• Marc Docherty, Head of UK Acquiring / Large - Strategic Business at Ingenico, a Worldline brand


• 02.12.2020 10:45 pm
e-commerce

Behind the scenes of any transaction there are many different players working to make sure the payment is made swiftly, correctly, and securely. However, with a multitude of different providers at each stage, this can be prone to errors or additional time added to the transaction, leaving the customer with a poor experience and less likely to return for repeat sales. At the same time, multiple failed transactions could ultimately mean a big loss in revenue for retailers over time.

Such businesses are already hard pushed for time and resources as they focus on ensuring their business not only survives but thrives. So, how can they take the hassle out of managing payments processing, freeing up the merchant to focus their attention on providing quality goods and services to their loyal customers?

By providing a complete offer from acceptance, gateway, advanced acquiring services enabling a complete and powerful omnichannel approach, retailers can benefit from a seamless payment experience, ensuring transactions are managed safely, quickly and smoothly.

Providing flexibility for retailers with advanced acquiring

Many providers profess to offer full-service end-to-end payment capabilities, but few can actually achieve it. The benefit for retailers of those vendors that do have these capabilities is that they get the value from revolutionary technologies, whether that’s consolidated reporting, security control and transparency, or improved service for their customers.

True acquirers can provide competitive rates for each transaction made, along with a centralised payment gateway that will handle omnichannel payment transactions from the point of sale (PoS) to the transaction acquirer. This results in an end-to-end seamless payment solution with simplified integration and certification processing, along with eased reconciliation, and fast settlement for retailers.

Multiplication of payment methods requires a partner able also to process and centralise all these payment methods into the same platform and provide clear monitoring, improving time spent on admin. It’s for this reason that the solution provides not only acceptance but also payments processing. Critically, this type of advanced acquiring offers increased flexibility for retailers, including:

Cross boarder capabilities

Retailers and brands typically need a local bank account and contract to be able to accept local scheme payments. However, advanced acquirers will be able to handle this centrally. This means that for those that want to expand internationally, they  can easily accept payments in foreign territories without the stress of managing the process, accessing more than 160 transaction currencies and 21 settlement currencies, as well as quick settlements from D+1.

Pricing controls

By having access to a gateway that resurrects transactions with the most competitive acquirer for each payment scheme, it ensures a low fee for each transaction. This is key for retailers at a time when it has never been more important to lower costs and protect their bottom line.

Seamless payments

With this type of solution, it is all housed under one roof, meaning all merchant payment needs can be serviced, providing one expert point of contact, making the process as seamless as possible. This adds to a positive experience for the customer. The platform scales automatically, enabling retailers to deal with large card volumes at any given time. Operated as a managed service, this will significantly optimise acquiring costs, as well as by centralising transactions, simplifying installations, maintenance and international updates, in addition to the guaranteed availability of the entire system.  

Consolidated reporting

Consolidating all this information in a single, comprehensive view via an end-to-end solution to cover all payments needs both in-store and online is a key asset for retailers, providing them with full visibility over their processes. This seamless way of operating also ensures all payments are completed through an effective and easy to manage reconciliation process with detailed IC++ reporting, along with an API layer for real time reports.

Pairing security with customer experience

With security a bigger concern than ever before, this must be integrated into the technology seamlessly so as to avoid negatively affecting the customer journey while respecting its state-of-the-art security process. By simplifying the process, this will result in a faster, secure, and seamless payments process.

Making Payments a Priority

​When you offer a service to retailers, you aim to empower them to offer the best service they can to their customers, both online and in store. For us that means making the payments process as simple and scalable for both. Therefore, our full-service solution is a modular offering that addresses their needs for a more unified experience, including acceptance, payment gateway and acquiring. This allows businesses to remove added complexity, process all transactions whatever the channel, reduce risk and fraud, and improve the user experience. Key to this is that it brings cost savings and maximises profitability by​ increasing sales and conversion rates.

That’s why, instead of trying to do it all themselves, they should make it a top priority to partner with a competitive acquiring provider who can do it for them. If the process you provide gives customers the convenience and speed they’re looking for, they are more likely to turn into repeat customers because they’ve had a good experience with your business before, whether that’s in-store or online.

For retailers, having full visibility over the payments process will empower them to manage costs effectively, thereby increasing room for profit and growth.

To find out more, visit www.ingenico.co.uk/omnichannel