Category: Electronic Payments

Dec
30
2013
December 30th, 2013 by Elma Jane

Earlier this year, American Express offered its cardholders free permanent membership in ShopRunner, a service that gives its members free, two-day shipping at several retail sites. Similarly, PayPal recently tested two-day free shipping offers with a few retailers, whereby shoppers could get free, two-day shipping without an annual fee if they simply checked out using PayPal. The offer had no minimum purchase requirement. Now, Global payment firm MasterCard announced that its customers will receive free, two-day shipping from five of the Internet’s leading retailers. MasterCard also offered a premium service that extends the free, two-day shipping offer to other online merchants. MasterCard joins American Express and PayPal in offering customers free, two-day shipping options at select online retailers.

Collectively ShopRunner, PayPal’s offer, and MasterCard’s recent move may be part of what some in the retail industry are calling the Amazon Prime effect, which is a trend to faster, free shipping services driven in part by Amazon’s Prime service. These offers are changing customer expectations, so that merchants, regardless of size, may need to change free shipping offers to reflect the two-day service available from Amazon Prime, ShopRunner, and now MasterCard.

MasterCard Offer Aims at Large Retailers

To take advantage of the MasterCard offer, shoppers must register at a special MasterCard site, sign in and shop from the site, select two-day shipping at checkout and of course, pay with a MasterCard. Customers will have to pay for the two-day shipping upfront and email the order confirmation to MasterCard to be reimbursed.

Regular online shoppers may purchase an annual subscription for $69.99, extending the free, two-day shipping to about 30 larger retailers, including Nordstrom, J. C. Penney, Home Depot, and GameStop. The premium annual subscription also raises the maximum limit from $500 for six months to $1,500 per year.

The “Free Shipping by MasterCard” offer features five of the retail industry’s best known merchants: Best Buy, QVC, Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Walmart. Online purchases made from these sellers can earn free shipping up to $20 per purchase and $500 maximum over a six-month period.

Implications for Small, Mid-sized Ecommerce Merchants

Free shipping is now or, at least is becoming a key to online ecommerce success. As an example, Forrester Research’s U.S. Online Holiday Retail Forecast 2013, which was released on November 25, found that many online shoppers will leave a site and not buy anything if there is not a free shipping offer available.

Customers may look at shipping as an extra cost or even a waste of money, which is different from how they calculate the gas and inconvenience of going to a store or mall. Even offering free shipping with a minimum purchase can make customers feel better about the checkout process.

Where MasterCard’s offer is different is that it is increasing the expectation around how long a package should take to arrive, and, perhaps, changing how sellers need to think about free shipping.

When an ecommerce retailer purchases pay-per-click advertising, invests in email marketing, buys banner ads, or even prints a brochure or catalog to include in the shipping box, that retailer is investing to acquire or keep customers.

When it comes to accounting for these marketing investments, pay-per-click advertising, as an example, is often taken as part of marketing expenses generally and not attributed directly to a single transaction. For this reason, it is possible that merchants are losing money on some particular orders because of the advertising and promotional expenses associated with those particular orders, but making a profit overall thanks to spreading out marketing costs over all orders and generally increasing the total number of orders and reorders.

Ecommerce businesses may need to start thinking about shipping costs, even two-day shipping costs, in a similar way, not necessarily associating these costs with individual orders, but looking at the business as a whole to see if the free shipping offers are increasing profitability or market share company wide.

New Opportunity for Payment Providers

Free, two-day shipping offers also represent an opportunity for payment companies, like MasterCard, since these free shipping offers could give a particular payment service a competitive advantage. After all, most shoppers will choose the payment card or payment option that provides free shipping over other payment choices.

For the most part, PayPal, American Express via ShopRunner, and now MasterCard are focusing on large retailers, but there may be another opportunity with small and mid-sized online merchants.

Posted in Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Point of Sale, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dec
30
2013
December 30th, 2013 by Elma Jane

MasterCard and Green Dot today announced an expanded relationship that allows all U.S. cardholders with MasterCard rePower -enabled prepaid cards to reload their cards via the Walmart Rapid Reload service.

