Barclays announced their investment into Flux early last year, a move that was considered to be one of strengthening their partnership. Flux, a London based fintech, mainly powers itemised digital receipts, built specifically for banks with merchants in mind. In a formal announcement it was announced that Flux powered digital receipts would now be available to Barclays UK debit card holders – as an opt in within their mobile banking app. Although this came as a new announcement, this feature was actually rolled out a couple of months back.
Functionality had previously only been available within Barclays app, as an option for customers who enjoy upcoming, experimental features. Barclays said “Customers who pay using their Barclays debit card for future in store purchases will see their receipts sent automatically to their app after making a purchase. They can easily and securely view their receipts whenever they need, by tapping on the transaction”.
This crucial opt in will allow customers to maintain receipts long term, all in one safe, neat place. By partnering with challenger banks such as Monzo, and Starling, alongside Barclays, Flux will be empowered to reach more banking customers with ease. An account is easily linked to Flux’s services, with the customer’s permission, in order to receive digital receipts from Flux retail partner transactions.
While Barclays holds a minority stake, it’s important to note that corporates are especially adverse to risk. In their very early days, in fact, Flux went through the Barclays accelerator, powered by Techstars – something that doesn’t always lead to a great outcome. Flux, however, did receive a major shot in the arm toward reaching the customers of mainstream banks. This wasn’t a rushed process, and it still remains a meaningful one. Because of this growth, Flux was able to reach beyond their challenger bank partnership, and forge new opportunities with a different type of clientele.
Flux bridges the gap between fragments of information available through your mobile banking app, or monthly statement, and itemised receipt data captured at the point of sale. Founded by former employees at Revolut in 2016, Flux powers card-linked offers and loyalty schemes to allow merchants a deeper look into their point of sale analytics through anonymised, aggregated consumer behaviour data. For example, merchants will be enabled to view which of their products are best sellers in random, unique baskets, with just the touch of a button.
In order to become a standard for the item level digital receipt data interchange, Flux faces a problem. To also grow into the proprietary platform powering said standard, Flux needs the necessary bank integrations to convert into merchant sign ups, and vice versa. With Barclays going live, it’s a step in the right direction toward Flux’s overall success.