10 Mar ACCEPTING E-PAYMENTS WITH NO E-COMMERCE

E-payments are key to meet new market needs and keep up with radically transformed consumer purchase habits.

 

The European eCommerce market continues to grow and is projected to reach a €412,095m revenue in 2021 showing an annual growth rate of 5.16%, resulting in a projected market volume of €504,059m by 2025. [1]

Yet despite the 2020 accelleration, eCommerce is seen by many B2C and B2B businesses as a complex system of platforms, processes and strategies, requiring substantial investments or not being applicable to all business models.

However, seizing sales opportunities today, certainly means to reconsider the channels used so far and going digital, eventually integrating new solutions that may better meet customers’ needs.

This does not necessarily involve a full revolution of processes in small to medium retail or B2B companies: approaching new sales channels can be a gradual and flexible journey, based on individual business’ needs.

A gradual approach can be a valuable opportunity not only to explore new tools and solutions and to evaluate their real impact on company processes, but also to spread the investment efforts and costs linked to a more comprehensive business digital evolution over time.

Digitising payments is a key step for any business to keep up with radically transformed markets and consumer purchase habits, allowing a progressive approach to e-channels.

ePayments: the key to meet new market needs  

Certainty and immediacy of payment combined with real-time information are among the biggest challenges for any company switching from traditional to digital sales channels.

Without those elements, customer orders cannot be processed, and precious time can be waisted in a context where the speed of service is a key competitivity factor.

Luckily nowadays, efficient services are available to companies of any size and industry: for example, MyBank payments via pay-per-link solutions allow merchants to send payment requests to their customers via e-mail or text message, along with a payment link. This is a “ready-to-use” option, already made available by several banks, that does not require any significant investment.

MyBank is a complementary and alternative solution to credit or debit cards and further tools, ensuring customers a secure and frictionless payments experience and, at the same time, providing businesses with certainty of payment and real-time transaction confirmation.

MyBank is an irrevocable online wire transfer with real-time payment confirmation, which has no transaction amount limits contrary to card options.

Once customers are ready to pay and have chosen MyBank, they select their bank and are automatically redirected to their online banking service. Here, using their usual credentials, they immediately find a pre-filled bank transfer form for them to check and authorize in one click: the transaction is secure, and their data are kept safe, with no third-party sharing.

As far as the selling parties is concerned, with MyBank, once the confirmation is received, payment collection certainty is ensured. Therefore, customer orders can be processed in a timely manner. In addition to this, administrative tasks are streamlined thanks to 100% automatic bank statement reconciliation and the risks linked to frauds and chargebacks is minimized: MyBank provides the highest security standards and is fully compliant to PSD2 (including SCA – Strong Customer Authentication), GDPR, and AML European regulations.

The pay-per-link system is a valuable collection tool also when it comes to orders made by telephone, through social media or via apps, such as for Click&Collect services.

Last year, Click&Collect has boomed all over Europe and has allowed a significant number of small businesses to continue selling throughout the pandemic, without incurring in shipping duties and costs: this provides a good example of how digital and traditional channels can work together in synergy and complement each other.

Pay-per-link transactions via MyBank effectively streamline B2B payment collection, too.

According to a recent Forrester[2] study, in 2021, 60% of European businesses will significantly invest in tools with AI and automation functionalities to boost productivity, eliminate manual data entry and focus on engagement optimisation by offering their existing and potential customers new solutions able to better respond to their needs.

In B2B, still many companies do not use online platforms where customers can place their orders and finalise their payments. Furthermore, some businesses still use traditional payment methods that no longer meet their customers’ need for order management efficiency and rapid delivery times.

Hence, making a payment solution like MyBank available to customers, helps optimise services and boost client satisfaction, while eliminating manual duties at back office level, and streamlining business services as a whole. With MyBank payments via pay-per-link solutions, B2B companies can benefit from seamless collection also with regards to orders collected by telephone and in person; moreover, they can be successfully used as payment reminder for overdue invoices.

Conclusions

Digital payments allow businesses to meet evolving customer needs, both in the context of B2C and B2B sales and of citizens’ payments towards Public Administration entities.

Offering customers a secure and frictionless e-payment solution also for products or services purchased on channels that are different from an online website, allows businesses to make a first key step towards innovation and increase its competitiveness.

MyBank, with its irrevocabile bank wire transfer with real-time confirmation also available via a payment link, provides businesses of any size and industry with an efficient, easy-to-integrate and flexible tool offering certainty of collection, thus making all processes more efficient.  

 

[1] eCommerce – Europe | Statista Market Forecast

[2] https://go.forrester.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/20Q4-Predictions2021-EMEA-IT-1.pdf