Walmart Rapid Reload utilizes the Green Dot Network to provide cardholders with a fast and easy way to load funds directly to their cards by swiping their cards at any register at participating Walmart stores (not available in VT or WY). Cardholders can add funds directly to their prepaid account by using cash or a pre-printed payroll or government check. Cashier-added funds will be available for use by MasterCard rePower-enabled cardholders within minutes.

The MasterCard rePower network is open to any MasterCard issuer of reloadable prepaid card programs. Portfolios such as the Univision MasterCard Prepaid Card will be able to offer their cardholders the new cash reload option through Walmart Rapid Reload.

Prepaid products provide consumers with choices in how they manage and spend their money. In order to maximize the potential of prepaid, cardholders need to be able to conveniently and securely reload funds. Our expanded partnership with Green Dot now allows our cardholders to load funds to their prepaid cards at more than 4,000 Walmart stores that offer Walmart’s Rapid Reload service,  said MasterCard Group Executive of U.S. Market Development Craig Vosburg.

 

Posted in Credit card Processing, Electronic Payments, Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dec
30
2013
December 30th, 2013 by Elma Jane

Alternative Payments and Ecommerce Conversions

There’s no shortage of alternative payment choices: eBay’s PayPal, Google’s Wallet, Visa V.me, and MasterCard MasterPass, to name a few.  There is also a proliferation of alternate contenders, as mobile shopping threatens to disrupt traditional methods of payments.

Alternative payment companies each claim that their payment method increases conversions. My company, SeeWhy, performed an independent analysis and confirmed these claims.

In this study data shows significant increases in conversion compared with credit cards, peaking at a 101 percent increase on smartphones.

But this is not the whole story. While these increases are impressive, they only applied to around 15 percent of traffic, so the impact on your site’s overall conversion rate will be much less. Depending on the characteristics of your site you will probably see somewhere in the region of 5 to 10 percent improvement in your site’s overall conversion rate, which is still significant enough not to be ignored. As mobile commerce grows, then alternative payments will become ever more important.

However, before embarking on an alternative payment implementation, there are three important considerations you need to take into account.

1. How Many Alternative Payment Methods?

Choosing only one alternative payment method might be tough, so why not implement several, and cover the market more thoroughly? This may be a valid approach, but think carefully before choosing this option.

For example, RunningShoes.com has implemented PayPal, Google Wallet, and MasterPass as alternative payment options.

The problem is that offering payment choices can create four different competing calls-to-action, as you can see. Whenever consumers are faced with too much choice, indecision tends to follow.

This is also problematic when you consider the whole page. There are lots of visual distractions to the primary call to action, which in this case is the red Secure Checkout button.

Before embarking on implementing multiple calls-to-action, consider how you are going to solve this issue. One route you could consider is to suppress the alternate payment methods for returning customers if the customer always pays by credit card, for example. Or if the customer always purchases by PayPal, show the PayPal button most prominently, and hide the others under a Show alternate methods of payment  link.

2. How to Implement

Not all sites will see significant increases in conversion when implementing alternate payment methods. The main reason for this is that implementations can be done badly. One of the primary benefits of these payment methods is that they enable visitors to bypass the billing, shipping, and card entry steps on an ecommerce site. This is especially important for mobile sites, where entering these details using fingers and small screens defeats all but the most determined.

However, many sites implement these payment methods as an alternative only to entering the credit card number. You can see this here on Barnes and Noble ‘s site, where you are forced to enter shipping and billing information before being presented with the PayPal button. This may be a simpler implementation to do than providing an alternate checkout path, but it is frankly a waste of time, and surprisingly prevalent in PayPal implementations.

The correct method is to implement the alternative payment method as a button at the start of the checkout process, probably on the cart summary page. You can see a good example here of this at PacSun.com, an apparel site, but note the competing calls-to-action problem here as well.

PacSun deals with this slightly differently on mobile devices by not offering V.me. as a payment alternative. This avoids having a four choice vertical list of competing calls-to-action.

