Incu & Adyen: Using payment technology to open up new sales channels

Incu is a boutique Australian fashion retailer known for stocking fashion-forward Australian and international labels. With a diverse customer base, Incu utilises novel marketing approaches, including interactive selling on Chinese messaging service, WeChat, to engage its Mandarin-speaking customers. Store staff use the app to provide product updates and answer sizing and styling questions, with customers encouraged to finalise their purchases through in-store point of sale, or via direct transfer.

When faced with temporarily shuttering stores due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, Incu needed a secure way for these customers to complete purchases during their WeChat conversations with individual sales assistants. It turned to us for a solution, with Pay by Link recommended and rolled out within two weeks.

Like all retailers, Incu faced a new set of challenges as stores went into lockdown – including accepting secure payments from their WeChat-using customers. According to CEO Douglas Low, Pay by Link proved a lifeline for the company.

“Customers can make a purchase through a payment link from home and arrange delivery, or walk by our stores to collect their items. Pay by Link has delivered promising results – it has helped us to maintain the same level of sales from our WeChat customer base as pre-shutdown,” Low said.

While the past few months have been challenging, Incu has used it as an opportunity to digitise and optimise its digital presence and payments systems. From fast-tracking an update to its online store, to introducing Pay by Link, Incu has moved quickly to digitise and adapt to the new normal – and this has brought unexpected benefits. It had previously ceased accepting phone orders due to the risk of fraud. However, the introduction of Pay by Link has meant stores can now reinstate such purchases.

Pay by Link will be a key component of Incu’s digital-focused strategy moving forward, particularly for customers that might be wary of going out in public or are looking for ways of shopping which provide greater flexibility and less contact points – such as home delivery or walking by Incu’s stores to collect pre-purchased items.