Behind every transaction there are multiple players working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure payments are being made quickly, correctly, and securely. However, with this there remains the possibility of error and/or additional time added to the transaction, leaving the customer with a poor experience and make them potentially less likely to return. Additionally, multiple failed transactions can ultimately prove costly for retailers over time.
Therefore, it is important for retailers to understand how they can take the hassle out of managing payment processing, so they are free to focus their attention on providing quality goods and services to their loyal customers.
Advanced acquiring: Providing flexibility for retailers
Advanced acquiring solutions offer many benefits to retailers, including consolidated reporting, security, control, and transparency, as well as an 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 to the transaction acquirer. The result is an end-to-end seamless payment solution with simplified integration and certification processing, with eased reconciliation and fast settlement for retailers. Critically, advanced acquiring offers increased flexibility for retailers.
When it comes to cross border capabilities, retailers and brands typically need a local bank account and contract in order to accept local scheme payments. However, advanced acquirers are able to handle this centrally. For those that want to expand internationally, this means that they can easily accept payments in foreign territories without the stress of managing the process. Retailers can access more than 160 transaction currencies and 21 settlement currencies, as well as quick settlements from D+1. Moreover, by utilising a gateway that resurrects transactions with the most competitive acquirer for each payment scheme, it ensures a low fee for each transaction.
With this type of solution, everything is housed under one roof, meaning all merchant payment needs can be serviced, providing one expert point of contact. This makes the process as seamless as possible and ensures 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.
Consolidating all this information in a single, comprehensive view via an end-to-end solution is a key asset for retailers, providing them with full visibility over their processes. This 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.
Finally, with security a bigger concern than ever before, this must be integrated into the technology 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.
Time to prioritise payments
Advanced acquirers must empower retailers to provide the best service they can to their customers, both online and in store. Key to this is making the payments process as simple and scalable, thus enabling businesses to remove added complexity, process all transactions whatever the channel, reduce risk and fraud, and improve the overall user experience.
This increases not only cost savings but also profitability by boosting sales and conversion rates. Therefore, instead of trying to do it all themselves, retailers should prioritise partnering with a competitive acquiring provider who can do this for them with full visibility over the payments process empowering them to manage costs effectively, thereby increasing room for profit and growth.
To find out more, visit www.ingenico.co.uk/omnichannel
About the Author
Marc Docherty, Head of UK Acquiring / Large – Strategic Business, Ingenico, a Worldline brand
Marc Docherty is Head of UK Acquiring / Large – Strategic Business, Ingenico, a Worldline brand. With more than 20 years’ experience working for blue-chip organisations within the banking and payments sector, including Bank of Scotland, RBS, Barclaycard, AMEX and Visa, Marc’s expertise lies in business banking, factoring and invoice discounting, and cross border payments. He also has extensive experience in acquiring, having focused on the large corporate sector across the UK and Europe for several years.
Marc is passionate about driving solutions that deliver real value to customers whilst helping organisations reduce complexity and enhance the customer experience by providing a complete end-to-end payment solution.
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About Worldline
Worldline [Euronext: WLN] is the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry and #4 player worldwide. With its global reach and its commitment to innovation, Worldline is the technology partner of choice for merchants, banks and third-party acquirers as well as public transport operators, government agencies and industrial companies in all sectors. Powered by over 20,000 employees in more than 50 countries, Worldline provides its clients with sustainable, trusted and secure solutions across the payment value chain, fostering their business growth wherever they are. Services offered by Worldline in the areas of Merchant Services; Terminals, Solutions & Services; Financial Services and Mobility & e-Transactional Services include domestic and cross-border commercial acquiring, both in-store and online, highly-secure payment transaction processing, a broad portfolio of payment terminals as well as e-ticketing and digital services in the industrial environment. In 2019 Worldline generated a proforma revenue of 5.3 billion euros. worldline.com