Challenge

For B2B marketplaces, payments usually mean complexity. Unlike with B2C transactions, which are generally paid immediately, business buyers expect extended payment terms – 30, 60 or even 90 days. Managing these expectations, along with the need for flexible invoicing and credit options, adds layers of operational difficulty to any B2B platform.

Based in Paris, Ankorstore navigated these complexities as it scaled internationally. Soon after its 2019 launch, Ankorstore quickly established a presence in 28 European countries.

From the start, the company had to manage complex multi-party transactions at scale, support local payment preferences across Europe, streamline merchant onboarding and handle compliance. As it grew, new challenges emerged: optimising payments performance, preventing fraud, managing subscriptions for a paid membership programme and launching its own B2B payment solution – all with limited internal resources.

Solution

Ankorstore built its entire payment infrastructure on Stripe, using Stripe Connect as the core of its multi-party payment system. Connect enabled the company to make international payouts to brands, with Stripe managing compliance requirements including Know Your Customer (KYC) verification for sellers. The company combined hosted and embedded onboarding flows to efficiently onboard thousands of brands with limited manual intervention.

"Stripe Connect is really core to our business model," said Christophe Bertrand, director of payment and OrderPay at Ankorstore. "It enables us to process the payments on one side and then handle all the payouts to our sellers very smoothly."

To address trust and security needs, Ankorstore implemented Stripe Identity to streamline merchant verification, ensuring brands can onboard quickly while maintaining security standards. The company also deployed Stripe Radar with targeted fraud protection rules, like blocking cards from outside the European Union, where the vast majority of Ankorstore's buyers are located.

For its diverse European customer base, Ankorstore used Stripe Payments to support a wide range of local payment methods. By integrating options such as PayPal and Google Pay, plus country-specific solutions like iDEAL in the Netherlands and Bancontact in Belgium, Ankorstore ensured that retailers and brands could pay and get paid using the methods they trust most in their local markets.

Several years after its Payments launch, Ankorstore partnered with Stripe's professional services team for a four-week integration review advisory. The team conducted a deep analysis of the company's setup to update its integration and ensure Ankorstore was using Stripe as effectively as possible to maximise authorisation rates.

In 2023, Ankorstore launched Ankorstore Plus, its paid membership programme for retailers, using Stripe Billing to manage recurring monthly subscriptions. The programme offers tiered benefits including free shipping, extended 90-day payment terms and discounts for retailers who meet a spending threshold. As part of Stripe's integrated product suite, Billing seamlessly managed the recurring billing for these memberships with minimal maintenance requirements, allowing Ankorstore to focus on programme growth and member acquisition.

In 2024, Ankorstore developed OrderPay in France, a white-labelled payment solution that extends beyond the company's marketplace to support brands' direct B2B sales. Built on the existing Stripe infrastructure that powers Ankorstore's marketplace, OrderPay offers the same payment processing and money-movement capabilities. By using Payment Links, OrderPay combines order placement and invoicing, allowing clients to pay immediately by card or choose 30-day payment terms.

Results

Ankorstore achieves double-digit GMV growth across 28 countries

With Stripe, Ankorstore has maintained double-digit gross merchandise value (GMV) growth, even in challenging retail conditions. By supporting local payment preferences in each market, Payments drives strong conversion rates across all 28 European countries where Ankorstore operates.

OrderPay, a new B2B payment solution, launches in 6 weeks and achieves 50% month-on-month growth

Ankorstore launched OrderPay in just six weeks by using the same payment processing setup, the same Stripe account and the exact same infrastructure it had already built with Stripe.

"We were able to launch the solution in a month and a half because we leveraged our existing integration with Stripe Connect," said Bertrand.

Since its launch, OrderPay has achieved 50% month-on-month growth. It now represents approximately 10% of Ankorstore's total transaction volume, opening an entirely new revenue stream for the company.

Targeted payment optimisations lead to measurable improvements in authorisation rates and fraud prevention

Stripe professional services provided Ankorstore with their review findings, including recommended optimisations to improve the company's authorisation and block rates, fraud, disputes, and more. After implementing the optimisations, Ankorstore saw its auth rate skyrocket.

"The feedback we had from our tech and product team was that the analysis and the recommendations were of very high quality and helped us progressively improve our integration with Stripe," said Bertrand.

With a team of just four, Ankorstore now processes hundreds of millions of euros through its payments infrastructure

Ankorstore operates with just four non-technical staff focused on payments, financing and fraud, plus a technical squad that works part-time. This lean operation is possible thanks to Connect's efficient payout capabilities, Billing's automated subscription management and Identity's streamlined merchant verification, combined with Stripe's no-code tools, developer-friendly APIs and comprehensive documentation that minimises ongoing maintenance requirements.