Category: Internet Payment Gateway

Integrate Cloud-Based e-commerce Platforms

Integrate Cloud-Based Platforms

E-commerce businesses increasingly rely on cloud-based applications, such as hosted shopping carts, analytics platforms, cloud-based accounting, customer service tools, and more.

To operating smoothly, a merchant’s cloud-based apps should integrate with each other, to save time and to otherwise prevent data loss and ensure accurate reporting.

It’s important, therefore, to have an integration mindset when choosing and using software-as-a-service solutions.

Some tips:

Ask Around

As with evaluating any vendor for your company, go beyond the company’s website. Ask the vendor about other customers. Get references. Contact those companies and ask how the platform is working. Is it easy to set-up? Does it integrate seamlessly with other apps? How long does it take to transfer data from one app to the other? These are just some of the questions you need to ask when evaluating an app. Also check social media sites for any discussions pertaining to the program. Read what people are tweeting. Check relevant LinkedIn groups.

Check the Company’s Integrations Page or API

When evaluating a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, first determine if it integrates with the platforms that you’re already using. Pre-built integrations will save much time. Alternatively, if a company has an application programming interface (API), use it to integrate the app with your existing systems.

If you can’t find the integration you need or if you want to avoid the API option, contact the vendor directly and ask if it can make its platform sync with your existing solutions. Don’t underestimate the power of reaching out to your vendors.

Use Cloud App Integration Services

Another option is to use SaaS integration services. You have plenty of choices, depending on what you need to connect. If you just need to integrate two apps, like Dropbox to Gmail, for instance, you can use (IFTTT) If This Then That –  a service that lets you assign triggers and actions to each app through a drag-and-drop interface. When one program does something, it will automatically trigger another app to perform an action. For example, you can create a recipe wherein all your Gmail attachments are automatically saved to your Dropbox folder. IFTTT is free to use, to integrate up to 80 apps.

A similar service, Zapier, lets you do the same thing, but on a larger scale. It supports more than 250 applications, including Salesforce, Zoho CRM, Xero accounting, Campaign Monitor email, and more. Zapier is free for five integrations. It also offers Basic, Business, and Business Plus plans that cost $15, $49, and $99 per month, respectively.

IFTTT and Zapier work well to integrate two cloud applications. However, if you’re running a combination of cloud and on-premise applications, or if you have an ecosystem of apps and data sources that have to connect and exchange data, you need more sophisticated options.

That’s where services such as Dell Boomi and SnapLogic come in. Like IFTTT and Zapier, these solutions use a drag-and-drop interface, but at a larger scale. They connect multiple combinations of cloud and on-premise applications.

Use Free Trials

Always test-drive your apps or integration services. Most SaaS platforms offer free trials. Take note of user-friendliness, functionality, and observe how they function with programs you already have.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Financial Services, Internet Payment Gateway, Payment Card Industry PCI Security, Small Business Improvement, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: api, apps and data sources, cloud applicaitons, cloud based applications, cloud based apps, cloud-based accounting, customer service, dropbox, e-commerce, ecommerce, exchange data, existing systems, gmail, integration, SAAS, salesforce, shopping carts, social media, software-as-a-service, sync, zapier

Effective Keys for Business-to-Business Ecommerce

Business-to-business ecommerce describes Internet-enabled transactions between businesses, such as a manufacturer and a wholesaler, a wholesaler and a retailers, or a wholesaler and a business user. The B-to-B ecommerce market was expected to exceed $550 billion in the U.S. last year, offering great opportunities for distributors and manufacturers to streamline sales, boost profits, and engage with new customers.

Since the late 1990s, businesses have been using the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system to transfer purchase orders and similar structured information electronically, representing, if you will, a form of B-to-B ecommerce.

Separately, some B-to-B sellers have created websites on which business customers can make purchases as if they were shopping on a business-to-consumer site. This category of B-to-B ecommerce may enjoy the most growth and offer the most opportunity.

 

Important points to consider of running a B-to-B ecommerce site.

 

B-to-B Customers Are also B-to-C Customers

B-to-B sites often trail consumer sites in technology, function, capabilities, and design. Typically not good enough.

As an example, the U.S. B-to-B site for a major multinational manufacturer, which includes information for dealers in the U.S., can only be viewed on Internet Explorer, and won’t work in any other browser, including Firefox, Chrome, Opera, or Safari. And don’t even think about visiting this site on a mobile device. It just won’t work.

This is a ridiculous business decision. It forgets a fundamental fact about B-to-B ecommerce customers. They are also B-to-C ecommerce customers.

It is extremely likely that the professional shopper on an ecommerce-enabled B-to-B website has had at least some experience shopping on consumer ecommerce sites, which all have compelling product photography, good navigation, good search capabilities, and good content.

A B-to-B ecommerce site must provide the same visual and functional experience as the best B-to-C ecommerce sites.

Personalization Is Vital

B-to-B shoppers may require a greater level of personalization than B-to-C customers, since businesses may have contract prices, special payment terms, or negotiated shipping rates.