Alternative payments can undoubtedly result in higher conversions. However, to be effective they need to be implemented correctly to provide an alternative checkout flow, not simply a payment alternative to credit cards. This takes more effort to implement, but it is worth it. Implementing one payment method properly is a better route than superficially implementing multiple payment methods. This is especially true for mobile sales where the goal is to eliminate data entry as much as possible and alternate payments can do this very effectively. As mobile commerce becomes more important, so will alternative payments, for all merchants.

3. Which Payment Method?

Since there are multiple choices, the obvious route is to adopt PayPal. PayPal claims over 30 million U.S. mobile customers, and over a 100 million active accounts…which is a larger base than any of its competitors. SeeWhy found that 34 percent of U.S. consumers shopping online had PayPal accounts as of July 2013.

However, PayPal also carries some baggage. Having grown up as a payment method of choice for eBay, its reputation is not always considered positive. Some consumers are wary about PayPal, having had negative experiences in the past, probably with smaller merchants on eBay. In fact, according to SeeWhy’s analysis, two thirds of PayPal account holders state that their preferred payment method is a credit card.

Merchants selling luxury items might want to consider alternatives before implementing PayPal because of its reputation issues. Google Wallet is an alternative that is growing fast in part because of the growth of Android smartphones where a Google Wallet account is required to use the Play store, the Android equivalent of the app store. Google Wallet can also be linked to Google+ social sign on, so if you are considering implementing social sign on as well this might be a route to consider.

Both Visa’s V.me and MasterCard’s MasterPass both hold significant potential but the companies are only just beginning to roll out their service. It’s also worth noting that both Visa and MasterCard are rolling out their services through the acquiring banks. This will cause a proliferation of payment choices, leading to complexity and confusion for the shopper. You can see this already with MasterPass where having selected the Buy with MasterPass option, you are then presented with an array of different MasterPass wallets to choose from. Currently there are only six options, but what happens when there are hundreds?

Posted in e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Smartphone Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dec
20
2013
December 20th, 2013 by Elma Jane

Third-party Cookies vs. Consumer Privacy

Some interesting tools that consumers and businesses should be aware of.  As consumers, we will likely see more opportunities to opt out of online activities that collect data about our behaviors. We could also see more tools that allow consumers to provide more accurate information.

The Drive to Personalize

Most every ecommerce merchant uses data to personalize shoppers’ experiences. Some common personalization tactics are:

Present upsell and cross-sell offers.

Online merchants use first-party information from their own databases and cookies to track shopping behaviors. They also purchase third-party databases that help predict behavior and products that will appeal to a specific target shopper. Similar methods have been used with offline direct marketing for years. Online tools like third-party cookies…i.e. cookies left by a domain other than the one a user is visiting…and deep data mining have made the practice easier.

Retarget shoppers who have visited a store but did not make a purchase;                                                  Segment and personalize merchandising offers in your online store.                                                       Target emails at selected consumers who are more likely to buy a certain product;

When used properly with ad networks and ecommerce personalization and recommendation engines, third-party databases increase conversion rates and average order values. They also increase customer loyalty by providing a better customer experience.

Data Collection

Most of the data is now collected with third-party cookies or other means that consumers have opted into, even if they did not necessarily think of it that way. Every time you agree to a license agreement, for example, it’s likely that you are agreeing to share your data in aggregate and anonymously with third parties. Most companies put that in their agreements to protect themselves in the future, regardless of whether they collect the data now.

If third-party cookies are eventually eliminated, there will likely be some type of replacement system that will provide similar functionality. In fact, there’s already a scarier method of tracking consumer behaviors…using digital fingerprinting techniques that profile your computer.

This technique is virtually impossible to block as other devices can see things like your operating system, browser type, your fonts, screen size and depth, time zone, cookie settings, browser plugins, and http header information. The good news is that the use of fingerprinting is relatively small. But, some observers believe this will be a future alternative to third-party cookies.

Tools for Consumers

Axciom, one of the larger data providers, is now offering a tool at AboutTheData.com that allows consumers to see information that Axciom has collected about them and actually correct it if they choose. The bad news is that you have to provide Axciom with even more information than it already has to view the information it has on file. However, you can also choose to opt out of its databases.

