Planet: Open technology at the core of global payments

Planet clients are typically large multinational merchants and cross-border selling is an important facet of their businesses. Planet’s MCP solution, which allows merchants to price in more than 100 currencies, is valued by most clients. Despite being a strong MCP solution, it had one drawback: It could only settle in like-for-like in USD and CAD, not any of its other 100-plus currencies. Merchants want like-for-like settlement, sometimes referred to as in-country domestic processing, because it offers convenience and cost savings. Convenience because global merchants can settle in any currency they want, including where they sell, where they are based, or in a commonly traded currency such as USD or EUR. Merchants save costs through like-for-like by taking advantage of lower interchange fees in particular regions. Planet needed global like-for-like settlement to complete its MCP solution.

APMs include preferred and local payments, which are an essential part of global eCommerce. Already accounting for more than 53% of eCommerce transactions in 2024, APMs are expected to reach nearly 65% by 2030.1 Global merchants, even those that primarily sell in the card-reliant North American market, need a robust offering of preferred and local payment methods to meet diversifying shopper preferences. Planet specialized in cards and needed a significant upgrade to their consumer payment options to remain competitive.

China UnionPay (CUP) is the fastest growing card scheme in the world. It has issued more cards than any other scheme, over 6 billion globally, and is second in transaction number and volume, trailing only Visa.2 CUP is a merchant’s doorway to China, and by most accounts, the largest eCommerce market in the world. Planet offers a complete end-to-end solution for CUP acceptance, including gateway, processing, acquiring, and settlement services. North American merchants, through Planet, can accept CUP through a single contract and service provider. Several acquirers, gateways, banks, and PSPs outside North America showed interest in this unique and powerful CUP solution, yet Planet lacked the technology to offer it globally.

Mobile payments were more science fiction than reality when Planet first developed its payments gateway. Fast forward to today, and mobile solutions are integral to eCommerce. Planet looked at its gateway and knew it needed the capability to render eCommerce sites onto mobile devices, offer mobile SDKs (software development kits), and enable in-app payments.

PCI compliance—the adherence to data security standards set by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council—is a prerequisite for anyone in eCommerce. Planet gave merchants two options for PCI compliance: handle it themselves or outsource compliance to a Planet-hosted payments form. The former is not ideal because PCI compliance is arduous, requiring sophisticated data storage, intrusive audits, and other challenges. Self PCI-compliance is not cost effective for most merchants. The latter option shifted most of the PCI burden to Planet, but it redirected shoppers to an external, Planet-hosted payments page. Such a redirect triggers alarm bells for shoppers wary of online fraud, harming merchant conversion rates and bottom lines. Planet needed a solution that handled PCI compliance while integrating within merchants’ web shops.

Planet needed a payments gateway that enabled it to reach the next level by providing clients and prospects with cutting-edge payments technology for every aspect of today’s global eCommerce. This gateway needed to advance Planet’s technological offering, without infringing upon Planet’s compelling business and commercial advantages.

Through ACI Payments Orchestration Platform, Planet has the missing piece for its MCP solution: extensive like-for-like settlement. Planet’s clients, no matter where they are based, can now settle in the 100+ currencies it offers, giving them the flexibility to conveniently sell nearly anywhere in the world. In addition, Planet can now utilize local acquirers worldwide to offer lower cross-border fees and interchange rates, strengthening Planet’s competitiveness. Planet’s FX solution was already robust. Now, through access to the ACI global payments network, it is a market leader with no discernible flaws.

Planet needed access to a global payments network and ACI delivered the most powerful in the industry: hundreds of acquirers and APMs globally, and the network is constantly growing. Now, Planet has the technology to offer merchants nearly any APM in the world. According to Paul Levine, President of Planet Solutions, “Supporting our merchants’ preferred payments as they expanded into new markets was a roadblock for Planet. Often, it was too difficult to justify the first integration to a local payment method. Now, we can negotiate a commercial arrangement with a local payments provider and enable technical connectivity with the flip of a switch, allowing us to give better payments support to our merchants.” Connecting to the ACI global payments network helped Planet quickly transform into a global APM leader.

The ACI global payments network delivers more than just APMs and acquirers, it presented the opportunity for Planet to take its leading-edge China UnionPay solution global. Each of the 300 acquirers in the network are potential partners, and through the network, Planet added UnionPay settlement in EUR, GBP, RMB, and HKD, in addition to the already offered USD and CAD. This has made the innovative China UnionPay solution even more powerful and available globally.

Planet’s mobile offering transformed into one competitive with the most advanced payment providers. Paul Levine said, “Historically, we often lost merchant opportunities that required robust mobile application support, but that is no longer the case. From opportunities with smaller merchants to supporting one of the largest global automotive companies, the ACI mobile SDK has met or exceeded both our and our clients’ needs.” This mobile solution—including mobile SDKs, mobile point of sale, the ability to render web shops on mobile devices, and in-app payments—delivers a comprehensive mobile solution for global merchants.

ACI’s payment form, COPYandPAY, which Planet rebranded PIPE, handles PCI compliance and embeds within a web shop. COPYandPAY thus addresses the major merchant pain point of PCI compliance, while avoiding the offsite redirects that worry shoppers and lower conversion rates. Merchants outsource data security to Planet and ACI, while still hosting payments within their web shops. COPYandPAY is easier to work with than Planet’s previous payments form. It is available in 10 coding languages and integration takes only minutes.

Planet was successful before it partnered with ACI, but the company is now coupling the most advanced payments technology with its industry-leading commercial offering. That technology is now at the heart of Planet’s strategy, boosting its competitive advantage. For example, Planet reports ACI facilitated integration to its gateway ahead of schedule, the fastest integration of more than 70 APMs that Planet has experienced. It truly exceeded their expectations. This speed means that merchants can rapidly enter new markets; there are no delays while waiting for technological integrations. The underlying open architecture and continuously expanding global network gives Planet and its merchants the technological flexibility to pursue any possible business strategy. Through ACI, Planet gives merchants a solution that is as ready for tomorrow’s challenges as today’s. Unsurpassed reliability underpins the gateway’s speed and flexibility. Planet reported that post-integration processing was as smooth as the integration itself. In addition, the underlying open architecture means ACI has the ability to rapidly react to any of Planet’s future requirements.

As a result of upgrading to ACI’s technology, Planet has expanded its prospect field and enhanced stickiness with current clients. Planet now pursues and wins merchants in the upper echelon of the Internet 500—the 500 largest eRetailers in the US and Canada—and is gaining more traction outside North America. Planet’s robust commercial offering, now combined with ACI’s industry-leading technology, is opening more opportunities for Planet than ever before.