Business relationships may be very deep and complicated. It is not unusual for B-to-B ecommerce sites to require registration before showing prices or shipping rates or offering a quote. This login requirement allows the B-to-B ecommerce site to personalize almost every aspect of the transaction.

A good B-to-B ecommerce site may take a little longer to launch since the system for handling relatively complex business relationships can take some time. But once it is in place, this personalization will mean that the relationship could be longer lasting.

Sales people Are the Primary Marketing Vehicle

While it is both possible and likely that B-to-B ecommerce sites will be able to acquire new customers simply by making products easy to order online, salespeople who contact customers are probably the B-to-B ecommerce seller’s primary and best marketing channel.

Salespeople can attract new customers or deepen relationships with existing shoppers. Sometimes, it can be enough to follow up after a B-to-B sale with a call to make certain that the transaction went as expected.

Shopping Is Part of Your Customer’s Profession

One of the most significant differences between B-to-B and B-to-C ecommerce is that shopping is part of the B-to-B ecommerce customer’s daytime job.

This means that the stakes can be higher for the B-to-B seller. If the shopper has a good experience, that shopper is likely to return and reorder repeatedly – even suggesting the seller to co-workers or other divisions. But if something goes wrong, particularly something that would cause the shopper to miss deadlines at work or appear in some way to have done a poor job, that shopper will likely blame the B-to-B seller. Depending on the unhappy shopper’s influence, the B-to-B seller might lose the entire account, including many individual buyers or divisions.

This means that order handling and transactional communications must be top notch. Some B-to-B ecommerce sellers will call customers to confirm orders or shipments when the customer has ordered a large quantity, very expensive items, or requested express shipping, since these orders may represent important transactions to the customer.

What Ecommerce Can Do for your B-to-B Business

If you sell to other businesses, ecommerce should have three potential benefits for your business.

First, it may help new customers find you. Having an easy-to-find and use ecommerce site means that new customers – customers with a need – will be able to locate your business regardless of geography or prior relationships.

Second, B-to-B ecommerce may streamline sales for existing customers. Some of your current customers will appreciate the ability to order online, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The process may also be faster than sending emails or, even worse, faxed orders.

Finally, B-to-B ecommerce may improve margins and boost profits. It may be possible to provide customers with a better ordering experience and better customer service using ecommerce while spending less on labor and order processing. Any cost savings that B-to-B ecommerce brings may drop straight to your business’s bottom line.

Posted in Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Small Business Improvement Tagged with: account, b-to-b, b-to-c, better ordering experience, boost profits, business-to-business, business-to-consumer, business's bottom line, communication, consumer, cost savings, customer service, e-commerce, ecommerce, ecommerce sites, electronic data interchange, faxed orders, growth, improve margins, new customers, online, order handling, order processing, personalization, profits, purchase orders, salespeople, seller, sending emails, shopper, special payment terms, transaction, wholesaler

Payment Processor and Payment Processing

A payment processor is a company often a third party appointed by a merchant to handle credit card transactions for merchant acquiring banks. They are usually broken down into two types: Back and Front-End.

Back-End Processors accept settlements from Front-End Processors and, via The Federal Reserve Bank, move the money from the issuing bank to the merchant bank.

Front-End Processors have connections to various card associations and supply authorization and settlement services to the merchant banks’ merchants. In an operation that will usually take a few seconds, the payment processor will both check the details received by forwarding them to the respective card’s issuing bank or card association for verification, and also carry out a series of anti-fraud measures against the transaction.

Additional parameters, including the card’s country of issue and its previous payment history, are also used to gauge the probability of the transaction being approved.

Once the payment processor has received confirmation that the credit card details have been verified, the information will be relayed back via the payment gateway to the merchant, who will then complete the payment transaction. If verification is denied by the card association, the payment processor will relay the information to the merchant, who will then decline the transaction.

Modern Payment Processing

Due to the many regulatory requirements levied on businesses, the modern payment processor is usually partnered with merchants through a concept known as software-as-a-service (SaaS). SaaS payment processors offer a single, regulatory-compliant electronic portal that enables a merchant to scan checks “often called remote deposit capture or RDC”, process single and recurring credit card payments (without the merchant storing the card data at the merchant site), process single and recurring ACH and cash transactions, process remittances and Web payments. These cloud-based features occur regardless of origination through the payment processor’s integrated receivables management platform. This results in cost reductions, accelerated time-to-market, and improved transaction processing quality.

Payment Processing Network Architecture

Typical network architecture for modern online payment systems is a chain of service providers, each providing unique value to the payment transaction, and each adding cost to the transaction. Merchant>Point-of-sale SaaS> Aggregator >Credit Card Network> Bank. The merchant can be a brick-and-mortar outlet or an online outlet. The Point-of-sale (POS) SaaS provider is usually a smaller company that provides customer support to the merchant and is the receiver of the merchant’s transactions. The POS provider represents the Aggregator to merchants. The POS provider transaction volumes are small compared to the Aggregator transaction volumes. The POS provider does not handle enough traffic to warrant a direct connection to the major credit card networks. The merchant also does not handle enough traffic to warrant a direct connection to the Aggregator. In this way, scope and responsibilities are divided among the various business partners to easily manage the technical issues that arise.

