Retail and payment solutions

Is it possible to imagine a retail business without a payment system?
To successfully run any business, one of the first component to start implementing is a payment solution. It is also crucial to create a customer experience that stands out from the rest. How your clients pay, and check-out contribute to making this CX more pleasant.
In retail, a payment system manages all transactions between a brand and its customers while any purchase or refund is made. It’s one of the main components of the retail technology stack. 

How to choose the adequate payment system? What are the types of payment systems? How does a payment system contribute to customer satisfaction and retention? 

Choosing the right payment system enable success 

As expected, both the pandemic’s impact and the resulting economic environment led to significant shifts in spending patterns. Globally, the number of non-cash transactions grew by 6% from 2019 to 2020 *1. Digital-wallet, also known as electronic-wallet, is a financial application that allow you to store funds, make transactions, and track payment histories on devices like phones and tablets. Its usage surged, as consumer preferences evolved even within contactless forms. Implementing a successful payment system would definitely lead to growth and greater results.  

Before implementing any payment gateway, there are few main things to bear in mind, in order to unlock another level of customer centricity: 

• Take into consideration that your business grows, thus the payment solution needs to be scalable effortlessly. 
• Understanding customer behaviour at the POS, by a quick analysis on what method consumers use to pay, online and in-store. Should also consider how many steps a customer must take between when they decide they want to pay and when their payment is taken., making checkout easy to use, varied, secure and customized according to the demographic and buyer personas information. 
• Consider Fees and service agreement requirements from the integrator. 
• Implementation and maintenance of the system. 

As you’re making payments more convenient for customers, creating an easier and more approachable user experience. The right payment system would encourage customers to pay quickly and on time this can lead to more consistent income from significantly more customer.  

Types of retail payment systems  

Cash payment

It seems like the most classic and easy payment method yet what you may not know is that cash exchange can be considered as a type of payment solutions. It requires a whole system implementation for effective tracking. You may also need a tool for better traceability and calculation as well. While a cash payment system is cost-effective for businesses as it won’t have to pay any extra fees and it’s a go-to particularly only for low value transactions as most customers today don’t carry more than $50 cash based on a report shared by CNBC in 2019. Thus, not the ultimate solution for a retail business willing to grow.

Card payment

It’s about processing credit cards from the moment the customer makes a card payment to the moment the transaction is authorized and settled. In simple ways, when a card is present, you can swipe the card against a POS terminal (Point of Sale, A retail technology stack component). You can also scan it via a card reader. For scenarios where the card isn’t present, you can use its details to perform contactless credit card payments in-store or online and through digital payment gateways.  Through your acquiring bank or your payment solutions provider, you can use these methods to send the payment information to the credit card network. The credit card network receives the information, verifies it, and then sends its approval. When the transaction goes through, you can know right away and deliver your customers the products or services they have purchased.  Setting the example of Stripe payment solution as it’s a payment processing platform that allows you to transfer money from a customer’s bank account to your company’s account via a credit card transaction. It’s a simple way to accept payments online, with no set-up costs or monthly fees.
Payment with cards could be done off or online.

Online payment 

It’s different from a country to another, so it’s no surprise that each country will have different online payment methods they prefer to use.
However, used by more than 17 million businesses worldwide, PayPal boats that customers who use its services to checkout convert at 82% higher rates compared with other payment options. 

Other than PayPal, Amazon Pay, is another big player in the online payment space. It uses the details already stored on the shopper’s Amazon account to complete the transaction and provide a speedy checkout experience. Online retailers can certainly benefit from Amazon’s undisputed popularity. 

Mobile payment 

Mobile wallet: A secure virtual wallet that allows customers to store payment information, loyalty rewards and coupons. Popular mobile wallet apps include Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay.
Mobile wallet can be used to:
– Make in-Store payments, leaving all your cards and cash at home and all needed transactions and payment could be simply by scanning your card in your phone.
– Or make e-Commerce payments, customers can checkout online using a mobile wallet wherever the preferred app is accepted. 

Mobile payment is subverting the structure of traditional payment. According to the 2014 payment system general operation status released by China’s central bank there were 452.4 billion mobile payment transactions reaching more than 2.3 billion users of mobile payment in 2020*2 and expected to reach 4.8 billion by 2025.

What to expect from a payment solution provider

Now that we’ve discovered the anatomy of payment systems, known that the competition among these companies remains strong. A Payment solution provider better ensure:  

An increasing conversion

Reduce payment friction and provide an effortless checkout experience that will keep your customers coming back again and again. Mobile optimized, with no redirects and smart data tools to drive higher authorizations rates and a seamless 3DS2 authentication ensuring a reduction in chargebacks, you can get the most out of every transaction. 

Reduce Fraud

Minimize fraud and maximize conversions. Offer more secure ways of processing card data, and reduce the scope of your PCI burden, by using secured fields at your checkout. 

Global Reach

Let shoppers pay the way they want, anywhere in the world, and add new payment methods to your checkout with the flip of a switch. Supports all popular payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Interac, iDEAL, Boleto, and everything in between. No new contracts or bank account required. Your payment system as an asset. 

Here’s an example of two big payment solutions providers:. 

Adyen payments

Adyen is a Dutch omnichannel payment processing company that provides merchants with multiple ways to accept payments on a single platform. Its payment services include a payment gateway for online payment, point-of-sale for in person transactions and integration abilities for an app or
mobile payment. It’s a full-stack gateway, its platform manages the entire payment flow — from the moment the customer hits “Pay” to settling the amount in a merchant’s account, and it counts prominent merchants like Microsoft and Spotify as clients. 

Stripe 

Headquartered in San Francisco and Dublin, Stripe has become the world’s 6th largest unicorn at a $35.3 billion valuation*3, it offers a variety of financial software products and several free services (such as refunds) for which PayPal charges transaction fees. Stripe also makes it easy for merchants to update their payment platforms using just a few lines of code, whether you’re creating an e-commerce store, a subscription service, an on-demand marketplace, or a crowdfunding platform, Stripe’s meticulously designed APIs and unmatched functionality help you create the best possible product for your users. 

Both solutions are Salesforce partners, a Timsoft partner. 

How does a payment system contribute to customer satisfaction ? 

One of the best ways to meet the increased demands of your customer is to provide them with plenty of payment solutions. It’s no surprise that customer expectations for speed, ease of use and variety of choice at the checkout page on your site are on the rise once again.
Convenient payment options, communication and flexibility can go a long way to improving the customer satisfaction. It is common among businesses to use credit cards since this method helps to mitigate loss aversion and direct the user’s focus on the actual value received and some other retailers tend to remove the PIN from card purchases in the aim to speed up the payment process and not to confuse the customers. Still different customers prefer using different payment methods. Though by expanding the number of payment options you’re responding to most of your customers payment habits and preferences.  

In addition to cash, credit and debit cards, you may want to consider accepting ACH, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay or PayPal.
Every step of the purchase process matter and need to be easy to use and quick especially payment if you’re considering implementing a customer centric mindset and aiming to grow. 

The payment service market is very competitive with so many brands. Unless you’re developing your own retail, payment solution or going for only cash payment methods. You can get in touch with our experts to choose wisely which payment methods suits best your business. Timsoft Group supports retailers to design and implement the best IT ecosystem. Our +40 retail consultants ensure a high level of post go-live support to maintain and improve your retail technology stack. 

Sources 
*1: The 2021 McKinsey Global Payments Report 
*2: Ant Group, Bloomberg, Mordor Intelligence, Worldpay 
*3: insiderintelligence.com