You will need to create a login and answer a series of questions to verify your identity. Once that is done, you can review your data, which is broken into several categories.

You may be surprised by the amount of information Axciom maintains. Realize that this is just one of many databases that have information about you that is used in online and offline applications.

Posted in Digital Wallet Privacy, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dec
19
2013
December 19th, 2013 by Elma Jane

10 Great Ecommerce & Mcommerce Ideas

 

Address Commonly-asked Questions

Instead of hiding commonly asked questions on an FAQ page somewhere on your site, display these answers in plain sight. Include your service agreement on every page, and provide frequent updates on orders in the mail, because one of the quickest ways to lose shoppers and sales is to make it difficult for them to do business with you.

Connect with Pinterest Influencers

Connect with the Pinterest influencers…accounts or boards with large followings…that relate to your product category. Ask for a pin here and there for a product you believe they would like. You’ll get large amounts of traffic, sales, and repins from their large followings. This method is repeatable and much quicker and cheaper than building a large following yourself.

Don’t Forget Comparison Shopping Engines

You’ve got a great ecommerce website. But is it hard to get traffic? Comparison shopping engines (CSEs)…like Google Shopping, Shopzilla, NexTag, Pronto, and Bing…deliver millions of shoppers to product pages every day. You list your items on the CSEs where purchase-ready shoppers will see them and click through to your site to complete the transaction. CSEs typically have a pay-per-click pricing model, and many merchants find it’s worth the cost.

Emphasize Product Photography

Whether you use high-quality renderings or actual product photography, make sure you take the time to present your products in the best possible manner. With the proliferation of product and photo sharing sites like Pinterest, The Fancy, Instagram, and OpenSky, having a beautiful product shot is imperative. Lifestyle shots of your product in use could also significantly increase conversion rates.

Make Research Easy for Prospective Buyers

Research (for buying decisions) is a massive resource cost to businesses around the world. It is also a primary reason for lost deals. Were you to provide comprehensive information that was easy to find and on which a buying decision can be made, then your close rate would substantially improve. Add to this, an easy purchasing process and, rather than scouring the web, a buyer would see your site as a preferred source.

Mimic the Brick-and-mortar Experience

Regardless of what channel they may be using to shop, online consumers are demanding the quality of the brick-and-mortar experience. They want to zoom in on a product, rotate it, change its colors…in short, they want to interact with the item as though they were physically in the same room with it. Retailers with rich interactive media that can offer this in omnichannel have a significant competitive advantage during the holiday season and can convert at rates of 30 percent higher than those that don’t.

Offer Support via Social Media

Nielson research discovered that in 2012 one-third of social media users prefer to contact a company via social media than by phone. On your support pages, provide links to your social media profiles. Set up notifications in the social media accounts so you know when someone contacts you. This way you provide timely customer support to those who want it…in the way they want it.

Stay Ahead of the Curve

“It doesn’t take a lot of time for cutting-edge to become old hat. Keep researching to be aware of the latest tools and technology. If you stay still, you will find that your competitors will quickly surpass you.

Take the ‘E’ out of ‘Ecommerce’

Retailers need to realize that the lines of commerce have been, as John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, said, obliterated. It’s no longer a world of online and offline commerce. It’s just commerce. Retailers are competing on a global scale with everyone, everywhere. You need to give shoppers a compelling reason to buy from you. Find a way to differentiate and make sure you can grab shoppers attention and keep them coming back.

Think Like a Shopper

Keep your site’s design simple and clean, make calls-to-action clear, and focus on the product. Go through the flows of your site: search, browse, and buy a product, or have a friend do it and watch him without helping. Pay attention to areas where anything is confusing, doesn’t work the way it should, or takes too many steps. Then make adjustments.

Posted in Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Payments Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dec
19
2013
December 19th, 2013 by Elma Jane

NTC’s BIG DATA

Improving Collection and Analytics tools to Create Value from Relevant Data.

Big data is a popular term used to describe the exponential growth and availability of data, both structured and unstructured. And big data may be as important to business…and society… as the Internet has become. Why? More data may lead to more accurate analyses. More accurate analyses may lead to more confident decision making, and better decisions can mean greater operational efficiencies, cost reductions and reduced risk.

