With startup balloon inflating at a high pace, businesses
look to expand their reach by launching websites or mobile apps for showcasing
their collection. Some look to conquer the digital arena by taking their brand
from offline retail shop to modern digital store while some techies focus on
building a marketplace for such business owners.
Whatever may be the case, each party looks to go online
expanding business opportunities, growth prospects, an increase in revenue,
wider reach and more happy customers. Building an e-commerce store isn’t an
issue anymore. There are web and
mobile app development companies who take care of
the same from your project’s tender to maturity stage.
Launching an e-commerce store implies you’ll need a payment
gateway for online transactions, which needs to be secure, easy to use,
trustworthy and technically smart. People are apprehensive about the security
of their personal details being leaked while performing an online transaction,
which is right on their part.
There are numerous options available in the market but which
one fits the bill? It isn’t as easy as stone skipping. Online stores need to
try hard in order to find a perfect payment gateway provider. An in-depth
research is required to find the best suit for your business needs.
There are large corporations which have ruled the market for
more than 10 years while on other side of the court there lies a bunch of
newbies who are innovative in their approach, technically sound and do things a
different manner. So, the question is where to put your money on?
Before we move ahead in search of an ideal payment gateway,
let’s first understand what does exactly a payment gateway means and how does
it work?
Understanding payment
gateway and its operations
For those who already know what a payment gateway is and why
we require it, no need to ponder here and you can quickly move ahead to the
following section, which takes you through the points to consider while
choosing a payment gateway. Rest pay attention.
A payment gateway can be defined as a medium through which
transactions are being processed between an online store and consumer. It
enables a connection between the two allowing a secure and a direct transaction
from consumer’s bank to service provider’s bank account.
How it actually
works?
A connection is established by payment gateway between
consumer’s bank and service provider’s website, which dictates the further
terms that a transaction can be made or not. Following are the tasks performed
by the gateway in real time to access if your credit/debit card is entitled to
do an online transaction or not.
- Fetches
customer’s credit/debit card details
- Seeks
verification from the issuing bank (Accepted or declined)
- Passes
verification status to the customer visiting the website
- If verification
is positive and customer made a payment, then gateway accepts the payment from
issuing bank and transfers to the acquiring bank
- In the fund
transfer process, gateways charge their cut and process the remaining from
issuing bank to acquiring bank.
How to figure out
which gateway fits the bill?
Here are certain points you need to consider before you seal
the deal.
1. Integrated or
hosted
There are basically two types of gateways- integrated and
hosted. As the name suggests, integrated, it will be integrated into your store
and visitor won’t be redirected to another platform for payment procedure.
Unlike, in the case of hosted gateways where a website visitor is redirected to
another platform for completing payment formalities.
Selecting a hosted gateway pops up several doubts related to
its popularity, reliability and trustability. People would be reluctant in
entering their account details on a platform which isn’t popular or seems
unreliable to them, therefore impacting your conversion rates. Directing a
customer off your website is always a risky affair.
Instead, integrating a gateway into your website is a
smooth, seamless experience for you as well as your customers. If they make a
purchase on your website, it means they trust you and they won’t give a second
thought before sharing their account details on your website.
Both gateways have their pros and cons, it is advised to
analyze the same before taking a final call.
2. Supports your
business model
It is crucial to ensure at the start if your future payment
gateway provider supports your business model. Go through their websites in the
quest for finding a list of businesses they feel comfortable working with. It
will save you a lot of time. There are providers, which don’t support
businesses like dating, gambling, gaming, trade etc. while others might be up
for an association. Also, check if they offer additional protection schemes as
well like fraud detection, chargeback management etc.
3. Customer support
It is one of the important aspects if you run an online
business. Your web visitors expect you to be available all the time for any
query, doubt related to product’s size, color, availability or material.
Similarly, you might also require support if in any rare case something goes
wrong. Make sure gateway provider provides around-the-clock support.
4. Targeted
audience (Local or Global)
Analyze what your targeted audience is? Do you want to reach
global audience too? Do you ship internationally? There are local and global
payment providers. Former can take care of all the transactions done via local
banks, cards etc. while the latter comes with a plenty of new possibilities and
support like multiple global cards support, multi-currency support, currency
exchange settlements, alternative payments and much more.
5. Fees charged
There is a certain amount charged by providers in return for
setting up the gateway and real-time transactions. This can vary from provider
to provider, hence it is advised to research good before picking one. They
generally charge on a percentage basis with every successful transaction done.
However, don’t get too excited by providers with low fees.
They might entice clients with low pricing but can trouble in future due to
lack of technology or expertise. Focus on the real cost of the system,
considering technology involved, expertise and bank collaborations. You can
definitely negotiate rates, but squeeze the lemon to a certain limit.
6. Security comes
first
Security is crucial, not only for you as a business owner
but also for your customers who’ll be sharing their personal details on your
website. Hence, it is important to ensure that your gateway provider has
everything covered and sorted around the same. Ensure maximum protection is
achieved every time an online transaction is made on your website.
Effective
online payments are one of the prime factors in determining the effectiveness
of an online business. Don’t compromise on the same and ensure you have a
reliable and safe payment gateway provider onboard.
