Growth of Cross-border E-commerce Offers Many Opportunities
Times have been exciting for e-commerce. And it’s easy to see why – global e-commerce sales will exceed € 4.7 trillion (USD 5.4 trillion) by 2022, as per Statista. E-commerce users are swelling, with new customers logging on every day. Europe alone had over 500 million e-commerce users in 2021. And adoption is on growing across the world.
Recent data from PYMNTS shows that cross-border e-commerce sales will hit € 1.05 trillion (USD 1.2 trillion) in 2022, with European countries accounting for nearly 28.3% (€ 299 billion) of the total cross-border sales. And the appetite for more surely seems to be growing, as another survey by global fintech firm Airwallex found out. More than three-quarters of SMEs in the UK have plans for geographical expansion in 2022, with six in ten (62%) SMEs planning to expand into Europe, while 38% have plans beyond Europe.
This rapid growth in e-commerce makes expanding to other markets an attractive proposition for online businesses. It gives merchants more opportunities to tap into a newer customer base, build new partnerships, increase sales, and become a global brand.
If you are an e-commerce business, cross-border sales are a great way to expand your business into international markets. But you have to adapt to local market conditions and optimize the shopping experience for customers, based on where they live and shop. Adopting new payments technologies should be an integral part of a company’s overall strategy for global expansion. Choosing a capable payments partner to support you through seamless payments and cutting-edge technology is critical to your global expansion strategy.
Here are four strategies to help you expand your business into other markets.
1. Optimize Your Payment System To Power Growth
To operate in multiple markets, you need to be able to process payments in local currencies and offer the most popular and convenient payment methods. These could be credit cards, digital wallets, Buy Now Pay Later, or other payment methods. But supporting multiple payment methods requires wading through a lot of complexity daily. Hence, working with a payments partner that understands your business is critical.
A global payments service provider can help you to quickly add local payment methods in different markets as and when you need them. They can help you seamlessly integrate multiple payment methods through one integration and offer you a reliable payments infrastructure that can handle large transaction volumes. Using a single payments platform to manage your payments helps you increase your conversion rates and gives you more control of your business. Tech support for payment methods is also critical to troubleshoot customer issues, reduce barriers to purchase and enhance the overall customer experience.
2. Build a Solid Risk Management Strategy To Prevent Fraud
When you expand into new markets, it is not enough to know just your customers’ payment preferences. It is critical to understand the risk landscape too. Build a solid risk management strategy that uses AI and machine learning to monitor and prevent payments fraud. Understand the fraud and risk rules associated with each market, and set up market-specific risk control models.
Optimize your payment authentication process across all payment methods and currencies you offer. Apply Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and 3DS2 authentication to process payments securely. This will help you maximize your authorization rates while keeping the entire shopping experience seamless and enjoyable.
3. Embrace New Payments Technology
Payments require technology to improve performance and security while making it easy for consumers to shop and pay. There has been a lot of innovation happening in the payments industry, and embracing new technologies means embracing new opportunities. Hence, you have to leverage technology to get the most out of your payments. Keeping up with local payment trends and adopting the latest payment technologies can help you offer an enhanced shopping experience to your customers in different markets.
4. Experiment With Payment Solutions That Complement New Business Strategies
Brands need to continuously improve local user operations and expand local channels to establish a strong presence in local markets. Payments are one of the most critical channels that connect merchants directly to local consumers. Building a rich payment experience helps you to implement local marketing strategies more effectively and provides you the gateway to global markets.
For instance, you might have plans to open a physical store in addition to your online store. Choosing a cross-channel payments solution that is quick and easy to implement will boost your payment efficiency both in-store as well as online. Or, you could use analytics to map your payments data and spot trends, which can then be used to enhance the shopping experience. Having access to a capable technical team and support staff will also help you to tailor your offerings to the markets you operate in.
How Can Novalnet Help?
Expanding into global markets is much more than offering customers the preferred payment methods. It involves a much complex set of procedures – from dealing with separate agreements, legal and regulatory requirements, technical integrations, testing, and maintenance. Hence, it is crucial to work with a global PSP that can help you solve the complexities arising from supporting multiple payment methods.
With Novalnet’s technology, you can accept payments globally in 125+ currencies in 150+ automated country-specific payment methods. We can help you set up your payments within minutes with our instant payment plug-ins, with minimal coding required. With our AI-based risk management solutions and advanced analytics, you can design the best payment experiences for your customers, and all of it in a PCI DSS-compliant environment.
Speak to us to know more about different payment methods and how you can develop the best strategy to take your business global.
Jose Augustine is the Chief Business Development Officer at Novalnet with extensive experience in European payment industry and a knowledge powerhouse.