The evolving role of payments

With an ever sharpening focus on the role of payments in-store and online, we wanted to share the key takeaways from a recent member meeting.

Clear themes emerged from our partners Adyen:

All retailers recognise the importance of offering the right payment methods but face very different challenges in terms of conflicting change priorities as to why these are not always easy to implement.

Partnership with your payment partner was fundamentally important to all retailers as it was felt that the payment provider should guide and advise the retailer on what to do in order to grow and remain agile.

Consolidation of payment providers is essential if the IT back-end is to be simplified and the change process made easier.

Many retailers still acknowledge that payment as a decision point is still too dispersed across most organisations. As a result, this can make change processes slow and convoluted.

Takeaways from the retailers:

PSD2

PSD2 is not just for finance and IT teams to worry about; the Customer Experience team also needs to be aware and trained on it too.

It is best to have the same payment solution, both online and in-store

Payment needs to be thought of as an integral part of the customer journey, and not as an afterthought. Unified payments reduce customer friction. Focus on creating a flawless experience online and in-store by offering the customer the method that they expect to see.

Integration of payment methods is key

Connected customers’ preferred payment methods that work for your platform and business setup. The more the merrier! Be aware of the rise of ecosystems (WeChat) vs payment (PayPal) methods. Importance of tailoring payment methods to Chinese consumers.

Quick payment methods increase conversion

Payment should be seen as a service. Providing a payment method that the customer is not comfortable with or takes too long to execute can result in sale abandonment. Using customer profile data to know your customer and provide payment methods that work for them is key – platform providers can provide consumer data/ insight.