Transaction Processing Quality

Electronic payments are highly susceptible to fraud and abuse. Liability to merchants for misuse of credit card data creates a huge expense on merchants, if the business were to attempt mitigation on their own. One way to lower this cost and liability exposure is to segment the transaction of the sale from the payment of the amount due. Some merchants have a requirement to collect money from a customer every month. SaaS Payment Processors relieve the responsibility of the management of recurring payments from the merchant and maintain safe and secure the payment information, passing back to the merchant a payment token. Merchants use this token to actually process a charge which makes the merchant system fully PCI-compliant. Some payment processors also specialize in high-risk processing for industries that are subject to frequent chargebacks, such as adult video distribution.

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Electronic Check Services, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Merchant Services Account, Payment Card Industry PCI Security, Point of Sale, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: aggregator, aggregator transaction volumes, back end, card associations, card data, chargebacks, credit card transactions, electronic portal, front end, front-end processors, issuing bank, merchant, merchant bank, network architecture, online payment systems, payment gateway, payment processing, payment processor, payment transaction, pci-compliant, point of sale, POS, SAAS

Global Growth, Market Consolidation Ahead For MPOS Mobile Point-of-Sale.

Mobile point-of-sale is evolving as more merchants and consumers begin to accept payment through smartphones and tablets. The end of 2013 saw a number of acquisitions and new players shape the market, and all the signs are pointing to 2014 as the year in which MPOS goes mainstream.

Indeed, 2014 should be a defining year for MPOS. Data contained  in the most recent MPOS Tracker as an indication that the major players are moving seriously to capture market share, educate merchants on the benefits of MPOS and work to make interaction with the systems simpler for consumers.

Existing companies bringing out new platform enhancement, new players popping in, partnership made it was more active, and it’s been very active in the past. This technology is going in the market, and where this industry is headed is upmarket and globalization. In order for each of these things to happen, it’s much more about the application programming interfaces and the platform that enables than the actual app itself.

A critical trend this year is global expansion outside of the U.S. This growth will help promote MPOS and push it into the mainstream as a vehicle for payment.

More adoption  happening as major retailers start to integrate MPOS into their existing systems. Over time, consumers will start to use their mobile devices to make payments more frequently.

In the past, most of the activity has been in the small and midsize business space in the U.S. A lot of the use cases were niche markets, as this technology moves up to major retailers, it will become more visible to consumers that it’s not just a niche application, but it’s a regular, day-to-date encounter for them to run into MPOS.

As for the future, the signs point to continued growth both in terms of new players appearing and in market consolidation among the smaller players. However, some will have a tougher time than others as new MPOS companies seek both market share and relevance in the wider ecosystem.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Merchant Services Account, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Point of Sale, Small Business Improvement, Smartphone, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: accept payment, app, application programming interfaces, integrate mpos, major retailers, make payments, Merchant's, Mobile Devices, mobile point of sale, MPOS, platform, Smartphones, tablets

Interchange

Interchange is a word that’s talked about a lot in the payments industry. If you didn’t have to pay interchange fees, what would your business spend the money on? At its most basic, interchange is the fees businesses pay to credit card processors to swipe your credit and get paid – or the cost of moving money. Businesses are sick and tired of paying high fees and getting very little in return. Customers are sick and tired of seeing prices of items tick upwards as businesses are forced to charge more to cover the cost of interchange.

Businesses spend an exorbitant amount of money each year to accept credit cards – to the tune of $50B. Businesses could reinvest the money they’ve been spending on interchange to better connect with customers, enhance marketing initiatives and grow faster and smarter. Just imagine for a second the economic stimulus the country would get if all that money was put back into the business to drive growth, or back into the pockets of customers to lower costs.

In the past 30 years, interchange fees have mainly gone in only one direction: up. Luckily, things are starting to change, and I think we’re going to start seeing interchange being driven down. The days of a 3 -or 4-percent interchange rate are beginning to look numbered and here’s why:

Competition

There are nearly 200 players in the mobile payments space, with more entering daily. New opportunities are providing businesses with alternative payment options that are outside of Mastercard and Visa’s clutches. While there might be 1,000-plus credit card processing companies, they’re all based on the Mastercard/Visa rails, which provides a fixed floor. But not so with many of these new payment options. As such, traditional methods of payment (cash, credit cards) are facing an increasing amount of competition, and merchants are starting to pay attention.

It’s unlikely that cash and credit cards are going away anytime soon, but it only takes a small shift in volume (maybe 5 percent) for the card issuers to start paying attention. There are a number of ways for them to react, but if history is any guide, one of them will be to start lowering their prices. Alternatively, they could find ways to offer more value to their merchants. Either way, competition is offering merchants new ways to accept payments, and this will lower fees over time.

