secure, and easy payment methods via the app. “Checkout.com facilitated the introduction of Apple Pay to our app back in 2017, when access to it in the UAE market was still very limited,” says Shaar. “This was amazing for us, because this helped ignite our relationship with Apple.”
Offering Apple Pay when it was still very new tied in perfectly with Washmen’s positioning as a revolutionizer of laundry services. “Being an early adopter of Apple Pay massively benefited our brand recognition since our customers saw that Washmen was associated with global industry leaders,” says Shaar. This also proved highly beneficial for promoting recurring business, and Washmen has successfully built a loyal customer base of over 8,000 repeat monthly customers.
Besides implementing additional payment methods, working with Checkout.com has enabled Washmen to offer recurring payments and saved card options. In combination, these solutions have delivered a more friction-free payments journey and unlocked additional revenue for the scaling organization. “Since going live with Checkout.com, our acceptance rate has reached 94%.” says Shaar.
As Washmen becomes increasingly popular in its home market of UAE, Shaar and his team are looking ahead to scaling in regional and global contexts. “We’re really excited about the future. By collaborating with Checkout.com, we can enter new markets by offering local payment options,” adds Shaar.
Checkout.com has supported the rapid growth of Washmen in MENA and is thrilled to continue building long-term success together. “We’re really proud to partner with such an innovative organization,” says Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager, MENA at Checkout.com. “It’s been fantastic to see the impact that connecting Washmen with powerful partners such as Apple has had on Washmen’s growth.”
Find out how Checkout.com can help your organization to scale.
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