Many merchants are building substantial revenue streams on multiple channels. Brick-and-mortar retailers are doing business online, and e-commerce businesses are opening physical showrooms and selling merchandise in pop-up shops. Restaurants are accommodating the growing consumer trend of ordering food online for delivery or pickup. These businesses need the ability to accept both card-present and card-not-present payments.
Card Present vs. Card Not Present
Card-present and card-not-present transactions are notably different:
- Card present: A customer presents a physical card to make payment at a point of sale (POS), such as at a stationary POS terminal, mobile POS device, unattended payment kiosk, or by tapping a contactless card.
EMV technology is designed to help secure these transactions. The chip in the payment card communicates with the card reader, creating a unique code that a counterfeit card would fail to produce. The card will also be declined if it’s been reported as lost or stolen or if suspicious activity has occurred.
- Card not present: In this type of transaction, the merchant’s POS system doesn’t read cardholder data from a physical card. Instead, it’s communicated remotely, for example, online, via mobile wallet or in-app payment, or by phone.
Merchants can verify card-not-present payments in several ways, such as requiring that the customer enter the CVV number on the back of the physical card or the cardholder’s address or ZIP code.
The Problem with Two Payments Integration Partners
When merchants began transitioning into multichannel business, their current payment provider may only have offered either card-present or card-not-present services. As a result, some businesses worked — and continue to work — with different payment companies to accept different types of payments. However, this creates some challenges for merchants:
- Reporting from multiple companies means that merchants spend extra time on reconciling their books and reporting.
- Data from different payment companies is siloed, limiting visibility into customer behaviors across channels.
- PCI compliance is more involved and complex.
- When a problem occurs, it may not be evident to a merchant’s employees which payment company to call, which can lead to excessive downtime.
- Total fees may be higher when working with multiple providers.
Working with one, omnichannel payments company that facilitates both card-present and card-not-present payments eliminates all of these issues.
An Omnichannel Payments Partner is Also Beneficial to ISVs and VARS
The benefits and convenience of choosing one provider for card-present and card-not-present transactions aren’t limited to merchants. There are also advantages for ISVs and VARs providing them with POS and payment solutions:
- You work with one payments integration partner for all certifications.
- When you need assistance or support, you have point of contact.
- You can offer your customers tokenized payment data that they can use across channels, such as streamlining the process of making in-store returns of online purchases.
- Solutions have security features that address data from all types of payment transactions.
Another benefit to working with one, omnichannel payments company is agility. Merchants continue to expand their businesses to new channels and accept different types of payments. An omnichannel payments company will provide essential payment capabilities today, whether card present or card not present, and offer additional features when their businesses grow or change. That agility will also help you future-proof the solutions you offer and keep them relevant in a continually changing space.