Payment enablement is one of the key functions of an e-commerce platform. If a user does not have a seamless experience paying for their items in the cart, there will be lost revenue and potential future sales. IT leaders responsible for e-commerce platforms not only have to create a flawless payment process for their users, they also have to benchmark their payment platform for cost-effectiveness and innovation.
If you are in the process of evaluating a new payment platform to address changing business needs, you must consider the following five parameters for payment solutions for your e-commerce platform.
- Scalability: Scalability is the most important factor when it comes to e-commerce transactions, so you are prepared for a spike in transactions. How do you measure scalability? One quick check is the data published by payment providers about the volume of the payment interactions handled per year and its growth year over year. This data will tell you if the platform can scale to your needs. If your company is on a hypergrowth path and transactions are growing exponentially and you must cater to season-explosive demand, you are better off with industry leaders like Deluxe, an e-commerce platform that processes $37 billion in transactions per year.
- Partnerships and acceptance: A widely accepted payment solution with a breadth of partnerships will increase the reach of your e-commerce platform and provide better customization and integrations. For example, if you are thinking of expanding your business in China and need your e-commerce platform to cater to Chinese youth, you may want to consider a payment platform like Ingenico or VeriFone, which has a partnership with WeChat, the most popular and commonly used mobile payment platform in China.
- Security: During e-commerce transactions, sensitive customer information is exchanged, making security one of the most important considerations for deciding on a payment platform. Compliance with the security standards laid out by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) is a must. In addition to PCI-DSS, compliance with PA-DSS, P2PE, GDPR and CCPA certifications are also smart. Make sure the platform is compliant with the Zero Trust framework or other frameworks your enterprise follows to manage risk. Leakage of PII data is irreparable.
- Advance payment solution: When we talk about an advance-payment solution, we are talking about integration with options to pay by cryptocurrency and buy-now-pay-later options. As Generation Z enters the marketplace, they demand flexible financing options. Platforms like affirm and Klarna or other solutions that offer 0% financing can be integrated into an e-commerce platform. Cryptocurrency is increasingly accepted, and many of the next-generation shoppers have invested and made money in the crypto world. They want to pay for their goods via crypto with minimum transaction fees and a seamless transaction processing experience. Today’s consumer wants to use mobile and digital wallets to pay across channels. Having an advanced payment option is a game changer that can distinguish your e-commerce platform from the competition.
- Regional and industry focus: The payment solution industry is an early adopter of cloud and the product-as-a-service concept. In the payment industry, we are witnessing the advent of a regional and industry focus. In the last decade, many providers have built payment platforms with regional and industry capabilities that provide an edge to the e-commerce payment transaction process and customer experience. If you are in Ireland, for example, and you are building an e-commerce platform for your restaurant, you will want to consider digital payment providers like Toast that offers capabilities specifically for a restaurant operator in Ireland.
In addition to these five must-haves, we need to look at payments and fees, cost of integration and maintenance, feature comparison, industry recognition, artificial intelligence-based fraud protection tools, quality of support for issue resolution and very specific use cases that show how a solution can address the specific needs of your enterprise. Considering the competitive environment of payment solutions with providers at every stage and degree of complexity, it can be overwhelming to choose a payment platform. ISG helps companies navigate the rapidly evolving market and choose the right payment platform for their e-commerce platform. Contact us to find out how we can help.
