0
0
Digital e-commerce is booming, and how. The traditional payment landscape has evolved with time, and now customers are more inclined towards newer and faster payment modes. Whether buying groceries or paying an online tutor for do my assignment help, customers want seamless services from their payment gateway providers.
The e-commerce market is an ever-changing industry. Businesses have to be quick and make smart decisions in order to cope with the pace of the changes. One such factor is the use of different payment gateways for processing different types of payments. A good payment gateway can help a business adapt to the changes and set it up for success.
What is a Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway is software that interfaces a business’s website and a client’s preferred payment mode, such as credit or debit card, bank account, gift card, and online wallet. All payment gateways initiate payments at the merchant’s request and revert the responses to those merchants. It’s a complete all-in-one solution, and choosing the right payment gateway can be a huge advantage for businesses striving to improve their profitability and user experience.
Some of the popular payment gateways in 2023 are Amazon Payments, Google Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Square, Stax, PayU, Skrill, and Payment Depot, to name a few. Now, why are these so popular? Let’s check some stats by Statista:
- The transaction value through digital payments is projected to touch US$8.49tn by 2022
- The total transaction value is estimated to grow by 12.3%, amounting to US$15.17tn by 2027
- The digital commerce traction value will likely total US$5.49tn in 2022.
- In the US, online transactions have increased 4x as much as retail payments from 2023 to 2017. Reports further suggest that an average American consumer does 19 transactions on average per year.
Considering the above numbers, it’s clear that the digital commerce market is growing at an unprecedented rate and using a good payment gateway will accelerate business transactions.
How Does It Work?
The primary purpose of a payment gateway is to make all payments quick, secure, and hassle-free. The software approves the safe transfer of funds from the buyer to the seller and vice versa while abiding by the PCI compliance standards to minimise the chances of scams. Here’s how a payment gateway works:
- The customer places an order on the website and fills in their card details
- The web browser encodes the shared data between it and the merchant’s web server
- The gateway sends the transaction details to the payment processor of the merchant’s bank
- Then, the payment processor sends all the transaction data to a card affiliation.
- The bank issuing the credit/debit card “approves” or “denies” the request
- The processor forwards an approval to the gateway about the merchant and the customer
- Once the gateway receives a reaction, it transmits it to the website for processing payment
- The “Clearing Transactions” option is activated once the merchant completes a payment
- Finally, the issuing bank changes the “auth-hold” to “debit” to settle payment with the vendor’s bank.
How to Find the Right Payment Service Fitting Your Business Objectives?
Choosing a secure payment gateway is pivotal for a successful business venture. Hence, it’s important to consider a few aspects, like the ones mentioned below, before choosing a payment gateway.
- No hidden fees– Make sure you understand the fee structure and the related details before signing up with a payment service provider. Sometimes gateways may have hidden charges which can impact your profit levels. So, do your calculations beforehand and opt for services with a transparent fee structure. While at it, check if the gateway supports recurring payments. Opt for services ensuring one-time and recurring payments without the baggage of high setup or transaction fees.
- Multi-currency transaction support– When you run a global academic website offering essay help, it’s obvious that you will receive tutoring requests from students from across the globe. Not catering to global customers’ needs with a multi-currency transaction can tremendously impact your business. Therefore, pick gateways with any geographical restrictions.
- Fast processing speed– Whether you want to sell a product or connect students to qualified tutors and assignment writers through your website doesn’t matter. Your aim should be to provide quick end-to-end solutions, which is only possible with a fast processor. So pick gateways with high processing speed to improve the efficiency of your operational activities.
- Customers’ data security– Let’s think of it this way. You are the customer and must pay for a product or service through a payment gateway. What factor would come to your mind? Obviously, payment security. As per the forecast made by Ericsson & The Radicati Group, the number of smartphone users is estimated to reach33 billion by 2025. Since over 80% of the present generation uses their smartphones to shop online, it’s all the more important to use a safe and secure payment gateway to ensure protection from fraudsters.
- Easy to integrate – Another important factor to keep in mind while choosing a payment processing service is website integration. Integrating a payment gateway with your website and different banking services and cards is imperative for any business. Always pick a payment gateway with simple integration where the customers can directly check out and land on the payment gateway provider’s site, make payment, and go back to the merchant’s website once the transaction is completed.
- Fees & service policies– All payment gateways have unique service costs, additional fees, and terms of service. While pricing is an obvious consideration for any business targeting to make profits, be sure of the conditions of service and the contractual requirements. Different payment gateways offer different fee structures with fixed or variable fees on a monthly or yearly basis. It doesn’t matter whether you choose to operate with one or multiple payment gateways. Check the quotes and service policies and thoroughly understand the norms of not meeting transaction targets to avoid confusion.
- Multifaceted services –Every business wants to stand out in this highly competitive era, and online payment gateway service providers are no different. Every highly-used service platforms ensure to provide the best to attract more users from across the globe. From offering global solutions to accepting global cards and currencies, ensure your potential online gateway service provider ensures diverse functionalities. It should provide add-ons like electronic invoicing, text/email reminders, different types of payments, the latest chargeback management, and so on.
- Active customer support– When dealing with online payments and different types of payments, it’s obvious that issues will pop up every now and then from both ends – the merchant and the payment gateway. Frequent problems can obstruct payments and create doubts among customers. Therefore, the gateway service provider should ensure 24×7 customer service to provide an immediate remedy to failed transactions, delayed refunds, duplicate transactions, and things like that. Dealing with gateway and payment issues can be frustrating, but offering 24×7 customer support can be a game changer.
- Fraud management– Modern fraudsters are highly skilled, cunning, and relentless, waiting for every opportunity to attack and scam people. Preventing fraud requires a constant but smart approach. Hence, make sure the payment gateway service provider has the necessary expertise in managing fraud. It should have the latest tools to identify fraud and implement the best practices to fight against fraud.
Wrapping Up
Today, choosing a payment gateway has become as important as creating marketing strategies for your business. Investing in the right payment gateway will simplify your online payment process, increase your customer base, and accelerate your sales, breaking geographical barriers. You must consider the nine factors discussed above to find the best payment gateway for your business. In case you want more clarity on the technical aspects and how it can help your business grow, discuss with an industry expert for a detailed introspect of a payment gateway.
Cheers & Good luck!
Author Bio
Jeremy Lawson has an MBA in sales and works at a reputed MNC in the US. He is also associated with MyAssignmenthelp.com as a subject matter expert, offering comprehensive study support to MBA sales students needing assignment help. Besides his work, Jeremy enjoys adventure sports and loves to play hockey with his boy gang on the weekends.
