Why Offering More Payment Channels is Vital to Business Growth?

Consumers now have access to many more payment methods than was thought possible 10 years ago.

Now instead of just cards and cash, customers can use e-wallets, direct bank transfers, or even flexible payment schemes. These alternative payment methods (APMs) have become increasingly popular with customers.

As a business owner, failing to cater to changing consumer demand is a recipe for disaster and a merchant that gets left behind risks losing out.

Today we look at the importance of continually upgrading your payment channels and the benefits of doing so.

Offering multiple payment channels ensures that you can meet the payment requirements of your target market. This gives them a sense of convenience which is critical for converting visitors into paying customers.

Of course, this is easier said than done, especially if your business has an international audience.

So, the first thing to do is start tracking where most of your customers are coming from. The information you gather can then be used to localise your payment infrastructure to match your customer's requirements.

Once you've done that, start studying local payment trends to better understand what's going on. This will help you refine your market strategy and improve penetration rates.

Remember: your objective as a business owner is to streamline the customer's journey as much as possible.

Security is a significant concern for anyone shopping online, and it's easy to see why.

After all, you're handing over your credit card and banking details to a stranger on the internet. What assurances do you have that such sensitive information is handled in a safe and trustworthy manner?

Chances are, there are no provisions in place to protect you. And this is why merchants must offer multiple payment methods.

Giving customers a variety of choices inspires confidence, and it also sends a message that your brand is a safe and reputable one that they can trust. And this, in turn, attracts more customers and builds up repeat business from your existing base.

This concept also works for merchants operating brick-and-mortar outlets where customers may not feel comfortable paying with a debit or credit card due to security concerns. And so, they may instead prefer to use APMs such as e-wallets or RTPs.

By ensuring that you have the infrastructure in place to accept APMs, the customer's overall shopping experience is improved. And this is something that can influence their decision to continue shopping with you.

Cart abandonment occurs when a customer drops a purchase during the checkout process. It is pretty uncommon in the brick-and-mortar sector but is a relatively common occurrence for e-commerce businesses.

There are many reasons for cart abandonment, but the most common include:

As you can see, issues related to payment make up the main reasons why customers abandon their purchase partway through a sale. Besides being frustrating, this phenomenon costs businesses an estimated $18 billion in sales yearly.

One simple but effective way to overcome this challenge is by increasing your business's payment channels. That way, customers can choose an option that works for them when completing the sale, thus reducing cart abandonment rates.

Increasing payment channels also works for physical retail outlets looking to speed up the checkout process. Providing support for APMs allows customers to make payments via QR code quickly while ensuring that customers don't have to struggle with credit/debit cards. All of which makes for shorter queues and more efficient payment.

The mCommerce or mobile commerce market has massive potential for growth. For example, research indicates that the mCommerce sector in Malaysia is set to overtake the eCommerce market by 2023.

Mobile optimized websites are well and good, but merchants must also provide customers with mobile-friendly payment solutions. Card-based payments are too cumbersome for mobile shoppers as their purchases are made on mobile devices.

All of this has made alternative payment methods popular with mobile shoppers. Rather than having to whip out their cards, customers can easily use a preloaded e-wallet to complete the transaction. This is why a business that fails to cater for APMs will probably fail to leverage the mCommerce revolution.

Besides being exceptionally convenient, many e-wallets have reward programs that offer cash backs or a point system that allows them to redeem discounts. This is why we expect to see a rise in popularity of these payment methods in the days to come.

So, how can you offer your customers a more diverse range of payment solutions while keeping operations costs manageable?

The answer is simple.

With XanPay, you get a one-size fits all payment platform compatible with APMs from more than 10+ countries throughout Asia Pacific. More importantly, XanPay has zero fixed fees and only requires you to pay for what you use, thus letting you keep operational costs low.