Innovation

The second thing driving down costs for merchants is rapid innovation, and like a good deal of innovation these days, much of it is centered around mobile. Mobile payments are starting to gain significant traction among consumers, accounting for $640M in 2012 and expected to have grown by an additional 234 percent in 2013.

QR codes, NFC, peer-to-peer payments, card emulation –  the list of new technologies trying to disrupt the payments space goes on and on. These new alternatives are challenging the current payments system and shedding light on the opportunities for businesses. This innovation is beneficial in two ways. The first, as discussed above is that more competition will naturally drive costs down. The second is that alternative payment options are focusing on value beyond the transaction.

There are new payment options out there that provide tangible information, such as data analytics, which help companies drive sales and increase revenues. New options are allowing small businesses access to the same technology and analytics that were previously reserved for big-box retailers or e-commerce sites only. These additional value propositions not only help businesses, they also provide new ways for payments companies to monetize, removing the need for them to make all of their money from interchange. With two (or more) revenue lines, lowering interchange is suddenly a lot more feasible.

Legislation

The Durbin Amendment is designed to introduce competition in the debit card processing network and limit fees for businesses. For all of its unintended consequences, Durbin legislation is actually helping to drive down interchange; it’s opening up competition for non-card-brand network players and lowering debit card fees. While it is certainly rife with controversy, this amendment is opening up new ways to move money that will, over time, contribute to a less expensive payment processing ecosystem.

Merchant demand

Business owners are smart and savvy. They pay attention to trends, focusing on finding new ways to set their business apart. Business owners are also conscious of ROI, and how much they’re spending to attract and retain customers. They understand there is some cost to accept payments, but are becoming more and more frustrated at the high swipe fee costs from traditional credit card processors and minimal return for those fees.

Businesses are looking to new, innovative solutions to provide more than just payment processing –  they want to understand and better connect with their customers. In short, merchants are ready for a new payments ecosystem, and where there’s this much demand from a group this big and influential, a solution can’t stay away for too long.

Interchange rates are not going away entirely in the near future, although it will happen eventually. A lot of powerful wheels are in motion to significantly reduce the interchange rates that merchants currently pay. Right now the impact might be small, but it’s growing quickly. In a few years, 3- to 4-percent interchange could be relegated to the same bit of history as $1.99 international phone calls.

Posted in Credit card Processing, Electronic Payments, Financial Services, Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Internet Payment Gateway, Small Business Improvement Tagged with: accept credit cards, accept payments, alternative payment, credit card processing, credit card processors, credit cards, debit card processing network, e-commerce, interchange, interchange fees, interchange rates, lowering debit card fees, lowering interchange, Merchant's, Mobile Payments, payment processing, payments, payments industry, swipe your credit card

Mobile Payment Solutions

A solution for mobile commerce will be needed eventually, whether you’re an ecommerce merchant or you run a brick-and-mortar shop.

There are mobile payment platforms for digital wallets, smartphone apps with card-reader attachments, and services that provide alternative billing options. Here is a list of mobile payment solutions.

Boku enables your customers to charge their purchases directly to their mobile bill using just their mobile number. No credit card information, bank accounts or registration required. The Boku payment option can be added to a website, mobile site, or app. Price: Contact Boku for pricing.

Intuit GoPayment  is a mobile credit card processing app from Intuit. It accepts all credit cards and can record cash or check payments. Intuit GoPayment transactions sync with QuickBooks and Intuit point-of-sale products. Intuit GoPayment works with iOS and Android devices and provides a free reader. Price: $12.95 per month and 1.75 percent per swipe, or 2.75 percent per swipe and 3.75 per keyed transaction.

iPayment MobilePay is a mobile payment solution from Flagship Merchant Services and ROAMpay. The service accepts all major cards and can record cash transactions. To help build your customer database, the app completes customer address fields for published landlines. The app can handle taxes, tips, and can record transactions offline. You can use the service month-to-month. The app and the reader are free. Price: $7.95 per month; Each transaction costs $0.19 plus a swipe fee maximum of 1.58 percent, or a key fee between 1.36 and 2.56 percent.

ISIS mobile commerce platform enables brick-and-mortar stores to collect payments (via an NFC terminal) from the mobile devices of their customers. Provide your customers with a simplified checkout process through the contactless transmission of payments, offers, and loyalty integrated in one simple tap. Price: Isis does not charge for payment transactions in the Isis Mobile Wallet. Payment transaction fees will not be increased by working with Isis.

LevelUp is mobile payment system that uses QR codes on smartphones to process transactions. Use LevelUp with a scanner through your POS system, or use a standalone scanner with a mobile device. You can also enter the transaction through the LevelUp Merchant App, using your smartphone’s camera to read the customer’s QR Code and entering the amount to complete the transaction. LevelUp also provides tools to utilize customer data. Price: LevelUp charges a 2 percent per transaction fee. Scanner is $50; tablet is $200.

