Payments company Stripe has struck a deal with Ford that will mean its technology is used to grow the carmaker's e-commerce capabilities.
The five-year deal will enable Ford's financial services arm, Ford Credit, use Stripe's infrastructure to grow its capabilities in Europe and north America. It will support Ford in processing online payments for consumer vehicle orders and reservations, offering dealers an improved payment acceptance system, and also process digital payments more efficiently.
"Stripe's platform will help us deliver simpler, outstanding payment experiences in any channel customers choose and scale improvements faster," said Ford Motor Credit Company chief executive Marion Harris.
Decisions
“As part of the Ford-plus plan for growth and value creation, we are making strategic decisions about where to bring in providers with robust expertise . . . Stripe has developed strong expertise in user experiences that will help provide easy, intuitive and secure payment processes for our customers.”
Stripe also will enable Ford Pro FinSimple solutions for commercial customers. And Ford will have access to services such as Stripe Connect to grow new services that require a robust e-commerce system. Using Stripe Connect, Ford will be able to facilitate payments to a local Ford or Lincoln dealer.
“In the coming years Stripe will play a crucial role in Ford’s digital transformation . . . across Europe and the US,” said Eileen O’Mara revenue and growth lead EMEA at Stripe.
Rollout of the technology is expected to begin in the second half of the year.
Transformation
"We're thrilled to be the payments engine under the hood powering the next stage of Ford's digital transformation," said Mike Clayville, chief revenue officer at Stripe. "During the pandemic, people got comfortable paying online for groceries, healthcare, even home haircut advice from barbers. Now, they expect to be able to buy anything and everything online. Ford is making e-commerce possible, too, and scaling that strategy with Stripe's help."
The carmaker is the latest company to collaborate with Stripe, with Shopify, Salesforce, HubSpot and Deliveroo among those using its infrastructure.
The company was founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison in 2009, employs more than 1,000 people globally and handles billions of dollars in transactions each year.
