Member Exclusive, Payments

Zuora updates its platform with ‘unified monetization’

  • The new tool lets merchants package a one-time purchase and a recurring purchase within a single offering.
  • Unified monetization could help Zuora appeal to companies that rely mostly on one-time purchases for their revenue stream, but could see subscription offerings as a way to expand.
close

Email a Friend

Zuora updates its platform with ‘unified monetization’

Zuora is a subscription software company that enables businesses to launch and manage their own subscription services. 

Zuora became a unicorn back in 2018 and has continued to grow since. For its fiscal 2021 Q4 earnings report, the company reported a total revenue increase of 13% year over year. Its subscription revenue, meanwhile, reached $65 million, increasing by 19% since last year.

Zuroa has some pretty big-name merchants using its platform, as well -- including Zoom, Schibsted, Ford, S&P Global, Schneider Electric, and Zendesk, among others.

Zuora’s services surround tracking, managing, and enabling subscription services:

  • Billing allows merchants to price and package plans in recurring, one-time, or use-based pricing models. They can also automate the revenue recognition process, and make sure the data complies with audit requirements.
  • Collect encompasses Zuroa’s payment collection software to support different payment gateways, as well as AI technology that analyzes transaction characteristics and finds the best retry schedule for each customer, and a payment method updater that helps prevent card failures.
  • Zuora’s central platform allows for integration with existing infrastructure, and is designed to be malleable to fit specific challenges or opportunities unique to the merchant. Real-time analytic tools are also included on the platform.
  • Zuora Revenue automates and manages the revenue cycle in line with compliance requirements. It also provides real-time insights into trends and revenue sources.

Adding a unified monetization solution 

A couple of weeks ago Zuora launched its new unified monetization solution as part of its billing services.

The tool allows companies to monetize one-time purchases together with subscription based products.

The company describes the new tool as ‘anything-as-a-service’. Examples the company gives for how this product would look in action include:

  • Unifying video streaming with live event tickets through content-as-a-service
  • Combining electric car purchase with electric vehicle charging services through mobility-as-a service
  • Offering virtual meeting licenses together with web camera and installation services through telecommunications -as-a-service  

SPONSORED

As the subscription economy expands, unified monetization could help Zuora appeal to a new merchant base

Subscription business revenue has grown by 437% in under a decade, according to a survey by Zuora. The subscription business revenue is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 68%, during the forecast period 2019-2025, according to a report by WiseGuy Research Consultants.

And Zuora is not a lone wolf in subscription services. 

Recharge serves 15,000 merchants and enables subscriptions for 35 million customers. Last year, the company saw 91% growth in merchant subscribers and revenue growth of 136%. During its series B funding, it raised $227 million. The startup is now valued at $2.1 billion.

Meanwhile, other companies are tapping into the game without subscription being their primary definer. Stripe, PayPal and Square, as examples, offer subscription payments as an option on their payments menu, in addition to other things.

Products like Zuora’s unified monetization solution could appeal to new types of merchants -- the ones that rely heavily on their one-time purchases, but could potentially be interested in adopting subscription services to gain a new revenue stream. 

“Now, product-centric organizations can protect the infrastructure investments they’ve already made and use these products as a conduit for new services,”  said Sri Srinivasan, Zuora’s chief product and engineering officer. “Subscription natives can also expand their services to enhance their ongoing customer relationships, such as with hardware or professional services options.”

What’s next for Zuora

On May 25, Zuora acquired the property assets of Live Objects, a platform that helps companies understand complicated business processes through the use of AI.

According to Srinivasan, the acquisition is part of the company’s future plan to leverage AI to improve and customize services to fit different companies’ unique needs.

Zuora also has goals to improve its central platform to make it more scalable and malleable -- specifically for companies just dipping into the subscription services.

0 comments on “Zuora updates its platform with ‘unified monetization’”

Outlier OpinionsMakers

Lending, Payments

Can lenders improve the financial health of consumers through design?

  • Design can play a critical role in improving consumers' financial health when it comes to lending.
  • Research by the Financial Health Network shows that areas like defaults, making payments, and borrowing the right amount can be significantly improved through behavioral design principles, to ensure customers make decisions that improve their financial well-being.
Rabab Ahsan | May 26, 2023
Payments

5 questions with Zip CEO Larry Diamond

  • Payment act as a beachhead for financial services firms to more deeply serve customers, according to Zip's Larry Diamond.
  • We spoke to the payment firm's CEO about his new focus on the US and the future of the company.
Zachary Miller | May 15, 2023
Payments

Microsoft brings payments for businesses on Teams

  • Microsoft has collaborated with Stripe and PayPal to enable in-app payments for small businesses on Teams.
  • Connecting or signing up for one service – Stripe or PayPal – is required to set up the Teams Payments app, with support for GoDaddy in the cards.
Sara Khairi | May 11, 2023
Payments

Tokenization, programmable payments, inclusion: Unpacking near-term trends in the payments ecosystem

  • Very little appears to be staying the same where the payments industry stands in 2023 compared to where it’s headed in the next few years.
  • Tokenization beyond cards, borderless rails, credit for the underbanked, and the proliferation of payment acceptance options are some of the near-term trends in the payments ecosystem, suggests a new Mastercard report.
Sara Khairi | May 10, 2023
Payments

As Amazon Pay now offers Citi Flex Pay, will it help Amazon close the gap with PayPal?

  • Amazon has partnered with Citi Flex Pay to offer eligible card members the ability to pay over time at merchants who accept Amazon Pay.
  • Will gaining access to Citi's card network enable Amazon Pay to gain an edge over competitors like PayPal?
Rabab Ahsan | May 05, 2023
More Articles