So Marvin isn’t replacing our current approach, it’s more like we’re adding another string to our bow. The difficulty we have with talking about what we’re working on is that until the integration has been built and tested, we can’t talk about who we’re working with. So even if we’ve got contracts signed with retailers (which we do), we can’t tell you who until everything’s been completed. The problem with this is that from the outside, it can look like things have stagnated, when the reality is that we’re hiring like crazy and there’s still not enough hours in the day to get everything done!
We wanted to talk about Marvin in the open office because it’s something that we’ve built to complement our current approach and to try to open Flux up to different types of retailers. Although the big retailers - like supermarkets - are used by more people, it’s also true that most Flux users have a favourite local coffee shop or cafe that they frequent regularly, and it’d be great to be able to offer Flux receipts there as well. Resource-wise, it’s not efficient for us to approach individual small business and build custom integrations - but by introducing Marvin, we’re allowing these businesses to on-board with Flux directly with minimal tech work required on our side.
Online retailers are interesting - they’re more likely to have the specific data we need to match transactions more readily available that a traditional bricks-and-mortar retailer, but that in itself doesn’t make building the integration any less complex. Launching with our first online retailer was super exciting for us though, and there’s definitely going to be more to come in the future
And as to your final point - sorry this is so lengthy! - on the banking side, we’re aiming to be in testing with a high street bank and to have launched with another challenger bank by the end of the year. On the retail side, we’re aiming to have another purely online retailer, another quick restaurant, and take a bigger step into fashion before the year’s out. So lots of work for us to crack on with!
I hope that’s helpful - let me know if you’ve got any questions.
We were hoping that we’d be able to announce someone at the open office, but unfortunately the timelines didn’t quite align so we ended up deciding to stay mum for now
I’m really excited about the possibility of adding the small local merchants through Marvin, as this would be hugely helpful for me. Out of interest, is there the possibility in the future that you integrate at the iZettle software level so that it is just a feature already available for anyone using iZettle (or other POS systems like SumUp, etc)?
Working directly with POS providers is a great way for us to become visible to smaller merchants and it’s something we’re definitely keen to do more of. I know we’re chatting to a few key players at the moment, so hopefully we’ll get some movement there soon. There’s also plans to open Marvin up to other POS providers as well (it’s just with iZettle right now).
How does the tracking of loyalty points work? By matching account email addresses? I cannot see any way to link the account manually, so I’m just presuming it’s this way?
That would be my main use out of this - receipts will be nice from time to time, but if this mainly saves me having to scan a loyalty card first before making a payment, then I’m all for it.
The card readers only get used a few days a year as they’re for an event, not a trading buisness, but I just wanted to get flux activated to see how well it worked.
Hey Stephen There’ll be a way for you to link manually - this is still in beta though, so only a sub-set of people have been able to access this so far. But once it’s launched, the idea is that you’ll be given the option to manually link your loyalty programmes to Flux.
I don’t have an exact timescale yet, but it’s a big focus for us and I don’t think we’re too far off rolling it out across the board.
Hope that helps - let me know if you’ve got any questions
Hey Fergus! I’ve just checked in with Filippo and Tobie who built Marvin - basically they’re still tweaking the flow and the confirmation page isn’t fully functioning, which is why you’re still seeing that same page. Your account should be set up though, so give it a test and let us know if it works We’re always keen for people to take things for a spin and try to break them - it helps us spot problems early and improve
So at the moment only Starling supports the Marvin integration, though we’d love to have Monzo integrated in the future too.
After activating your account, you won’t automatically get a receipt if you made a purchase with a Starling card - this is because we need to see a transaction first in order to identify the data we need to match. So it’s not quite a one-step process - yet!
If you want to talk through exactly how this would work, feel free to drop me a line at samantha@tryflux.com and we can go through it in more detail next week at some point
@samantha.flux are there any plans to integrate flux with an expense management system like Concur so employees can submit expense receipts to their employers automatically?
We’re really keen on finding a way to make expensing seamless for everyone involved. At the moment there’s been a lot of different options floated, like integrating with an existing expensing platform, being able to export Flux receipts in to PDF or email, and even having a central platform that you can view and download all of your receipts.
We’re aware that expensing is something that’s high on many agendas so we’re keen to find a great solution - leave it with us
There’ll be a way for you to link manually - this is still in beta though, so only a sub-set of people have been able to access this so far. But once it’s launched, the idea is that you’ll be given the option to manually link your loyalty programmes to Flux.
