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ACI Blog

Five Ways That ISOs Can Turn eCommerce Challenge Into Opportunity

Enable international payments processing

There are undeniable benefits for ISOs and merchants who expand beyond their domestic market, but as alternative payment methods and purchasing behavior can differ markedly from country to country, an international payments strategy needs to be carefully considered.

Successful global expansion requires offering not just the right payment methods and acquiring options, but also the ability to configure them quickly and efficiently. This can be achieved either through partnerships, outsourcing to a payment provider, or by connecting to an existing modular payment gateway that can ‘switch on’ alternative payments as and when needed.

Reduce friction in omni-channel payments

In the age of the smartphone, shoppers have more information than ever at their fingertips. These empowered consumers have high expectations, and assume online and offline channels will blend for a seamless experience. Merchants are seeking out providers that can deliver the technology that makes it possible to attract and retain shoppers, and increase their checkout conversion rates.

ISOs must adapt to ever-changing merchant needs integrate mobile point-of-sale, mCommerce, eCommerce and in-store POS transactions. In addition, an ISO that delivers the full solution from consolidated reporting to API integration, and the ability to monitor all channels, will empower their merchants to remain agile and profitable in such a competitive landscape.

Effectively manage fraud and chargebacks

Merchants are constantly under threat from fraudulent shoppers domestically and internationally, with global fraud attempts increasing by 31% during the 2016 holiday shopping season. In this environment where fraud is constantly adapting and evolving, ISOs are expected to offer their merchants a solution that is tailored to individual business needs, configured for local habits, and capable of keeping up with demands for ever-faster order fulfilment.

Configuring fraud prevention strategies per each market is necessary to protect hard-earned revenues. In the card-dominated U.S., chargeback management solutions are needed to manage fraud, while in Germany – where two-thirds of online purchases are completed by open invoice – behind-the-scenes risk checks to determine a shopper’s reliability are required. This complexity demands a proven fraud management solution, paired with global risk expertise.

Increase checkout conversion with the right toolkit

What looks simple to a shopper—a straightforward and frictionless checkout process—can be anything but easy to set up behind the scenes, as payment providers well know. Consumers expect, fast, east and secure online shopping, and reward those merchants that can offer this with repeat custom, larger orders, and merchant loyalty.

The payment form is the heart of the checkout process. Get it right and no one even notices it. Get it wrong, and shoppers become uneasy and abandon their shopping cart. First and foremost, payment forms must securely handle payment data, i.e. through tokenization.

Second, it should easily embed into online shops, avoiding offsite redirects and adhering to the look and feel of a website. An embeddable payment form is a necessity for a frictionless checkout processes, which in turn ensures high checkout conversion rates.

Empower merchants with innovation-enabling technology

Merchants’ demands around payment methods, reporting options, and fraud prevention tools are increasing, as they look to move quickly and take advantage of global eCommerce growth, but this can cause headaches for ISOs that are challenged to keep up technologically.

The solution is to remain adaptable, by utilizing payments technology that is flexible and responds to evolving market needs. The shift towards REST APIs as the ‘gold standard’ illustrates the importance of offering merchants flexible and modular payments solutions, and allowing developers to create their own value-added services, features, and applications with reduced development cost.

Ultimately, ISOs should partner with a technology vendor for what they need today, but be positioned to expand quickly in the future as the market evolves.

Find out more about the challenges facing ISOs, and the solutions that can help to decrease costs and maximize revenue, in our new eGuide: How ISOs Can Turn The 5 Major eCommerce Challenge Into Opportunities

Senior Director, Business Development

Sandra is a global eCommerce expert with expertise in helping ISOs, PSPs, merchants and partners expand their businesses internationally. Her focus over the last ten years has been in alternative payment methods (APMs) with overall experience in the payments industry spanning more than 25 years. Sandra attended California State University of Long Beach, and has a proven track record of leading successful sales teams while maintaining positive executive level relationships. Sandra lives in Florida with her husband. She has two adult children and enjoys life on the beach as an empty nester... and is looking forward to adopting a puppy.