With NTC Virtual Merchant product, it captures email addresses at the Point-of-Sale (POS) into a database to assist merchants and consumer stay connected, and for future Marketing.

In understanding Big Data For Merchants, NTC’s President Mark Fravel, provided a general overview of how online merchants can use Big Data. Large amounts of seemingly random data from many sources…can be used to create competitive advantages.

Necessity of Analytical Tools

Collecting Big Data is the easy part. Storing, organizing, and analyzing it is much more complex. One seam of data that several experts identify as a particularly rich, emerging source of information can be as diverse as CRM software, AdWords, and your own website. Mobile communications, including text messages and social media posts such as Facebook and Twitter. Making sense of it can be overwhelming without analytical tools. These tools facilitate the examination of large amounts of different types of data to reveal hidden patterns and correlations that are not otherwise easily discernible.

A good example is NTC, they could analyze data on visitor browsing patterns, login counts, phone calls, and responses to promotions…they can monitor to eliminate what isn’t working and focus on what does. Some of the off-the-shelf analytic solutions are so finely tuned, they can tell a vendor whether it needs to offer a 25 percent discount or if a 15 percent discount will suffice for a particular customer.

Association rule learning is another analytics method that is a good fit with Big Data. This could be, for example, a shopping cart analysis, in which a merchant can determine which products are frequently bought together and use this information for marketing purposes.

Uses of Big Data Analytics:

Big Data can be most useful in analyzing a customer’s shopping and purchasing experience, which can help a merchant in the following four ways.

Become more efficient by alerting you to merchandising efforts that are ineffective, and products that are not selling.

Encourage more purchases by presenting existing customers with complementary items to what they’ve purchased previously.

Enhance inventory management by eliminating slow-moving items and increasing the supply of fast-moving merchandise.

Example: A top marketing executive at a sizable U.S. retailer recently found herself perplexed by the sales reports she was getting. A major competitor was steadily gaining market share across a range of profitable segments. Despite a counterpunch that combined online promotions with merchandising improvements, her company kept losing ground….The competitor had made massive investments in its ability to collect, integrate, and analyze data from each store and every sales unit and had used this ability to run myriad real-world experiments. At the same time, it had linked this information to suppliers’ databases, making it possible to adjust prices in real time, to reorder hot-selling items automatically, and to shift items from store to store easily. By constantly testing, bundling, synthesizing, and making information instantly available across the organization…the rival company had become a different, far nimbler type of business.

Increase conversion rates by better identification of successful sales transactions.

Is Big Data Analysis Affordable?

NTC Data Storage is also a good alternative for small ecommerce merchants because it is relatively inexpensive and is scalable it can expand as data requirements grow.

Relying on data-driven decision-making is crucial in industries in which profit margins are slim. Amazon, which earns increasingly thin profit margins, is one of the most effective users of data analytics. As more Big Data solutions for small online businesses come to market and more online merchants incorporate Big Data into their business tool set, employing Big Data will become a necessity for all Merchants.

Using data wisely has the potential to boost margins and increase conversions for online merchants, and investors are banking on it.

This is Big Data for NTC we know WHO, WHAT,WHEN, AND WHERE a purchase took place. 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Point of Sale, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dec
16
2013
December 16th, 2013 by Elma Jane

1. Account Updater (Visa)

Incorrect billing information leads to declined credit cards, loss of sales and unhappy customers.

Visa touts its Account Updater as an easier way to keep customer data current. The tool appends all card data with up-to-date customer info so businesses can avoid difficulties over address changes, name changes, expired cards and more.

The tool can benefit any business that bills customers on a recurring basis.

It eliminates the need for manual administration, so it can lower your business’s operational costs and customer-service expenses. And by saving your clients the hassle of a declined payment, you can boost customer satisfaction and overall sales.

2. Netswipe

Paying online is convenient for customers, but keying in an unwieldy credit card number is still a pain.

Netswipe from Jumio gives customers an easier way: The tool lets users pay by snapping a photo of their credit card; it’s almost as easy as swiping your card through a traditional card reader.

