The world of payments has changed dramatically since the pandemic, as shopping has become a truly digital-first experience, both online and at the point of sale.
Consumers now expect to be able to purchase goods and services quickly, conveniently, and securely, wherever they are and with the payment method of their choice. Merchants and retailers unable to meet these expectations risk jeopardising the customer experience (CX), losing business, and falling behind brands with more forward-thinking business models.
And with artificial intelligence (AI) about to further reshape the payments landscape, the pressure on firms to address payment strategy weaknesses and embrace the latest payments technology is intensifying.
Most will require an integrated suite of solutions tailored to their specific needs, yet picking the right tools is rarely straightforward and many will need expert guidance to get the best return on investment.
Understanding the modern shopper
Before firms begin to overhaul their operations, however, they must ensure they understand the needs of modern consumers, says Scott Frisby, who leads the strategy function at Elavon, one of Europe’s leading providers of payment solutions.
While price was once the driving factor behind most shopping decisions, today customer experience is more important, he says.
“Shoppers have much more choice than they used to when buying the products and services they love, and aside from sales and discounts, it is harder to compete on price,” he explains. “Instead, merchants and retailers must offer an exceptional shopping experience to differentiate themselves. That could be through amazing customer service, innovative features, tailored offers, or inspiring marketing campaigns.
“It’s also about avoiding things that detract from a great shopping experience, such as a poor digital user experience (UX), late deliveries, unappealing refund and exchange policies and clumsy payment processes.”
Shoppers regularly cite payments as one of the most important aspects of the shopping experience, and for good reason.
Transactions must be fast and convenient to keep consumers engaged and turn them into repeat customers. If it takes multiple tries for a payment to go through, a customer is much more likely to abandon a transaction.
Similarly, merchants and retailers must offer a wide variety of payment methods to provide the freedom and flexibility consumers want – from traditional credit cards and digital wallets to buy-now-pay-later services.
It is equally crucial that payments are secure, which means storing payment data safely, having robust cyber defences and deploying reliable customer ID processes.
Yet this cannot be at the expense of customer convenience.
“Failing to stop a preventable breach can be devastating to your brand’s reputation and cost you financially. But you can also alienate your customers if you overburden them with security processes, so striking the right balance is key,” says Frisby.
Online vs point of sale
Digital payments technology has made huge advances in recent years, offering huge benefits to brands. Take for example point-of-sale solutions such as unattended screens, QR codes and self-checkout tills, which have transformed the physical shopping experience for consumers and allowed retailers to increase shopper throughput with a lower number of staff. Such innovations are integral to the multi-channel shopping experience consumers have come to expect.
“Self-checkout tills used to be hard to navigate and had frequent points of failure in terms of the touch screen technology, with loud hectoring recordings coming out of terminals,” says Frisby. “But today’s experience couldn’t be more different thanks to huge leaps forward in digital payments technology.
“They are sleeker, quieter, and faster and consumers really appreciate the speed and the accuracy. The benefits for retailers have been immense.”
Similar advances in e-commerce technology have vastly widened access to the market. Previously only the biggest retailers were able to offer sophisticated online shopping experiences, but now off-the-shelf cloud-based solutions allow small businesses (SMEs) to meet the same standards for an affordable monthly licence fee.
SMEs can now integrate payments systems with ease, develop their own apps and e-commerce storefronts, and use AI-powered tools to generate customised offers.
“Historically smaller retailers had to operate on a mixture of Excel, gut instinct and other expensive apps,” says Frisby. “Now they get a simple one stop shop: they can offer excellent payment processes, digitise their loyalty offers, capture information about customers and develop CRM and marketing programmes, all via one supplier.”
Business models of the future
AI will accelerate these benefits, allowing retailers and merchants to offer more tailored recommendations based on past shopping habits, launch advanced virtual assistants, and offer innovations such as advanced voice-activated ordering.
However, brands will have to rethink how they operate to get the most out of these tools, and most are only at the start of that journey.
Elavon has been supporting merchants and retailers with their payments and wider commerce needs for the last 30 years. Operating across Europe and North America, the firm’s clients range from SMEs to blue chip brands including IcelandAir, hotel group Sheraton and Northern Irish transport provider Translink.
Elavon helps businesses to take payments online, face-to-face, on mobile and over the phone with tailored, secure, and easy-to-use solutions. It also provides currency conversion and real-time payments data reports, along with access to business finance.
A genuine solutions architect
The firm sees itself as a trusted partner to brands navigating the fast-changing world of digital payments, says Frisby.
“On the one hand we have our own payments solutions to help firms process transactions, and we can provide the hardware if needed - the cash tills, card readers and payment terminals.
“On the other, we have the ability to integrate a wide range of platforms into our systems and operate as a solutions architect helping brands address their wider e-commerce needs.”
Elavon works closely not only with payment providers, but also business optimisation apps, deposit tracking systems and inventory management platforms.
“With access to a suite of carefully curated software vendors, we can provide clients with everything they need to run their business,” says Frisby. “We also ensure your customers receive a simple, no-hassle onboarding process, while maximising your revenue opportunities with transparent, competitive pricing.”
Elavon prides itself on its flexibility, offering customers the chance to customise installations to their specific needs. It also supports them with award winning in-person customer service rather than faceless chatbots and is well regarded for the reliability and resilience of its platform.
“As cash continues to decline, merchants are ever-more dependent on their payment solutions,” says Frisby. “If you can’t process transactions you can’t trade, and while that has always been important it is now an existential threat.”
The world of payments is at an inflection point and brands should expect to see significant change in the next few years. They must ensure their payments strategy remains up to date and aligned with evolving customer expectations, or risk being outpaced in an increasingly competitive market.
Find out more about building customer loyalty with Elavon
Elavon Financial Services DAC, trading as Elavon Merchant Services, is a credit institution authorised and regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and limited regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Details about the extent of our regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority are available from us on request.
