With commerce and ecommerce being virtually intertwined nowadays, SMEs and big players admit that omnichannel is key in their business strategies. What omnichannel strategies would you recommend for SMEs and large companies, given their different business approach?
Everyone is talking about omnichannel, and merchants are increasingly enthusiastic to grow in this field. But to avoid the complexity of attempting presence on countless channels, thorough research should be undertaken to understand the biggest priorities of their customers. Merchants should be wary of simply incorporating the most exciting omnichannel services in to their strategy, or just those bringing the most up-front revenue.
For SMEs, the main focus should be on adding a complete suite for POS, online and mobile, in order to reach their customers on all the requested channels. For the large companies that already have in place the multi-channel approach, the next level should be tapping into the internet of things, and creating networks of connected devices, enabled to collect and exchange data.
Could you outline the major challenges for large and small retailers in implementing omnichannel strategies?
Although many merchants would like to offer omnichannel experiences, I think the practical operation can be complicated and the main question here is, how omnichannel does a retailer really want to be? And this depends from business to business. SMEs’ main challenge is often the joint processing systems they use, and independent fulfilment and CRM systems for each channel.
With such disparate operations, uniting the user experience can be impossible. SMEs should stick to one vendor that can accommodate their specific omnichannel needs and fits their business, tackling specific pain points and providing consumer-led, emotional experiences and invisible payments. On the other hand, the large retailers should look for a complete solution that incorporates a full suite of omnichannel tools offered by the best-of-breed suppliers in the payments ecosystem.
Another challenge comes from the PSD2, which both facilitates and challenges the concept of omnichannel retail. On one hand, it gives recognition to disruptive, non-traditional payment services, allowing scope for more innovative solutions without bulky legacy systems. The PSD2 also contains a significant strengthening of rules on payment service user authentication, with the purpose of ensuring that PSPs can be confident on the identity of those using their services.
PSPs will be required to apply ‘strong customer authentication’ – two or more independent methods – when payers initiate an online payment or electronic transaction. This is known as two-factor authentication. The requirements could damage smooth customer experiences, and ultimately a merchant’s conversion rate.
How does omnichannel affect the payment function for a merchant selling across borders in terms of the online versus in-store payment capabilities?
By referring to the online versus in-store payment capabilities, the main difference stays in the ability to offer local debit, in-store, in each country; at a global level, there are big differences in the transactions margins.
From an omnichannel point of view, in the past, in-store was in denial of online, resistant to change. Online, meanwhile, looked down its nose at in-store, believing it was growing old and obsolete. Later, online and in-store began and merchants focused on being present on many channels and platforms; online, offline, mobile, social and everything in between.
In choosing a payment partner to enable omnichannel commerce services, what should a global merchant take into account?
I’d advise merchants to have a complete understanding of their wishes. They should aim for a flexible solution, fully customisable according to their business’ needs, which can give them access to the best products, both locally and globally. Merchants should do good research so that they can choose the best-of-breed for each phase of the omnichannel experience.
Payvision, for instance, can offer our clients a full 360 degrees omnichannel package, give merchants an opportunity to migrate away from their multi-vendor strategies and implement a totally integrated, end-to-end platform for all their payment processing and reporting.
By leveraging the global card processing experience of Payvision, the forward thinking alternative processing capabilities of Acapture, and the innovative (mobile) point of sale technology of PayPlaza, our clients now have access to a full suite of omnichannel tools behind one central interface.
What are the best business strategies to employ by a retailer in order to survive in a fiercely competitive omnichannel world?
Right now, omnichannel consumers are the drivers and merchants are the vehicle. Instead of striving to achieve seamlessness on countless channels, merchants should force themselves to think like their consumers and make the emotional changes across meaningful channels, not just for the bottom line. These changes include the provision of;
The core of being omnichannel is tapping the vast amounts of data available to provide something superior and personal. Once we identify and understand customers’ behavior and preferences we are able to offer them the shopping experience they wish for. This leads to higher conversion rates, while enabling merchants to truly understand their own market performance.
To conclude, omnichannel is still in its early stages because ecommerce players started moving into the traditional POS space, while the traditional POS players never really stepped into the ecommerce space.
Moreover, today all elements of the experience are fragmented. There are different apps and payment processing providers that don’t integrate with one another. The future of omnichannel will be a lot more integrated, but this integration will vary across different businesses.
Learn more about omnichannel in Payvision’s latest research paper: Profitable Omnichannel Retail
About Gijs op de Weegh
Having previously worked in the Banking Industry (ABN AMRO) Gijs joined Payvision in 2002 as head of Legal and Financial Operations. Gijs is in charge with Payvision’s global financial operations. His vast experience in ecommerce and payment processing solutions has been fundamental in empowering Payvision to develop innovative technical solutions and strategic business alliances.
His vision concerning future trends, payments innovation, and the continuously changing environment of online payments, have led to consistent business growth and tremendous success in terms of Payvision’s geographical expansion and increasing profit.
About Payvision
Payvision is one of the fastest-growing global acquiring networks in the world which provides international payment solutions based on ONE Secure Full-Service Payment Platform for all ecommerce transactions. Enhanced with innovative technology, Payvision serves over 300 Acquiring Banks, PSPs, ISOs and ~ 5,000 web merchants, processing over 100 million transaction a year.
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