According to Jumio, customers can use their smartphone or tablet to scan a card in as little as 5 seconds, whereas traditional key entry takes 60 seconds or more, on average. Having a quick and convenient way to pay could help contribute to a positive buying experience and encourage repeat business.

The system is compatible with any iOS or Android mobile device, as well as with any computer with a webcam.

3. Netverify

Jumio’s fraud-scrubbing tool helps you determine if your customers are who they say they are.

Net verify allows customers to snap a picture of their driver’s license or other identification using a smartphone, tablet or PC webcam. Once the image is taken, the tool can verify the authenticity of the documentation in as little as 60 seconds.

That’s much faster and more convenient than asking a customer to fax or mail a copy of their ID in the middle of a transaction.

The tool can verify identifying documents from more than 60 countries…including passports, ID cards and driver’s licenses, and even bank statements and utility bills. Jumio says its software is smart enough to automatically reject nonauthentic documents.

And customers can rest easy knowing that all submitted information is protected with 256-bit encryption to prevent identity theft.

Online merchants embed Netverify into their websites as part of the checkout process.

4. Payment Gateway

Payment Gateway service does all the heavy lifting of routing and managing credit card transactions online.

Portals like this one benefit small businesses by providing a fast and secure transmission of credit card data between your website and the major payment networks. It works a lot like a traditional credit card reader, but uses the Internet to process transactions instead of a phone line.

Payment Gateway also offers built-in fraud-prevention tools and supports a range of payment options, including all major credit cards and debit cards.

5. PayPal Here

Mobile credit card processing services like PayPal Here  make it easy to accept credit cards in person using a smartphone or tablet.

PayPal Here and other similar services send you a dongle that attaches directly to your iPhone, iPad or Android device, allowing you to swipe physical credit cards wherever you are.

One major benefit of mobile credit card readers is that they work with the devices you already own. That means there’s no need to carry around additional hardware, aside from the reader add-on itself. Most credit card readers attach to your device via the headphone jack or charger port, and are small enough to fit in your pocket.

The smallest businesses have the most to gain by opting for mobile credit card readers, which are cheaper and far more portable than traditional options.

6. Virtual Terminal

If you do business online, your website needs the infrastructure to accept credit card information.

Web-based applications like virtual terminal offer the basic processing functionality of a physical point-of-sale system, and are easy to install on your business’s website.

The system allows merchants to collect orders straight from the Web, or take orders via phone or mail and before initiating card authorizations online.

It also includes extensive transaction history to help you manage payment data, split shipments, back orders and reversals. Business owners can even receive a daily email report of all credit card transaction activity from the prior day.

 

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Gift & Loyalty Card Processing, Mail Order Telephone Order, Merchant Cash Advance, Merchant Services Account, Mobile Payments, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale, Smartphone, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dec
12
2013
December 12th, 2013 by Elma Jane
Virtual Merchant Processing Gateway

Virtual Merchant Processing Gateway

Virtual Merchant

A virtual merchant is a website that sells goods and services to the public via online transactions with debit and credit card processing. The end result is a fully online experience where consumers can virtually visit a store to browse goods, purchase them fully online and receive them in the mail several days later, all from the comfort of your personal computer.

Virtual Merchant Element

Virtual merchants are made up of multiple features that basically make a website into an online store. Online stores provide e-commerce capabilities in the form of processing payments for orders and then shipping the goods or services either digitally or physically. Some brick and mortar companies may create a Web presence that only describes the store or displays the goods it sells, but they may not sell anything online.

Virtual merchants are a different breed from simple informational websites, utilizing a merchant account to create a secure online storefront. Merchant accounts create a contract between the store and online credit card processing companies. As part of this merchant account agreement, the virtual merchant pays the processor vendor a percentage of each transaction made via the online store. In some cases, this fee comes out to a monthly rate with a set per-transaction fee.

Virtual Merchant Services

Many virtual merchant services exist that cater to both online and offline business presences, though many that specialize in online retail offer more features and functionalities. These service providers offer virtual terminals to create a fully-functional payment gateway for processing purchases and creating a fluid shopping experience. Companies like National Transaction Corporation stand out as among the most popular of options due to their low merchant account fees and comprehensive virtual merchant services.

