Patrick Noij, 39, from North Holland, is a born entrepreneur. In his twenties, he founded Partywinkel.nl together with his friend Casper from his attic. Not only because they enjoyed a good party, but because they saw a business opportunity, a gap in the market. The friends regularly searched the internet for party supplies, but found the range far from inspiring. In addition, they noticed how unclear many providers were in their communication, how poorly managed their stock levels were and how long delivery times could be. Patrick and Casper decided to do things differently. And with success.
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"From attic dreams to international plans"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"The attic was soon exchanged for a warehouse with over 45 employees and a webshop that was running at full speed. Today, Partywinkel.nl is headquartered in an attractive office building in Nieuw Vennep, and more than 500 thousand party items are shipped at high speed with the help of a fulfilment partner from Dordrecht. This allows Patrick to focus more on the future of the company.
When asked about the secret behind his success, Patrick responds matter of factly: ‘Well, if you divide 18 million Dutch people by 365 days, you end up with around 50 thousand people celebrating a birthday every day. So there is guaranteed demand for party items every single day.’
"},"alignedImage":{"position":"right","transformBaseUrl":"https://assets.ing.com/transform/0c5522fd-dc2d-4cd1-adea-2245f00bf741/ING-Checkout-Partywinkel","original":"https://assets.ing.com/m/777fa17a79f5802/original/ING-Checkout-Partywinkel.jpg","extension":"jpg"}},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":""}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"All jokes aside. Running a successful business takes more than that, right?"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"A party idea is often spontaneous, so we make sure we deliver quickly and are extra easy to reach
‘Yes. We understand very well what consumers want and we have a strong sense of empathy. We quickly discovered that our customers often look for party items in the evening for the following day. Buying party supplies is often spontaneous or impulsive. After work, customers suddenly think: I have a party tomorrow, I should quickly order a few things. We knew we had to respond to that spontaneity. That meant being especially easy to reach in the evenings, offering very fast delivery times and being flexible when it comes to payment options.’
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"Why did you want to be flexible with payment options?"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"‘Everything revolves around convenience, customer friendliness and choice. From the homepage to the shopping basket and the checkout, we want to serve all our customers as well as possible, including when it comes to payments. In addition, we have a mission, which is to grow internationally. Think of Germany and Belgium. If we do not offer a wide range of payment options, we could miss out on those international revenues.’
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"Since when have you been using ING Checkout?"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"‘We switched around six months ago. Before that, we were already an ING customer, but we alternated between different payment systems. Until one of the ING sales colleagues mentioned ING Checkout. By switching, we could offer our customers more payment options, she told us. Given our international ambitions, that sounded very appealing. With ING Checkout, international customers can choose for themselves how they want to pay. That builds trust and is a major advantage.’
"}},{"componentType":"cards","cards":[{"componentType":"productCard","cardType":"product","cardSize":"small","title":"Which payment options are interesting for you?","image":{"transformBaseUrl":"https://assets.ing.com/transform/e0aef641-a888-4ede-9f87-7698eca5f2ff/safe-online-shopping","type":"image","width":118,"original":"https://assets.ing.com/m/5c3c3056972b0aa1/original/safe-online-shopping.svg","extension":"svg"},"link":{"url":"/en/business/accepting-payments/ing-checkout/online-payment-methods"}},{"componentType":"productCard","cardType":"product","cardSize":"small","title":"More about the payment solution ING Checkout","image":{"transformBaseUrl":"https://assets.ing.com/transform/9eca0f4b-16fd-45fc-85ef-19c68a95034a/ING-Checkout","type":"image","width":959,"original":"https://assets.ing.com/m/6aaf25b2756aa2b6/original/ING-Checkout.png","extension":"png"},"link":{"url":"/en/business/accepting-payments/ing-checkout"}}]},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"Extra payment options must come at a cost, right?"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"‘Ah yes, the costs, not unimportant. ING came up with a strong offer on transaction fees, and that was the deciding factor for us to make the switch. The rates are comparable to other providers such as Mollie or iDEAL, with the only difference being that you can offer your customers additional payment options.’
"}},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":""}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"Do you already notice a difference financially?"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"Far fewer customers drop out during the checkout process
‘Yes. First of all, we see that far fewer customers drop out during the checkout process. In addition, ING Checkout uses a separate intermediary account and we decide ourselves that we want the funds to be paid out to our account once a week. That is beneficial for cash flow and also interesting from an accounting perspective.’
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"What does this switch mean for the growth of Partywinkel?"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"‘It is a step in the right direction, towards becoming even more international. At the moment, the Netherlands is still our largest sales market, followed by Germany and Belgium. But we have the ambition to become the largest online party shop in Europe within five years.’
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"Patrick, do you have tips for fellow entrepreneurs? Which entrepreneurs benefit most from a system like ING Checkout?"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"‘ING Checkout is a pleasant option for entrepreneurs who operate internationally and do not want to put customers off with limited payment options. In addition, this system is ideal for online entrepreneurs who use all in one ecommerce platforms such as Shopify or BigCommerce, where different payment methods can be integrated relatively easily.’
"}},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"Do you, like Patrick and 650 other online entrepreneurs, want to grow internationally and tap into new markets? The ING Checkout consultants are happy to help you get started. Contact them without obligation and discover all the possibilities.
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"De voordelen van internationale betalingen ontvangen via ING"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"When you choose ING Checkout as your Payment Service Provider (PSP), you are choosing trust and expertise. Simple and easily arranged.
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