Ways Payment Providers Can Prepare their Merchants for the New eCommerce Front

Wednesday, April 28th, 2021

While market analysts saw e-commerce exponential potential even pre-pandemic, COVID-19 came and escalated everything. Now, the entire world depends entirely on it even as nations open borders after months of travel and stay-indoor restrictions. 

To survive, payment providers and their merchants must adapt to the new business environment and thrive to meet new shopper expectations. So what does 2021 mean for payment services and the businesses they serve. 

The 3 Primary Changes to Observe

As the year unfolds, the payment sector must anticipate these three changes.

• Firstly, payment enablers must shift to an all-inclusive role to meet changing consumer & retailer needs. 
• Next, with increased competition and changing expectations,  payment enablers must concentrate on customer experience now than ever.
• Third, 2021 promises to open doors for high-potential unexplored markets like Eastern Europe and South America.

Strategic partnerships will drive merchant growth

According to GroupM,  merchants selling packaged items report notable changes in customer purchase methods. The researcher found a 277% surge in online selling avenues throughout 2020.

Merchants must now adapt to the sudden jump in e-commerce demand and prepare for the new changes experienced last year. Only with a competent payment enabler can merchants expand their business to fit the current situation.

Retailers must now form strategic partnerships with payment enablers based on their needs. As last year’s hiccups keep troubling e-commerce, payment enablers must now help merchants achieve the following;

• Make the most of the promising sales opportunities
• Deal with increasing online fraud, 
• Handle the changing payment needs 
• Meet increasing shopper expectations. 

Partnering with an all-rounded service provider gives merchants a one-for-all solution to their payment problems and solutions to different customer expectations.

Catching Up with Changing Consumer Habits

With customer habits changing by the day, strive to make the most of tech this year. For instance, solutions like artificial intelligence and machine learning are useful in automating and personalizing all aspects of the shopper’s journey.

Research by Capgemini found positive results among payment providers who’ve already adopted AI in customer-focused services; say a 13 percent dip in operational expenses and a 10 percent jump in per-shopper revenue.

In a nutshell, merchants make the most of tech to facilitate hassle-free transactions and boost conversion rates (as well as customer loyalty). `

Final Words

As competition increases in busy markets, we expect merchants to focus on promising, yet less-occupied markets like East Europe and South America. Shifting to growing markets presents an opportunity to position themselves as market bigwigs.