MCX is a mobile application in development by a group of large retail merchants. Details on the solution are vague, but MCX is intended to offer a customizable platform that will be available through virtually any smartphone. MCX’s owner-members include a list of merchants in the big-box, convenience, drug, fuel, grocery, quick- and full-service dining, specialty-retail, and travel categories. Price: To be determined.

mPowa is a mobile payment app to process credit and debit card transactions, and record cash and check sales. mPowa will soon launch its PowaPIN chip and PIN reader for the EMV (“Europay, MasterCard, and Visa”) card standard. (Developed in Europe, EMV utilizes a chip embedded in a credit card, rather than a magnetic strip.) The EMV standard is likely to gain footing to combat credit card fraud. mPowa is a good solution for merchants with a global presence. Price: 2.95 percent per transactions, or .25 percent or $0.40 per transaction when used as a current processor’s point-of-sale system.

PayAnywhere is a solution to accept payments from your smartphone or tablet with a reader. It features an automatic tax calculation based on your current location, discounts and tips, inventories with product images and data, and more. Bilingual for English and Spanish users. PayAnywhere provides a free credit card reader and free app, available for iOS and Android. Price: 2.69 percent per swipe, 3.49 percent plus $0.19 per keyed transaction.

PayPal Here gives you a variety of options for accepting payments, including credit cards, PayPal, check, record cash payments, or invoice. With PayPal Here, you can itemize sales totals, calculate tax, offer discounts, accept tips, and manage payment email notifications. Available for iOS and Android. The app and reader are free. Price: 2.75 percent per swipe and 3.5 percent plus $0.15 per manually-entered transaction.

Square is a simple approach to mobile credit card processing. Square provides a free point of sale app and a free credit card reader for iPhones and iPads. Square offers a selection of tools to track sales, taxes, top-purchasing customers, and more. Square’s pricing is on the higher end, but with no monthly fee Square may be a good fit if you have infrequent mobile transactions. Price: 2.75 percent per swipe and 3.5 percent plus $0.15 per manually-entered transaction.

 

 

Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Check Services, Electronic Payments, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Financial Services, Internet Payment Gateway, Mail Order Telephone Order, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale, Small Business Improvement, Smartphone, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: accepts all credit cards, alternative billing, Android, bank accounts, brick and mortar, check payments, contactless transmission, credit and debit transactions, credit card reader, credit-card, database, Digital wallets, ecommerce merchant, EMV, free app, iOS, itemize, keyed transaction, mobile commerce, mobile credit card processing, mobile payment platforms, mobile site, mobile transactions, nfc terminal, point of sale, process transactions, qr codes, record transactions offline, smartphone apps card-reader attachments, transactions

Ecommerce vs. Commerce: What’s the Difference?

When someone asks what business you are in, how do you typically respond?

For many online sellers, the answer is likely I sell (name of the product), I’m an ecommerce merchant or I’m an online retailer.

Make the focus of your business your customers and its value proposition, not the fact that you sell online. It’s time to simply answer the question of what business you are in with a response that is more or less, “I am a (distributor, retailer, reseller) of (name your products) for (name your market).”

Back then, most business owners who sold products online described themselves as “ecommerce businesses” or “online retailers,” to differentiate from brick-and-mortar or catalog retailers. Most operated their own pure-play online stores. Some sold products on eBay. Amazon’s marketplace was mostly comprised of larger retailers. There’s an evolution in how e-commerce owners describe themselves.

Today, you will still hear many online sellers describe themselves as “ecommerce businesses” or “online retailers.” But, in 2014, those terms don’t really apply. Whatever you sell, you are delivering a set of products to meet the needs of a specific market. “Ecommerce” or “online retailing” is simply a technology and a sales channel.

There is now no difference between “ecommerce” and “commerce.” It’s time to get rid of the “e” in ecommerce. Most businesses participate in ecommerce in some fashion. You engage your customers in many different channels — your own e-commerce site, brick-and-mortar, online marketplaces. Regardless, you and virtually every other B-to-C or B-to-B company are selling goods to customers across those channels.

Why Worry about Labels?

Today, commerce is multichannel and highly competitive. It’s done online, on the phone, face-to-face, and on desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. Make sure your business has an omnichannel strategy, so your shoppers can find you. Make sure the information about your company and products is consistent regardless of the channel. Focus on whom your prospective customers are, what they want to buy, and how much they are willing to pay.

Business owners should think strategically. Part of strategic thinking is focusing on the bigger picture, such as having the right products and ensuring that your buyers can find them.

 Omnichannel Focus

Think about omnichannel commerce every day. Get your brand and products in front of your target customers regardless of where they are shopping. Below are some things to consider to facilitate an omnichannel strategy.

Chat and phone. If you don’t offer online chat or take phone orders, consider doing so.

