TerStal is a Twente fashion company founded in 1908. It is a fashion brand for young and old that actively responds to the latest fashion trends with an extensive and affordable range of women's, men's and children's clothing. Dominique Gloudemans, COO at terStal, adds, ''TerStal offers clothing from head to toe and for everyone.''
TerStal's popularity is due to its collections that are based on the latest trends every season. ''We are also known for our price-quality and our physical stores are updated with the latest and trendiest collections every two weeks. We continue to surprise,'' said Dominique.
The retail chain has more than 200 easily accessible physical stores in the Netherlands, mostly in shopping centers and village locations. In addition to physical stores, terStal has a webshop where customers can shop the latest fashion 24/7.
To remain relevant in e-commerce, it is important to adapt business operations to new technological developments. TerStal took the first step 9 years ago by expanding its services with a webshop. Dominique added: ''During that time, we also upgraded the webshop to another e-commerce platform (Magento 2), optimizing the customer journey and checkout.''
With these first improvements, customers can see more clearly which payment methods are available in the online store. Offering a diverse payment mix in the checkout has been made possible thanks to the cooperation with Buckaroo.
"Initially, we chose Buckaroo as our payment partner because of its different payment methods," Dominique says. "But also in view of Buckaroo's strong performance in terms of omnichannel integration for our further growth, the customer journey and price."
"As a company in the fashion industry, omnichannel is very important for terStal. There are few Payment Service Providers that have a good integration for linking online and offline channels. This is possible with a party like Buckaroo. They have years of experience with online and in-store payments and understand the importance of effortlessly bringing channels together to provide the customer with one seamless and user-friendly experience."
In a rapidly changing consumer market, anticipating customers' payment needs is essential for success and continued growth. TerStal also sees the importance of this. With a target group consisting mainly of young families with children who like to shop online and in the physical store, payment requirements can vary widely.
The online payment mix mainly consists of iDEAL and Riverty but there is also a customer group that likes to pay differently. Dominique: ''We have a group that likes to pay directly and a group that, especially online, likes to do this afterwards. In addition, there are customers who prefer gift cards (fashion check) over the rest.''
Due to the growing popularity of gift cards, terStal decided in 2012 to offer fashion cheques via Buckaroo. With the fashion check, consumers can pay both online and in the physical store.
"A nice plus point is that Buckaroo has been working closely with fashioncheque for quite some time, so the payment solution could be effortlessly integrated into our webshop," Dominique says approvingly. "In addition, Buckaroo is the only Payment Service Provider to offer the option of partial payments where consumers can pay the remaining amount of a purchase in the webshop or physical store with another payment method."
The number of consumers buying online is increasing steadily each year. In the current shopping climate, running a physical store and a webshop is a must. For terStal, both channels are important. Currently, the fashion company has 220 physical stores in the Netherlands.
"But we would like to grow further," Dominique adds. "And there is plenty of room for that. Our ambition lies in expanding the number of physical stores in the Netherlands to 300." Online, terStal no longer only sells its products in the webshop; the products are also sold through Bol's platform.
"We are constantly working to raise awareness of our products in creative ways," Dominique says. "I also don't rule out going beyond our own borders in the future." Within the growing competition, TerStal has managed to peak above its competitors. The company is continuously optimizing the customer journey.
Dominique: "Apart from our omnichannel strategy, we are always open to innovative payment solutions. Buckaroo is a good sparring partner in this that is ahead of developments within the payments industry. They keep us on our toes so that our online and offline payment strategy is (and remains) always optimized."
"Buckaroo is a valuable payment partner. Our relationship manager Sabine has been in close contact with us for years. The lines of communication are short and there is immediate interaction and cooperation if there are issues that need to be resolved. We as customers are very happy with that!"