Online Payments: Go with the flow!
It's been twenty years since the first online purchase was made (a Pizza Hut pizza in 1994, if you're interested), and in that time the online retail landscape has changed dramatically.
Credit cards are still - for now - the mainstream method for paying for goods and services online. But nobody likes endlessly typing in those fiddly digits; especially on the smartphones which are rapidly becoming the default device for consumers.
Banks are right to be notoriously slow to adopt new technologies - after all, we're only too quick to complain if security is compromised in any way. But customers want more, and faster ways to buy goods and services online, and plenty of convenient new services are starting to pop up.
Take, for example, Paym - a completely mobile-based system which lets users transfer funds from one person (or business) to another using only their telephone number as an identifier. Paym has been adopted by many high-street banks.
NFC, a chip which allows low-range information transfer, along with fingerprint ID technologies, are embedded into several smartphone handsets. These are both making authentication simpler and more seamless for customers.
Nobody knows for sure what tomorrow's payment technologies will look like. But we do know that they will be more complex and varied than credit cards, and ever more reliant on technology.
Backing your business
For your business to stay focused on growth, you should choose a payment services provider with a full understanding of today's market and an eye on future developments, too.
The cost to you of handling exceptions - cases where online transactions need human intervention - can be painful. Rapidas Group already provides support for automating as many typical payment scenarios as possible (including bank transfers, pay-by-phone and subscription models as well as traditional credit cards). As new payment methods emerge, we'll work to integrate them, too. This keeps your operational costs low.
We also have global reach, working with a huge number of acquiring banks and with a global view on the technologies which are making a difference around the world. Nobody is better placed to help you take advantage of emerging technologies.
And don't forget, where payment processing used to be a hidden back-office function, the importance to consumers of convenience means that easy transaction processing is now an important marketing tool (just ask Amazon) Every time we help you to make a transaction simple, we're cutting walk-aways and maximising your profitability.
Get the right partner for online payments
Join the thousands of businesses who have cut through the complexity of e-commerce thanks to Rapidas Group.
Fill out the form and we can have you trading online, securely, tomorrow.