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Ford hopes to use Stripe’s online infrastructure to develop new payment services in North America and Europe
Stripe has made a deal to be the premier payment service provider for Ford Motor Company and its dealers across North America and Europe.
The two companies have signed a five-year agreement to transform Ford’s e-commerce and payments infrastructure.
The auto company plans to utilise products such as Stripe Connect, which helps facilitate purchases between third-party buyers and sellers. It will use Connect for payments between customers and local Ford and Lincoln dealers.
Stripe will also work with Ford’s Pro FinSimple financing to improve payment services for commercial customers.
“Stripe’s platform will help us deliver simpler, outstanding payment experiences in any channel customers choose and scale improvements faster,” said Marion Harris, CEO of Ford Credit, the financial services arm of Ford Motor Company.
Ford said that Stripe’s services are expected to drive new efficiency in processing e-commerce payments in areas such as vehicle ordering, reservations and digital and charging services. Roll-out of Stripe technology is expected to begin in the second half of 2022, starting in North America.
“During the pandemic, people got comfortable paying online for groceries, healthcare, even home haircut advice from barbers,” Stripe’s chief revenue officer, Mike Clayville, said. “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.”
Eileen O’Mara, revenue and growth lead for EMEA at Stripe, added that the payments company will “play a crucial role” in Ford’s digital transformation in the coming years by enabling new e-commerce options for customers and dealers.
Companies big and small have turned to Stripe’s infrastructure to power e-commerce growth including Shopify, Salesforce, HubSpot and Deliveroo.
Stripe, founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, has been rolling out more services that go beyond the payments processing it was originally built on. This has ranged from tax tools to card issuing services, and it has also become a frequent investor in fintech in recent years.
Ford, meanwhile, is showing strong stock growth as its market cap topped $100bn for the first time ever last week. This was fuelled by its recent announcement that it plans to increase production of electric vehicles.
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