The eCommerce industry has experienced massive growth in recent years, all thanks to its groundbreaking integration of advanced solutions, extensive customization, adaptive technology, and the convenience it provides to shoppers. The digital industry is further expected to experience exponential growth in the years to come.
This massive growth presents digital businesses with an opportunity to grow their business, but only if the payment systems and processes are optimized to meet the demands of the ever-changing consumer habits.
This article bares it all, from the digital landscape and the purchasing patterns shaping it to why an effective payment gateway is necessary, and the must-have features a payment provider should have for eCommerce businesses. Interested? Join us as we begin.
The Evolving Digital Industry
The pandemic brought about a change in buying behavior, with shoppers moving to online platforms. According to research, eCommerce sales grew by 14% in the US alone. While the lockdown restrictions have been lifted worldwide, shoppers are unwilling to return to traditional shopping patterns as they are more time consuming and less convenient. Thus, E-commerce which provides a more convenient alternative is expected to experience increased sales, contributing 22% of world retail sales by 2024.
All these indicates an increased opportunities for digital businesses and shows changing customer expectations. For instance, in a survey done on consumers, 31% say they prefer an eCommerce site with a good return policy, while 23% of respondents stated that a shopping interface that’s easy to use is essential to them. thus, while shoppers are moving online, they are moving to the ones that provide the best services.
Change in the Features of Payment Providers
The means of purchasing goods and services is experiencing an evolution too. In the eCommerce industry, the functionalities of digital payment providers are adapting not just to catch up with preferred payment methods such as debit and credit card payments, but are also bringing new, innovative, and more convenient means of payment such as Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and cryptocurrencies amongst others.
According to findings by Capgemini, the alternative payment method will make up more than 25% of the world’s digital transactions by 2025. Some payment providers, including Ecommpay, are evolving to meet customers’ expectations of foolproof security, instant settlement, and convenience. Hence, digital payment gateways must support new payment methods propelled by digitally enthusiastic customers and their unsettling payment preferences.
Must-Have Features of Payment Providers
E-commerce businesses will only provide optimal payment support when there is confidence in the capabilities of the payment processing methods. Hence, it’s important to have a payment gateway with the necessary functionalities to effectively support payment processing, regardless of the customer’s choices.
The following are key features a payment provider should have and what eCommerce businesses should look out for:
1. Real-Time Payment Processing
Brick-and-mortar businesses, including hotels and gas stations, use batch processing of payments when the total transactions are known after some time. But this isn’t an efficient system in eCommerce businesses as it ties up funds. Thus, the payment gateway in view should provide real-time payment processing. Access to immediate funds is essential for budgeting, cash management, and financial projections.
2. Support Multiple Payment Methods
Another feature to consider when choosing a payment provider is the number of payment methods it supports. Many customers use credit cards to make payments online, which will require you to sign up for a bank payment option. However, other non-bank options, such as Ecommpay, (which provides various global payment products and solutions) are popular with consumers.
Other means of payment include wire transfers, cryptocurrency, and ACH. The percentage of shoppers that use a particular payment method varies and depends on the product, the region, etc. Thus, the payment gateway to choose from should support a wide range of payment methods.
All-inclusive Dash View
A comprehensive information dashboard is important for obtaining vital insight that can help influence your business decisions. The payment gateway should offer a data console view that:
- Can provide customizable or modular tools, depending on our business model and needs
- It can give detailed information about the payment activity. But not just that, it can also provide analytical functionalities to find insights based on the payment data.
- Can provide intelligent traffic management functionalities
- Can help achieve advanced payment control and visibility
4. Recurrent Billing
Recurring billing is an essential feature of any payment provider as this will help combat revenue leakages and reduce the time spent in manual rebilling. With recurring billing, a business can:
- Meet up with compliance requirements
- Automatically adjust prices and renew contracts
- Monitor transactions through one user interface
5. Link Payment
This is another means the eCommerce platform supports consumers’ changing payment behavior. It provides an easy and convenient means for businesses to create secure payments and for consumers to pay easily.
Pay by link enables consumers to finalize their payments easily via chats, emails, and other digital outlets. With this payment feature, businesses can instantly create secure links and track payment activities through the channel from their payment dashboard, thus providing a convenient means of payment for consumers and a flexible, trackable payment method for businesses.
6. Digital Terminal
A digital or virtual terminal is an essential functionality every payment provider should have. It’s particularly essential for Telephone orders (MOTO), Mail Orders, and cardless payments, as it enables businesses to conduct real-time payments while remotely engaging customers.
Payment gateways with virtual terminals will help eCommerce businesses to:
- Receive payments from anywhere in the world
- Process payment in a compliant way
- Monitor and report transactions efficiently
- Offer more flexible payment options
Conclusion
As consumer habits continue to grow, eCommerce businesses must ensure their payment gateways are optimized to provide a seamless customer experience. These payment providers should have certain features including but not limited to automatic handling of outages, integration with third-party software vendors, integration with your existing internal applications, rebilling functionality, and pre-authorization capture, amongst others.
These features, capabilities, and functionalities will ensure a seamless customer experience and uncontrolled business growth if present in the payment provider.