Marketplaces. If you aren’t selling your products in marketplaces outside of your own online store, consider doing so.

Mobile. If you don’t have a mobile strategy, you need one.

Payment options. If you only take credit cards for payments on your website, add alternative payments like PayPal, Google Wallet, or Amazon Payments.

Social media. If you don’t have a social media presence, your market share is likely declining.

Customer Focus

Twenty-five years ago, if you asked a brick-and-mortar retailer or a catalog vendor what business she was in, she would likely respond as, say, “jewelry retailer,” “men’s clothing store,” “a department store,” or “hardware store.” She knew her target customer niche, how to reach them, and what products they wanted to buy. Those businesses that did the best job of (a) matching products to the consumer, (b) offering low prices, and (c) utilizing the right distribution likely won most of the business.

It’s time to get back to that focus. It’s more challenging than it used to be because the purchase cycles are far more complex than in 2002. There is no longer a straight path from identifying the need to research to purchase. Consumers typically identify a need and purchase intent, research products, research prices, research products further, conduct social media research, and then purchase a product and demand instant gratification and free shipping.

To be successful in 2014, commerce – not just ecommerce – requires the following.

Emphasize your value proposition. Regardless of how a shopper finds you, be sure he can quickly find out that you are a leading retailer of products in your market. Being clear on what your business is will also help establish trust with your shoppers.

Execute the 4 Ps of sales and marketing – “product,” “price,” “promotion,” and “place.”

First, make sure you know your target customers and what problems they are trying to solve or the need that you fulfill with your products. Know their demographics, their buying cycles, price tolerance, and where they research and shop.

Know your competitors.

Posted in Credit card Processing, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mail Order Telephone Order, Mobile Payments, Small Business Improvement, Smartphone Tagged with: alternative payments, Amazon, brick and mortar, catalog retailers, catalog vendor, commerce, credit cards for payments, e-commerce site, ebay, ecommerce, ecommerce merchant, mobile and tablet devices, omnichannel, omnichannel commerce, online retailer, online sellers, online stores, phone orders, sales channel, sell online

Payment Alternatives More Popular than Credit Card Payments Online by 2017

Emerging economies, such as the BRIC countries and the next layer of emerging markets, are seeing particularly fast growth of alternative payments, said Kevin Dallas, chief product and marketing officer for e-commerce at WorldPay. This means the complexity of the payment landscape will increase further. Merchants will need to ensure they understand diverging regional and sector trends in preferred methods of payment.

In three years alternative payments will eclipse credit card payments as the dominant way to pay online, according to a report yesterday from London-based e-commerce processor WorldPay. In Your Global Guide to Alternative Payments (Second Edition), WorldPay found card payments online, which accounted for 57 percent of transactions in 2012, will fall to 41 percent in 2017. Alternative payment methods (defined by the report as anything other than credit or debit cards including bank transfers, direct debits, e-wallets, mobile, COD and others) will rise to 59 percent of online transactions in the next three years. Part of the reason is the preferred payment methods in some of the fastest growing e-commerce markets are not cards.

The report predicts e-wallet transactions alone will equal the number of credit card transactions online at 41 percent, becoming the most popular method of paying online globally by 2017. Currently, PayPal is the most popular alternative payment method in the world with a market share of 57 percent. China’s Alipay is second at 20 percent.

Posted in Credit card Processing, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: alternative payments, bank transfers, card payments online, cod, credit card payments, credit card transactions, debit cards, direct debits, e-commerce, e-commerce processor, e-wallet transactions, e-wallets, methods of payment, mobile, online transactions, pay online, paying online, payment, PayPal, transactions

NTC’s Mobile Credit Card Processing Device

Several options exist for mobile credit card processing.

Credit card processing on iPhone/ipad/Android/BlackBerry or Tablets – Using NTC’s portable credit card readers, merchants can now swipe credit cards on iPad or Android tablet devices. NTC’s Virtual Merchant solution allows users to download a secure application to interfere your smartphone with our merchant account services seamlessly. The application and credit card processing data on the carriers network or a WiFi connection to the internet.

NTC’s MagTek Bullet Swipe Credit Card Reader for Android Phones and Tablets.

Using any Android 2.2. or higher device you can process credit card transactions securely to the smartphone via Bluetooth and utilize wireless devices internet connection (WiFi or Carrier) to send the credit card processing data encrypted for processing approval.

Security anywhere. With the BulleT Secure Credit Card Reader Authenticator (SCRA), security comes with the flexibility and portability of a Bluetooth wireless interface. Small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, the BulleT enables secure wireless communications with a PC or mobile phone using the popular Bluetooth interface. Not only does the BulleT encrypt card data from the moment the card is swiped, but it also enables card authentication to immediately detect counterfeit or altered cards.

