Building trust in a marketplace ecosystem

Founded in 2014, Equippo is a global marketplace for used construction equipment.

On a mission to transform the process of buying and selling used construction equipment globally, Equippo has facilitated transactions to over 140 countries, establishing a network of 130,000+ buyers and sellers.

Equippo is a one-stop solution for the heavy machinery industry by offering an end-to-end online marketplace, online auctions, and innovative Fleet Solutions web-apps. Headquartered in Switzerland, Equippo has offices in Germany, France and The Netherlands, to empower the construction industry to become more efficient and sustainable.

2014

Established

140

Countries

130,000+

Network users

Equippo’s challenge

A significant challenge for Equippo emerges in the traditional buying and selling process for used construction equipment. Buyers express the need to physically inspect machines before making payments. This creates a broken, inefficient traditional market, since very few transactions happen without the buyer traveling to see the machine at the sellers premises. Oftentimes unqualified agents visit the seller prior to payment just to verify that the goods exist, even without addressing the technical condition. Trust and payment are huge problems that contribute to an extraordinarily high level of market fragmentation.

Equippo changes this. Through detailed inspection reports, photos and test videos, buyers can buy online without traveling or using such agents. However, for online sales, many buyers still hesitated to send a pre-payment without seeing the machine while sellers expect upfront payment before delivering the machines.

Tackling these challenges internally has shown to be daunting, as it requires time and resources and diverts their attention from their primary business activities. Eventually, Equippo searched for a reliable partner with proven expertise to carry out the B2B payment process without hassle.

The solution

Sprinque’s “Buy now Pay later” solution solves this problem. By integrating Sprinque into their payment processes, Equippo can now pay suppliers first while giving buyers the flexibility to pay after 30 to 90 days, which usually is after delivery, giving the highest possible level of control to buyers. Simultaneously, the marketplace is worry-free about risk, debt collection, or using their working capital. This addresses the buyer's need to physically inspect the machine and facilitates a seamless transaction process. Sprinque's real-time fraud and risk assessment played a pivotal role in mitigating risks and ensuring the reliability of each transaction.

Some of the highlights of how Equippo benefits from Sprinque include:

Risk of Defaults Eliminated

With Sprinque's risk covering the risk of (potential) defaults, Equippo is able to extend payment flexibility to buyers without running unnecessary risks. This enhances the marketplace's trustworthiness in the marketplace ecosystem and accelerates adoption from both buyers and sellers.

European Coverage and Beyond

With Sprinque, Equippo can extend payment terms to their buyers, building trust with buyers across Europe and beyond. The effort eventually resulted in boosted sales, shorter deal cycles, and increased deals on the platform.

Working Capital Financing

As Sprinque took away all the payment and financing hassle, Equippo no longer needed to use its working capital to finance invoices, allowing it to free up resources and focus on growth.

Results

Equippo now meets buyer expectations for physical inspections and secure transactions and has more resources to focus on its global growth. Upon the first month of integration, 25% of all deals involved Sprinque, and a month later, Sprinque already covered 77% of all transactions on the Equippo platform.

25%

Sprinque covered deals

in the first month

77%

Sprinque covered deals

after one month

An Example

Bill from South Africa, who runs a specialized rental company providing mining operators heavy equipment in the North Western province, had long been wanting to benefit from the lower European price level but struggled to find an easy and trustworthy way to purchase from Europe. Once he had the import permission in place, he was able to order a suitable unit in a direct online transaction from a French rental company, via the Equippo marketplace. It was as easy as checking the shipping rates on Equippo’s website, placing an online order and selecting Sprinque as his payment option. Now, Bill is able to enjoy the benefit of a lower price point, and can pay easily after physically inspect his orders.