As Worldpay‘s Chief Marketing Officer, James Frost has played a crucial role in developing the new My Business Hub.

My Business Hub is more than just a traditional electronic point-of-sales system. It‘s a smart way to take payments, print receipts and reconcile the day‘s sales.

Operated by a detachable tablet, it lets small businesses take payments over the counter, or anywhere on your shop floor via wifi. It‘s fast and intuitive to use, while freeing up time by automating cash and card reconciliations.

The Retail Gazette spoke to James Frost to find out more.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background before Worldpay.

Throughout my career, I have always held marketing and branding roles. Prior to Worldpay, I worked for three years as marketing director for the Nectar loyalty card scheme.

Before this, I was responsible for product innovation and marketing at Unilever as its European brand director for its detergents brands.

Looking back over my career, two highlights spring to mind. While I was at Unilever I remember being involved in creating a TV advert in Hollywood with David Lynch. Another big highlight for me was being part of the team when Nectar exceeded 19 million active users.

What got you into the retail sector in the first place?

I love the excitement of retail and the pace at which things get done is a thrill.

Retail touches everyone – people shop every day, so what we do offers consumers and retailers a real benefit.

At Worldpay, we provide the technology which allows businesses of all sizes to sell more to their customers by accepting card payments, be it in-store, online, via mail or telephone, or on the move.

As well as payment processing technologies, Worldpay also has a suite of small business solutions available, such as My Business Hub, which is essentially a fully functional and interactive electronic point-of-sale solution. My Business Hub is designed to help UK small businesses to remain competitive in a fierce market, while offering the best level of customer service possible.

Describe your role and responsibilities as Chief Marketing Officer at Worldpay UK.

I‘m responsible for how we present Worldpay to new customers as well as overseeing the marketing and customer experience which we deliver to existing customers.

I am also a big part of the product innovation team, which ensures Worldpay continues to provide small businesses with the industry‘s most progressive, comprehensive and flexible means to take card payments.

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How has your previous experience aided your current job?

Working at Unilever gave me the foundation to understand how brands should engage and communicate with customers. In addition, my time at Nectar showed me how powerful data can be for businesses.

Bringing these skills to Worldpay was invaluable, especially as we process millions of payments every day. That information gives business owners rich insight into their business and trading patterns through analysis of their card payment history. This moves us up a level, from being a pure payments processor to a business partner that helps businesses better understand their customers and make more informed business decisions for future growth.

Worldpay‘s My Business Hub looks great. What was the inspiration behind creating it?

If you look at traditional electronic point-of-sale solutions, they tend to be expensive to install and operate. As such, the only retailers to use such solutions have been larger retailers which have the capital to invest in the technology.