Powered by Moneyhub’s Open Finance Payment API, the Roqqett app provides for a faster and safer alternative to traditional contact and contactless card-based payments at the point of sale (POS)
Launched in 2020 and based in the South West, Roqqett is the UK’s first socially distanced way to pay. The app helps reduce the financial impact of the pandemic on high streets - keeping people safe while they shop. Roqqett is headed up by Glenn Smith, a serial entrepreneur with more than 25 years in the financial services industry. Having built businesses and technology for UBS, Tradeweb, and Barclays, Glenn launched Roqqett to deliver a new way to shop and pay, to benefit customers and retailers alike.
Challenge
2020 was a turbulent year for the retail industry, in which many shops had to navigate ever-changing rules, bouncing between being open and closed with challenging frequency. It’s not surprising that this impacted both footfall - and customer confidence - significantly.
Research shows that just a third of adults felt comfortable going into shops amid the height of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic and footfall dropped by almost 50 per cent [ref. 1]. Whilst it’s reported that footfall is slowly on the rise, and Helen Dickinson OBE, Chief-Executive of British Retail Consortium has noted: “consumers appear to be more confident about visiting shops, showing that the safety measures put in place are clearly helping to make shoppers feel more comfortable visiting and returning to stores”, there’s still a long way to go in restoring footfall and consumer confidence to pre-pandemic levels. What’s more, social distancing measures are likely to be in place for many more months - if not years - to come, so it’s reasonable to assume that the pandemic has triggered a shift in socially-distanced shopping habits that may prove permanent.
In light of these changes - and the difficulties facing the retail industry - Roqqett was masterminded to help restore consumer confidence, offering the ability for customers to pay for goods at a safe distance (at least 2-metres) through direct-to-account payments, with no contactless limit [ref. 2]. Roqqett was designed to support the high street retailers who were hurting most: small shops have struggled to stay afloat over the recurring lockdown periods, and, as they reopen, are continually hit hard by transaction charges on card payments. Frequently, 1.75% of every card payment is lost to the companies who process transactions, with three profit takers along the way, so Roqqett aimed to reduce this to just 0.5% by cutting out the middlemen [ref. 3].
The team at Roqqett understood the technical challenges required to connect and maintain APIs to enable users to pay, move money and check balances - and appreciated they would need a partner with Open Banking pedigree to power their vision.
Solution
Joining forces, Roqqett chose Moneyhub’s simple and secure Open Banking Payment API to power the bank account payments within the app - providing a faster and safer alternative to traditional contact and contactless card-based payments at the POS. Available as a downloadable iOS or Android app, Roqqett uses cloud-based technology, and enables users to easily and securely pay shops, friends and family, and transfer funds between their bank accounts.
Using FCA regulated Open Banking technology, powered by Moneyhub, Roqqett works on any device, and with any bank, and promises to support the UK’s high streets in a post-COVID world. Using Roqqett, small and medium size retailers could potentially save nearly £3,000 a year – representing a boost of 16% to profits, given the small profit margins retailers operate with [ref. 3].
“Using Roqqett, small and medium size retailers could potentially save nearly £3,000 a year – representing a boost of 16% to profits, given the small profit margins retailers operate with.”
This saving will only grow as card payments become even more common due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, and unlike Visa and Mastercard based payments, the money is delivered instantly - so businesses don’t need to wait days to be paid.
Traditional retailers are not only the business owners who can expect to benefit from the technology, with Roqqett enabling safe, contactless payment transactions for sole traders and service providers across the country. Downloading Roqqett allows anyone to take a payment, meaning consumers can transfer payment to their mechanic, plumber or yoga teacher quickly, easily and socially distanced.
“Before choosing Moneyhub as a partner, we did an extensive audit of all UK suppliers, comparing price, technical capability, connectivity and experience - Moneyhub came out on top. After meeting the team, it was very clear that we had a genuine meeting of minds, with a shared passion to use technology to help the end consumer and retail merchants alike. Together we are pushing the boundaries of what is possible and I’m thrilled to be working with such a willing, responsive business.
”