Ideal for merchant services accounts and financial institutions’’ mobile credit card processing, NTC’s BulleT offers MagnaSafe credit card processing security features with the convenience of a Bluetooth interface. This powerful combination assures credit card data protection, transaction security and convenience needed to secure mobile credit card processing with strong encryption and 2-factor authentication. The BulleT is specifically designed to leverage the existing magnetic stripe credit card reader as a secure token empowering cardholders with the freedom and confidence of knowing that their credit card transactions are secure and protected anytime, anywhere. Android Credit Card Swipe Reader for Android Phones and Tablets on your wireless mobile merchant account.

 

NTC’s MagTek iDynamo Credit Card processing swipe reader for iPhone and Ipad.

Credit card processing on an iPhone has never been easier. Simply attach NTC’s  iDynamo card reader to your iPhone or iPad device, install our Virtual Merchant software from the App Store and you’re ready to go. Take advantage of lower credit card processing rates by processing swiped transactions instead of  keying the credit card in later and get paid faster. From the company that leads with Security from the Inside MagTek has done it again with the iDynamo, a secure card reader authenticator (SCRA) designed to work with the iPhone and iPad. The iDynamo offers MagnasafeTM security and delivers open standards encryptions with simple, yet proven DUKPT key management, immediate tokenization of card data and MagnePrint card authentication to maximize data protection and prevent the use of counterfeit cards. Mobile merchants can now leverage the power of their iPhone/iPod Touch products without the worries of handling or storing sensitive card data at any time. Ideal for wireless mobile merchant accounts and mobile credit card processing, the iDynamo offers MagneSafe security features combined with the power of iPhone and iPod Touch products. This powerful combination assures convenience and cost savings, while maximizing credit card data protection and credit card transaction security from the moment the card is swiped all the way to authorization. No other credit card reader beats the protection offered by a MagnaSafe product.

Other credit card devices claim to encrypt data in the reader. NTC’s iDynamo encrypts the data inside the read head, closest to the magnetic stripe and offers additional credit card security layers with immediate tokenization of card data and MagnePrint card authentication. This layered approach to security far exceeds the protection of encryption by itself, decreases the scope of PCI compliance, and reduces fraud.

NTC’s  iDynamo is rugged and affordable, so it not only withstands real world use, it performs to the high standards set by MagTek as the leader in magnetic credit card swipe reading products for nearly 40 years.

Posted in Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Merchant Services Account, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Payment Card Industry PCI Security, Smartphone Tagged with: Android, android phones and tablets, authenticator, blackberry, bluetooth, card authentication, credit card processing data, devices, encrypt card data, encrypted, internet, ipad, Iphone, magnetic stripe, magtek bullet, merchant account, merchant services accounts, Merchant's, mobile credit card processing, portable credit card readers, process credit card transactions, processing approval, secure, secure application, secure token, smartphone, swipe credit card reader, swipe credit cards, tablets, transaction security, virtual merchant, wifi, wireless devices internet connection

Age of Context and Security

News from Target, increasing the number of cards compromised to 70 million and the expansion of data loss to mailing and email addresses, phone numbers and names, affirms that we are in a security crisis.

Card data is from a brand and business perspective, the new radioactive material. Add personally identifiable information (PII) to the list of toxic isotopes.

The depressing vulnerabilities these breaches reveal are a result of skilled hackers, the Internet’s lack of inherent security, inadequate protections through misapplied tools or their outright absence. Security is very very hard when it comes to playing defense.

There is a set of new technologies that could, in a combination produce a defense in depth that we have not enjoyed for some time.

Looking at the Age of Context (ACTs)

Age of Context released, a book based on the hundreds of interviews conducted with tech start-up and established company leaders. A wide-ranging survey. They examine what happens when our location and to whom we are connected are combined with the histories of where and when we shop. Result is a very clear picture of our needs, wants and even what we may do next.

Combining the smartphone and the cloud, five Age of Context technologies ACTs, will change how we live, interact, market, sell and navigate through our daily and transactional lives. The five technologies are:

1. Big Data. Ocean of data generated from mobile streams and our online activity, can be examined to develop rich behavioral data sets. This data enables merchants to mold individually targeted marketing messages or to let financial institutions improve risk management at an individual level.

2. Geolocation. Nearly every cell phone is equipped with GPS. Mobile network operators and an array of service providers can now take that data to predict travel patterns, improve advertising efficiency and more.

3. Mobile Devices and Communications. These are aggregation points for cloud-based services, sending to the cloud torrents of very specific data.

4. Sensors. Smartphones, wearables (think Fitbits, smart watches and Google Glass) and other devices are armed with accelerometers, cameras, fingerprint readers and other sensors. Sensors enable highly granular contextual placement. A merchant could know not only which building we are at and the checkout line we are standing in but even which stack of jeans we are perusing.

 

5. Social. Social networks map the relationships between people and the groups they belong to, becoming powerful predictors of behavior, affiliations, likes, dislikes and even health. Their role in risk assessment is already growing.

The many combinations and intersections of these technologies are raising expectations and concerns over what is to come. Everyone has a stake in the outcome: consumers, retailers, major CPG brands, watchdog organizations, regulators, politicians and the likes of Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, eBay / PayPal and the entire payments industry.

