Security confidence around payment methods differs from country to country

Customer: SSP Hats
Industry: Fashion wholesale
Location: Lincolnshire
Product: Multicurrency and local payment types via Sage Pay partner PPRO Group
Result: Increased overseas sales through payment choice

As a wholesaler of hats and accessories, SSP Hats launched as a family business back in 1987. Having decided to expand their business to reach a wider customer base, SSP Hats realised the need for local payment types and approached their payment provider Sage Pay for help.

The challenge

Since its launch in the late 80’s, SSP Hats has grown to become the UK’s premier hat and accessories wholesale supplier.

Looking to open the business up to a global customer base and move into the overseas market, the team realised the importance of being able to offer customers the choice to pay in their own local payment type. With further insight into local preferences and nuances, the businesses country specific agents reiterated just how critical this would be. Finance Manager Sarah Fennell said:

‘Our experience is that different countries will have preferred payment channels. The level of security confidence around different payment types changes from country to country and our challenge is to know which the best methods are for each country before we activate the website.’

In particular, hoping to make Germany their next big market, research showed the SSP Hats team that although popular in the UK, card payments are not the main choice of payment for shoppers in mainland Europe. So it was important that they offered an easy and simple way to process online payments that was appropriate for the customers in each specific country.

The solution

Sage Pay’s partnership with the PPRO Group, specialist for alternative payment methods, enables them to extend their capabilities to better serve its larger merchant clients who are seeking to sell their goods online into the wider European market where traditional UK payment methods are not always recognised or accepted. Together they were able to offer a variety of European accepted payment methods to SSP Hats including SOFORT, giropay, iDEAL and eps to serve customers in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria.

Sage Pay handled the process on behalf of their customer and were able to provide a cost effective solution which has had a huge impact on the SSP sales figures.

The result

Sarah Fennell says: ‘Once we had the local payment options available we saw an increase in confidence in our service which led to a boost in both customer and order numbers, for example in Germany we have raised the ordering customer numbers tenfold”

As well as increasing confidence by offering well known and trusted payment types, options such as giropay have enabled SSP Hats to offer a speedier service to our overseas customers with many able to receive their deliveries within 5 days of ordering, leveling the playing field with businesses in the customers own country.

‘Our customers love the wide choice of payment options available to them. Sage Pay is internationally trusted payment provider and we find this together with our professionally translated website gives them confidence in the company.’

About Frank Breuss

Frank Breuss (born in 1976) has a Master of Marketing & Sales and many years’ experience in international sales and marketing activities. Before joining PPRO, he was Country Manager Austria and Sales Manager Europe at SafetyPay. He has also worked for switch energy GmbH, CyberTron Telekom AG, Amazon.de and Sodexo Motivation Solutions Austria, where he held the role of Director Sales, Business Development & Marketing for over six years. At PPRO, Frank focuses on customer and partner relationship management as well as customer acquisition. He will also be looking after the integration of products and services such as innovative payment methods for new countries and target groups. His mission is to systematically raise customer satisfaction ratings by constantly optimising PPRO’s service portfolio.

About PPRO

The PPRO Group is an integrated solution provider enabling international electronic payment processes. Positioned as ‘The Payment Professionals’, the company was founded by Phillip Nieland and Tobias Schreyer in 2006 and is headquartered in London (www.theppro.com). Covering the entire value chain from acquiring through issuing to processing, PPRO makes life easy for its customers with its one-stop, end-to-end offering. Complementing conventional credit card services, PPRO offers payment service providers and partners a fully integrated interactive platform supporting a multitude of national and international alternative payment schemes across more than 100 countries. For ease of service, the company delivers these schemes under umbrella agreements covering all the technical, regulatory and legal requirements of acquiring, issuing and processing.

About SagePay

Sage Pay is a leading independent payment service provider (PSP) and is one of the most trusted payment brands. Every year Sage Pay processes billions of pounds worth of secure payments for its 55,000+ customers and makes the process of accepting payments online, over the phone, or in person simpler, faster, safer and more profitable for businesses. Sage Pay is a subsidiary of FTSE 100 business management software and services company The Sage Group plc. For further information please visit: www.sagepay.com