How Ecommerce is Here to Stay
Well, here we are again, another shutdown and another setback. While the end is in sight (maybe when using binoculars), there are likely more pivots to come. If there is one thing we continue to learn from 2020, it is that your business needs to provide alternatives for selling outside of face-to-face interactions. And that is something that will not change once restaurants start to host indoors again, people start attending in-person networking events, and we start having meetings in a conference room rather than a Zoom call. Relying on the online space may not be the only means of selling your products and services once things return to “normal,” but it will continue to be a crucial tool to elevate and advance your business.
Ecommerce is the means of buying and selling products or services online – it is the system behind making online shopping possible. When the world is unstable, ecommerce allows your business to remain competitive. While people and businesses were forced to buy and conduct business online during 2020, it has opened new ways of operating that will remain well past the pandemic.
While ecommerce is the platform that enables an online checkout process, there is another very important aspect of selling online. This is the actual transaction of the payment, or the merchant processing side of ecommerce.
Ensuring your merchant processing is optimized for both your customers and your business will make your ecommerce store as profitable. There are specific considerations depending on if your company is business to consumer (B2C) or business to business (B2B).
Optimizing Merchant Processing for Ecommerce
Business to Consumer (B2C) Merchant Processing
For B2C companies, one of the main factors for implementing successful merchant processing is providing different payment options.
Checkout optimization can increase conversions by 35.62 percent, and this includes improving the checkout flow. Checkout flow is the process by which the person can review their cart, input their information, and make the online payment. As we know, the last step of most online checkouts is filling in your payment information which is also the most important step for the business. If you lose your customer at this point, then you completely lose that sale. To improve this step, your business should provide multiple forms of payment so each customer can pay using their preferred method.
If you provide the options that your customers want, then you improve the customer experience, therefore increasing the probability of the conversion.
Some examples of payment options include financing options, merchant processing, loyalty clubs, PayPal, interest-free payments, etc. The more options your merchant processing allows on your ecommerce store, the more you will be able to meet your customers’ preferences and capture that conversion.
Business to Business (B2B) Merchant Processing
In comparison, for B2B companies the main consideration for optimizing your merchant processing is providing upfront cost calculations.
B2B transactions are inherently more complicated; there are more steps for checking out, additional components to the purchase, and more complex shipping. Having the ability to calculate all these fees upfront will ensure clear communication with your customer or client. There is nothing worse than being bombarded with hidden fees as a customer, in fact, extra costs are the number one reason why shoppers abandon their cart.
A popular example of this is shipping costs. If you are selling products that often need quick shipping speeds, are extremely heavy shipments, or are providing services on a national or global scale, your merchant processing system needs to be set up in a way that can quickly determine those shipping costs during the checkout process.
Some businesses are sending second invoices just for the shipping costs or are providing a standard shipping fee even though the cost fluctuates from one order to the next. Ultimately, these are examples of a poor customer experience. Having the right merchant processing means you are able to consolidate all your checkout fees within one payment so your customer clearly understands and agrees to the payment and your business isn’t losing money.
While B2B transactions may be complicated, your merchant processing should be optimized so it’s simplified for your customers. Not only that, when the checkout process is simplified for your customer it should make internal payment processing, tracking, and reporting easier. Internal efficiencies are just another benefit of improving merchant processing on your ecommerce store.
Conclusion
An ecommerce store can solve a lot of problems – pandemics, shutdowns, economic setbacks – but without integrating optimized merchant processing, your business is not reaching the scale it is capable of.
Evolve Payment provides expertise for ecommerce and merchant processing. We understand the considerations for both B2C and B2B companies in creating an online store and integrating payment processing that is built using business-specific strategies. We are your partner from start to finish; we don’t just set up your online store or provide out of the box merchant processing and promise everything will get better. We work with your business to understand your sales process, both customer-facing and internally, to set up an integrated system to sell your products and services online.
Contact us to learn more about how our ecommerce and merchant processing services can help your business improve your existing online store or start a new ecommerce website.