In reality, it is the SMEs and independent merchants that rely - more than the larger retailers - on growing their businesses through ecommerce and mcommerce. These merchants significantly contribute to local economies and in fact, according to the European Commission, there are over 20 million SMEs in Europe, comprising 99% of businesses now.
However, setting up and trading online - in order to grow business beyond their borders - has not traditionally been easy for them. One would think that the major obstacle is the significant initial financial investment which is required in order to develop a more sophisticated kind of website that accepts online payments. This cost isn’t necessarily the major barrier to ecommerce - the bigger issue for these merchants is the amount of time it takes from set-up to payment processing.
Traditionally, the process of setting up a merchant account or acquirer account - a bank account specifically for the funds accepted online - typically takes months due to compliance requirements and other operations-related issues. This is a problem for SMEs that need to start operating as a business to make and move money quickly.
Luckily, there are now digital solutions available to SMEs, breaking down this barrier to ecommerce to help them get set up quicker. If legacy issues are stripped away, then merchant acquiring should essentially be a technology-based service, enabling a much speedier process. Today, innovative acquiring solutions have been built from the ground up to transcend the many challenges faced by the ‘traditional’ bank acquirers.
Solutions like these are ideal for the small merchants, as the rise of digital technology has enabled the process of getting retailers trading online to be much faster. The real secret ingredient in the entire process is at the onboarding level. In order for small merchants to be able to begin the payment processing online quickly, it is critical for them to be onboarded (by an acquirer) in an extremely short timeframe and the only possible way is if the onboarding system is completely digital and automated.
A completely technology-driven onboarding system ensures retailers can be online, accepting payments in a matter of days rather than weeks and months, bypassing the ‘traditional’ systems and processes that are ill equipped for today’s multi-channel retail environment.
Further benefits of modern technology solutions have enabled these SMEs to take real-time control of their business by utilising solutions that are flexible and customisable but which are still technology-based at the core. These solutions offer real advantages for all businesses trading online, such as better conversion and approval rates, which can really assist SMEs and can significantly help manage cash flow, financial management and ultimately, survival of the business.
An acquirer’s role in ensuring that the future looks bright for these retailers is to reduce the amount of time it takes to begin the acceptance of payments and this can only be done via a technology –driven acquiring approach!
About Moshe Selfin, Chief Revenue OfficerMoshe brings with him over 15 years of entrepreneurship and innovation in both start-ups and large corporates. Previously Credoraxs Chief Marketing Officer, he spearheaded the companys branding and go-to-market strategy, leveraging his experience in sales, marketing, business development and product knowledge. Prior to joining Credorax, Moshe was co-founder and Vice President of Marketing & Product at Kaminario and before that, Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at Anobit Technologies. Previously, he was Head of International Sales & Business Development for the Financial Services segment at IBM (NYSE:IBM), Solutions Director at EMC (NYSE:EMC) and Director of Business Processes Development at Elbit Systems (NASDAQ:ESLT). Moshe holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering and Information Systems, and an MBA from Haifa University.About CredoraxProviding a faster, easier and fully digitalised Smart Acquiring experience for ecommerce and mcommerce merchants and PSPs, Credorax is one of the world’s first technology companies to become a principal-level member of Visa and MasterCard and PSD-licensed financial institution in Europe. Credoraxs Smart Acquiring solutions are based on the companys core technology, ePowerTM, a next-generation payment processing platform built and designed to create a more efficient merchant acquiring experience.
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