Powering club membership with ClubCollect

ClubCollect simplifies the complex world of member administration by making it easy for clubs and organisations to send payment requests and collect payments. Founded in 2013, it now powers over 1,300 organisations, processing €80 million in membership fees and subscriptions for 700,000 members.

The cloud-based platform has all the tools organisations need for powerful financial administration, handling everything from invoicing and collection of membership fees, to chasing late payments and reconciling accounts. But as the company continues to grow at lightning speed, they know they're going to face a world of payments challenges.

Creating an expansion strategy

ClubCollect initially used Adyen for all its payments but experienced a number of issues. Adyen required a cash reserve for direct debit payments, which was a cash flow issue. Adyen’s API also only permitted recurring credit card payments on preset schedules, which wasn’t flexible enough for ClubCollect’s needs.

In short, it wasn’t a scalable solution. Instead, ClubCollect decided to build a new integration with ING for direct debits. But this meant ClubCollect had to apply for its own banking license, which created a series of technical challenges – and took up valuable time.

After more complex changes to its payments infrastructure, ClubCollect approached Primer to see if we could help. As the company continues to grow, the team wants to concentrate its efforts in growing the core business, while using Primer to power everything relating to payments.

As Philip Poots, VP of Engineering says, “I want to reduce the surface area of what we're responsible for. What if a PSP changed its API, and we need to update our integration? The cost of keeping that code up to date hampers us from building out new features.” We couldn’t agree more.

Outperforming the competition

Primer gives ClubCollect control over recurring credit card payments while keeping the company PSP-agnostic. “We have complete freedom and total control of the schedule – we can bill at any point. Plus we have more flexibility and can offer a better user experience,” says Philip.

We also help ClubCollect offer its members the ability to choose the precise date when they want the bank to be charged for their instalments. And members can change the instalment date month by month, depending on cashflow. “With Adyen, we’d be locked in,” says Philip. “We wouldn’t be able to offer members the choice to do things at their convenience.”

As ClubCollect’s tech continues to outperform the competition, it has a positive effect on the bottom line for the company’s clients. “One of our clients is a huge, international fishing club with members in Aruba, Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Getting money from all those members is a huge hassle.”

Philip continues, “With Primer, we can bring on PSPs that could offer payment methods local to their region. The club will be much more professional for its members. And as payments get easier and more seamless, it’s likely that membership will increase.”

ClubCollect’s in constant contact with our engineers and product team. When the company has questions, we’re always available to help. And with Primer ensuring ClubCollect’s at the leading edge of payments developments, their team is free to concentrate on continuing its expansion into new markets.

Want to leverage payments for growth like ClubCollect? Get in touch with us.