By Chester Ritchie, Worldpay US
This holiday season, perhaps like no other before, consumers will increasingly shop and buy by mobile device, choose to pay their way and expect their information to remain safe. After all, they are today’s point-of-sale. The right payment partner can offer critical insights and implement initiatives to best serve customers especially during the busiest time of the year.
Below are three questions you should ask your payments provider to make this shopping season your most successful yet:
1. Can we be doing “omnichannel” better?
Your customers’ expectations for a connected buying experience across platforms this season will be amplified. Customers will make purchases their way and likely through multiple touch points: In-store, online and on the go. They expect the ability to browse by mobile, shop in-store and pay the way that’s convenient to them: Cash, credit card or mobile device. They’ve got a list, but they don’t have time to check it twice. If your store does not offer the omnichannel shopping experience consumers are looking for, they will go elsewhere.
Talk to your payments provider about inventory management solutions that track products across channels. Systems that track inventory on all platforms, present real-time updates on what’s selling best and move stock as needed all through a simple interface give merchants a better handle on the holiday flux. Payments partners can also help boost mobile revenue by offering the in-app payment options customers want. Payments features like credit card vaulting and mobile wallet compatibility on top of store accounts linked to any platform make shopping easy and repeatable.
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2. What should I do about gift cards?
As the saying goes, “numbers don’t lie.” While gift cards may seem outdated compared to emerging technologies, they are an important player in retail. During the holidays, shoppers love to snag gift cards from their favorite stores to exchange with family and friends. In fact, Giftcards.com reported consumers spend more than $100 billion a year on gift cards, with online usage specifically growing at a healthy rate of 29% each year. Moreover, roughly 75% of shoppers tend to spend more than the amount gifted on the card.
As for retailers, gift cards are a guaranteed source of revenue. Gift card usage soars after the holidays and into the New Year. Review your gift card redemption strategy with your payment partner. Key characteristics to consider include 24/7 customer support, POS activation and monitoring features to track customer spending.
3. How can I protect my customers and business beyond EMV?
The estimated $1.6 billion stolen by cyber criminals during the 2013 holiday season (according to the FTC) has shoppers on edge about card security. Now that the October 1 EMV liability shift is bringing enhancements to card-present systems, hackers are redirecting their efforts to card-not-present (CNP) transactions. The right cloud-based security features can offer a more robust approach to data protection with solutions like point-to-point (P2P) encryption, tokenization and vaulting.
P2P encryption and tokenization minimize account visibility by masking actual card information. Encryption codes credential information in such a way that it can only be understood by the payment processor who decodes the message to authorize a transaction. Tokenization replaces real card numbers with a random string of characters. This assortment of tokens is exchanged between the payment processor and card issuer instead of account information. Lastly, vaulting locks away consumer data within the virtual vaults of payment processors to facilitate frequent electronic purchases.
Close collaboration with payment partners is the key to complete protection. These groups specialize in strengthening brands by keeping customer data secure. A good payment processor maintains a thorough knowledge of top-tier technologies and industry standards and advises merchants in a timely manner.
Don’t feel like your business has to take on the holidays alone this winter. Asking the questions above is a great way to get the ball rolling now. Leaning on your payment processor to implement a holiday-readiness plan frees up your time and attention for other efforts while they hold the payments and data protection forts.
Chester Ritchie is the SVP of Worldpay US, a leading global payments technology provider for any platform: in-store, online and via mobile devices. To learn more about their Worldpay and their tips for merchants, visit www.worldpay.com/us.
