Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Interview at EcomBalance. At EcomBalance, we’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce space.
In this exclusive interview, we interview Nick Dunse from Shuttle Global, an integrated marketplace connecting software to payment services, enabling merchants to find and use the best products available.
Nick is the self proclaimed, soon to be, most influential person in payments – well they’re his words anyway, other than his goal for fame ,he’s the Chief Revenue Officer for Shuttle, father to two children who keep him humble and busy the rest of the time.
We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an eCommerce business owner.
Connor: Hey Nick, thanks for taking the time to chat with us here. We love getting to know our partners better so that our community can benefit from what our partners are offering and doing in the industry. To get started, can you give us a high level overview of Shuttle Global and how it got started?
Nick: We started Shuttle to help connect ecommerce software and payment service providers, so that merchants could get the best possible solutions when it came to selling their products and services. We’ve since moved beyond just the technical connections and now use our understanding of the industry to help merchants discover, compare and connect payment services through our online payments marketplace.
Connor: That’s awesome! Can you dive a bit more into the products and services that you offer to help merchants find the best products for them? I’m sure our audience would love to know exactly what problems you could solve for them.
Nick: We have data on 1000 software platforms and 1000 payment service providers today and we are increasingly getting to know the market. The opportunity to accept payment is increasing quickly, which is good for organizations of all kinds. You can now accept payments via your website, in-store but also via invoice, chatbot, payment links etc… You get the idea, the list is growing and it’s all about convenience for the end customer. But when everything looks the same to a merchant, we help them shortlist the right services so they can accept payment where they need to.
Connor: Jumping off of that…if there was one problem you’d say that Shuttle Global solves best for your clients, what would it be? Why?
Nick: Aside from the best price and service, we’re really solving the ability to find services that are compatible with your current and future needs. It might be that you need card payments via your website and phone today, but tomorrow it could be Crypto via your chatbot.
Connor: As the company continues to grow over the next year, what are your plans for expansion? Any new products or offerings or enhancements to your current products?
Nick: We’re really focusing on getting the best payment services in the hands of merchants over the next year, this is alongside growing our ecosystem of connected services with our partners.
Connor: And how specifically would you say that Shuttle Global and your team is different from other similar businesses in the industry?
Nick: Well firstly, there aren’t too many similar services to ours. We are the only business that actually partners with the service providers and connects services together so that they can be used effectively. Payments is boring, but a necessary evil! And we’re helping make the process of increasing revenue opportunities easier and more transparent for merchants.
Connor: What made you decide to get involved in the payment marketplace space? What’s your starting eCommerce story? From what we’ve found, a lot of business owners in the space have fun stories of how they first started…
Nick: Personally, I’ve worked in technology and ecommerce for my entire career, so although the niche of payments comes with a lot of jargon I understood what businesses needed and their pain points. I remember working on various ecommerce sites over the years and struggling to get cost effective payment services up and running.
Connor: Love it! Talking more about the eCommerce industry, where do you see it going in the next 1-2 years? Any unique predictions that you could share?
Nick: There are a few trends at the moment, one I’ve already mentioned which is that commerce will be embedded in multiple places within business software, enabling customers to pay anywhere for anything, in videos, in chatbots, in apps etc. And that’s linked to the other move we’re seeing, specifically in the ecommerce platform market, where Composable and Headless commerce ideas are becoming accessible to smaller merchants. Those ideas really allow merchants to create their ideal ecommerce system by gluing the best of software and services together and not having to just use the one system out of the box.
Connor: Giving you an open mic for a minute, what is something you’d want the EcomBalance audience to hear?
Nick: There’s a lot of money left on the table by not using the right services to increase sales and reduce cost, but there’s also a lot more headache by continuing to use services with poor customer service or poor connectivity and those are the primary reasons merchants turn to us for help.
Connor: Changing gears a little bit…When it comes to bookkeeping and accounting, what do you think the biggest pain points for business owners are? Feel free to speak from personal experience as well.
Nick: Well, certainly from a payments perspective, a major pain point is around sales reconciliation and how to deal with payments fees. Secondly, and perhaps the most challenging pain point is poor reporting and forecasting and that’s because accounting and bookkeeping systems have been built for accountants. But you as a business owner need clear actionable insights to build your business. Take for example our work at Shuttle, we have a recurring revenue model, which in theory should be fairly easy to account for but we’re still struggling to get the reports and accounts in the right shape to help us in the right way. Or another friend who’s outgrown Xero and his current bookkeeping function, what does he do now?!
Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?
Nick: Anyone can head over to shuttleglobal.com and find our services or use our marketplace. In terms of an offer I can extend, I’d be happy to personally help anyone who needs some guidance, if you want to drop me an email [email protected]