We are at the beginning of the process. We should have misgivings about this and as an industry, individuals and as a society, we need to do better with respect to privacy and certainly with respect to relevance.

Provided we can manage privacy permissions we grant and the occasionally creepy sense that someone knows way too much about us, the intersections of these tools should provide more relevant information and services to us than what we have today. Anyone who has sighed at the sight of yet another web ad for a product long since purchased or completely inappropriate to you understands that personalized commerce has a long way to go. That’s part of what the Age of Context technologies promise to provide.

ACTs in Security    

ACTs role in commerce is one albeit essential application. They have the potential to power security services as well, specially authentication and identity-based approaches. We can combine data from two or more of these technologies to generate more accurate and timely risk assessments.

It doesn’t take the use of all five to make improvements. One firm have demonstrated that the correlation of just two data points is useful, it demonstrated that if you can show that a POS transaction took place in the same state as the cardholder’s location then you can improve risk assessment substantially. (based off of triangulated cell phone tower data).

Powerful questions of each technology that ACTs let us ask:

Data – What have I done in the past? Is there a pattern? How does that fit with what I’m doing now?

Geolocation – What building am I in? Is it where the transaction should be? Which direction am I going in or am I running away?

Mobile – Where does device typically operate? How’s the device configured? Is the current profile consistent with the past?

Sensors – Where am I standing? What am I looking at? Is this my typical walking gait? What is my heart rate and temperature?

 

Social – Am I a real person? Who am I connected to? What is their reputation?

Knowing just a fraction of the answers to these questions places the customer’s transaction origination, the profiles of the devices used to initiate that transaction and the merchant location into a precise context. The result should improve payment security.

More payments security firms are making use of data signals from non-payment sources, going beyond the traditional approach of assessing risk based primarily on payment data. One firm have added social data to improve fraud detection for ecommerce payment risk scoring. Another firm, calling its approach Social Biometrics, evaluates the authenticity of social profiles across multiple social networks including Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and email with the goal of identifying bogus profiles. These tools are of course attractive to ecommerce merchants and others employing social sign on to simplify site registration. That ability to ferret out bogus accounts supports payment fraud detection as well.

This triangulation of information is what creates notion of context. Apply it to security. If you can add the cardholder’s current location based on mobile GPS to the access device’s digital fingerprint to the payment card, to the time of the day when she typically shops, then the risk becomes negligible. Such precise contextual information could pave the way for the retirement of the distinction between card present and card-not-present transactions to generate a card-holder-present status to guide risk decision-making.

Sales First, Then Security        

The use of ACT generated and derived signals will be based on the anticipated return for the investment. Merchants and financial institutions are more willing to pay to increase sales than pay for potential cost savings from security services. As a result, the ACTs will impact commerce decision making first-who to display an ad to, who to provide an incentive to.

New Combinations  

Behind the scene, the impact of the ACTs on security will be fascinating and important to watch. From a privacy perspective, the use of the ACTs in security should prove less controversial because their application in security serves the individual, merchant and the community.

Determining the optimal mix of these tools will take time. How different are the risks for QR-code initiated transactions vs. a contactless NFC transaction? What’s the right set of tools to apply in that case? What sensor-generated data will prove useful? Is geolocation sufficient? Will we find social relationships to be strong predictor of payment risk or are these more relevant for lending? And what level of data sharing will the user allow-a question that grows in importance as data generation and consumption is shared more broadly and across organizational boundaries. It will be important for providers of security tools to identify the minimum data for the maximum result.

I expect the ACT’s to generate both a proliferation of tools to choose from and a period of intense competition. The ability to smoothly integrate these disparate tools sets will be a competitive differentiator because the difficulty of deployment for many merchants is as important as cost. Similar APIs would be a start.

Getting More from What We Already Have  

The relying parties in a transaction – consumers, merchants, banks, suppliers – have acquired their own tools to manage those relationships. Multi-factor authentication is one tool kit. Banks, of course issue payment credentials that represent an account and proxy for the card holder herself at the point of sale or online. Financial institutions at account opening perform know your customer work to assure identity and lower risk.

Those siloed efforts are now entering an era where the federated exchange of this user and transactional data is becoming practical. Firms are building tools and the economic models to leverage these novel combinations of established attributes and ACT generated data.

The ACTs are already impacting the evolution of the payments security market. Payment security incumbents, choose just two from the social side, find themselves in an innovation rich period. Done well, society’s security posture could strengthen.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Credit Card Security, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Payment Card Industry PCI Security, Point of Sale, Smartphone, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: big data, breaches, card data, cardholders, checkout lines, commerce, data loss, data sets, digital, ecommerce, geolocation, GPS, inherent security, Merchant's, Mobile Devices, mobile network, online activity, personally identifiable information, pii, POS, Security, security crisis, sensors, smartphone, social networks, transaction, transactional, travel patterns, vulnerabilities