Benefits of Virtual Merchant

Virtual merchants expand the functionality of a website beyond a simple informational resource into a usable storefront. As is the case with most any type of online service, a virtual merchant service will help reduce overall work and costs associated with creating an online storefront, freeing you up to run your business as it was meant to be.

Using virtual merchant services for your website can benefit business in the following ways:

1. Easily integrates with your existing website for brand continuity

2. Facilitates more positive sales experiences

3. Improves customer service levels

4. Reduces administration and maintenance times for online retail websites

5. Removes geographic barrier from consumers, allowing for national and international sales

Secure information

Making each transaction as secure as possible becomes a main selling point of any company trying to build credibility through a Web presence. Virtual merchant services become an ideal solution as they offer all the necessary security measures to protect and keep private each buyer’s payment information.

The end result becomes that the payment process is protected through secured-socket layering (SSL) encryption to prevent data interception during an order, and account information is stored in multi-tiered firewall protection.

Straightforward online ordering

The most important part of any online purchasing experience is the ease of the ordering process. Through the use of features like a shopping cart, purchasing all items in the cart and creating an account to remember purchasing information all contributes to customer retention. When a consumer chooses to buy their goods online, a typical order processing form will entail entering credit card and billing address information as well as a shipping address and shipping options.

Each of these functionalities is ultimately governed through virtual merchant software to ensure a seamless and painless experience. The software is often available in one of two formats, either hosted or in-house. As a hosted solution, the virtual merchant service maintains the payment portal and allows you to edit its look and essentially create your store on their servers and databases. As an in-house solution, you install the software onto your own website servers and integrate the merchant application into the existing website. Both offer inherent benefits from customization to reliable management, but it ultimately depends on a company’s overall needs.

Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, e-commerce & m-commerce, Electronic Payments, Internet Payment Gateway, Mobile Point of Sale Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dec
12
2013
December 12th, 2013 by Elma Jane

A new study reveals that a staggering 68% of smartphone owners plan to use their devices to assist with their holiday shopping this year. According to Deloitte’s 28th annual survey of holiday spending intentions and trends, 56% of smartphone owners plan to use their phones to search for store locations. 54% will compare prices with their phones and 47% expect to use their phones to learn more about the products they wish to purchase.

The survey showed smartphone shoppers plan to spend 27% more on holiday gifts than non-mobile shoppers. Smartphone ownership has skyrocketed in 2013, rising from 42% last year to 61%, a change that is sure to influence the biggest buying season of the year.

The study also showed 38% of the consumers in the survey owned a tablet. 63% of those tablet owners will use their devices for holiday shopping this year. “Tablets are a two-way street for retailers. They have opened up an entirely new consumer touchpoint, where shoppers can view multiple retailers’ products regardless of their location…from their couch to the point of purchase. Retailers can also put tablets to work in their stores, providing both their sales team and customers with a broader lens into merchandise selection,” said Alison Paul, a vice chairman of Deloitte LLP retail & distribution. Now that the majority of consumers also own smartphones, these two devices have altered the way they interact with a brand, while also yielding a higher spend per customer.

Posted in Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Near Field Communication, Smartphone Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Dec
09
2013
December 9th, 2013 by Elma Jane

Credit Cards accepted on the American Express network will be offered by U.S. Bank. in the fall of 2014.

U.S. Bank becomes another major bank to form a partnership with American Express. As previously reported in August, Wells Fargo began issuing new credit cards accepted on the American Express network on a limited basis this year, with a full scale launch planned for the first half of 2014.

Pam Joseph, Vice Chairman of U.S. Bank, said in a statement, We believe that the American Express network provides a combination of benefits and services that many of our customers want.

The cards will be available to bank customers in the 3,088 branches of U.S. Bank, as well as online and by phone. U.S. Bank customers will also have a choice of obtaining a Visa or MasterCard.

Posted in Credit card Processing, Electronic Payments, Financial Services, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

← Previous Article
Next Articles »