An omnichannel approach to payment processing

Retailers with and without unified brand experiences

*Per Periscope Research as of 4/2016 – www.periscope-solutions.com

“Omnichannel” is a concept that has been floating around the retail industry for some time, but merchants still struggle to deliver consistent, continuous customer experiences across their properties and onto the internet. And data segregation between those channels is at the heart of this challenge. 

To implement frictionless customer interactions, merchants need to manage payments across all their operations seamlessly. Integrating payments across e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores provides the foundations retailers need to deliver omnichannel experiences that today’s customers crave.

Why retailers are struggling to implement omnichannel strategies
The chief reason that merchants need to integrate their payment systems is because customers don’t view brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce sites as distinct channels. For example, Edgar, Dunn & Co, in a white paper for Adyen, found consumers purchase out-of-stock items while browsing in-store through kiosks or card-compatible mobile POS devices if merchants enable them to do so.

The problem is, enabling customers to take these kinds of actions involves significant development and processor certification, only available through select payment solutions that enable cross-platform tokens and felxible payments engines. Today, it seems most merchants simply lack the back-end support they need to cost-effectively roll out order-in-store, click-and-collect and omnichannel return experiences.

Researchers from Periscope, a McKinsey Solution, surveyed attendees at the World Retail Congress 2016 conference in Dubai, learning 78 percent of retailers do not have unified brand experiences across their properties. When asked why retailers struggled to implement omnichannel strategies, 48 percent of survey participants highlighted siloed operations as a chief hindrance.

Retail executives also noted they couldn’t analyze customer data across channels (67 percent), didn’t have access to quality information (45 percent) and couldn’t identify specific customers across shopping trips (45 percent).

In addition to using multi-processor payment integration technology, POS providers should focus on developing customer analytics and data management features into their solutions. These functions provide coverage of the primary issues retailers face when rolling out omnichannel strategies. Ultimately, POS providers require resources that allow them to focus on front-end experiences, and this entails leaving back-end payment management to simple, add-on solutions.

Enabling omnichannel payments
Establishing seamless payment infrastructures across retail operations compels POS providers to leverage solutions that integrate e-commerce POS applications with brick-and-mortar installations. This integration must enable merchants to:

  • Send payment data to the same processors, irrespective of where transactions occur.
  • Accept EMV and mobile payments at brick-and-mortar locations. 
  • Leverage point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and tokenization to reduce security risks.

The solution in question can integrate with any POS software, whether it be browser-based, PC-based or designed for mobile devices.

NETePay, a payment integration solution from Datacap Systems, delivers the features necessary to support omnichannel operations, tying e-commerce transactions to new and existing brick-and-mortar POS installations. Enabling merchants to unify their back-end payment systems, NETePay supports in-store EMV and eCommerce on a variety of top-tier payment processors – all through a single payments integration for the Point of Sale provider.

Using NETePay allows you to deliver the device compatibility, security and integration your merchants require to operate across multiple channels, enabling you to provide innovative solutions to common omnichannel challenges. 

 

Ready to link your in-store and online payments?


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