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Alternative Payment Options

December 7, 2022

While consumers still carry credit cards, they’re increasingly looking for other ways to pay. As a result, digital wallets such as PayPal and Venmo are growing in popularity. Moreover, these digital payment methods aren’t just for online shopping; they are increasingly accepted in many physical locations.

Some reasons for this include safety, security, and convenience. In addition, customers are looking for the most convenient way to spend their money, and having alternative payment options will remove constraints for either traditional or trendier clients.

You must know your customer’s preferred payment options. Then you must consider new payment methods like Apple Pay, Venmo, or PayPal. If you don’t offer these options, your business will lose sales and revenue.

On the other hand, opening your business to alternative payment options can increase success rates. Furthermore, we are not discussing replacing your current options but enriching your customer experience.

Research by Checkout.com, in partnership with Oxford Economics, concluded that consumers are more likely to avoid shopping on a site that wouldn’t allow them to use their payment method.

Consumers are looking for safety and convenience when they shop online. Adopting these APMs can provide ease to your customers.

Some of the most common alternative payment methods (APMs) include brands like PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, CashApp, Al i Pay, Klarna, Grabpay, and even newer cryptocurrency ones, Bitso and Binance.

Adaptability is vital for business success. Adapting to new trends can help the business show that you care for your consumer’s preferences. If you want to take advantage of this growing opportunity and increase your sales by adding more payment options for your customers, the first step is determining the best choice for your business.

As with any change, you need to evaluate what will help improve your business. Influencer Marketing Hub says, “To find the best APMs for your business, think about your target market, the nature of your transactions, and your budget.”

There are many perks of having APMs available for your consumers. The following are a few ways they can increase your business reach.

Make money on the go with mobile payments.

Mobile payment technology offers you fast and secure ways to make money on the go. Whether at a busy grocery store or waiting for your flight at an airport, you can easily use your smartphone to complete financial transactions.

It’s also suitable for business owners who want to accept credit card payments from their customers but don’t have a traditional point-of-sale (POS) system installed in their stores.

Another option for mobile payments is to accept payments through social media.

Social media payments are a great way to accept payments without building a business page.

Social media payment apps like Venmo and PayPal allow users to send money directly from one person’s bank account to another’s in minutes. This can be useful if your customer doesn’t have access or is uncomfortable with traditional payment methods such as credit cards or e-checks.

You can also allow consumers to go cashless with digital wallets.

Digital wallets are an alternative to cash, checks, and credit cards that enable customers to pay for purchases through their phone or computer.

With digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, you can instantly accept payment using a unique QR code that customers scan with their phones. This payment method is gaining traction among merchants because it’s fast, easy, and convenient for both parties.

However, before you jump right in, you should take some essential security measures to protect your business against fraud:

First, ensure that your customer’s data is encrypted during all transactions.
Make sure the transaction meets all legal requirements to comply with regulations set by governments or financial institutions.
Use two-factor authentication (2FA) or Touch ID fingerprint scanning to protect against unauthorized access to customers’ personal information.

Alternative payment options can help your business reach new markets and even make you money by following the trends of your customers. By making sure these payment methods are available where customers shop for goods and services, you’ll be able to help them get what they want without having any problems.

To recap, alternative payment options are available. Of course, cash and credit card payments are still the most common ways for customers to pay, but there is room to grow into new alternative payment options and prepare for the upcoming consumer trends.

Adding these options will allow all generations to feel comfortable making payments in your business. The shift to these alternative options can take a while to assimilate, but it is possible. Make sure to provide your consumers with the best choices using data to verify your decision.

Data-driven decision-making can provide your company with feedback from consumers that will allow you to understand them better. As mentioned in an article by Tech Vice, studying data is the best way to receive your customer’s feedback and learn from it.

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The New Brick-and-Mortar: Social Commerce

admin

June 22, 2022

As a society, we constantly look for more convenient ways to cover our need for speed. During the COVID pandemic, formulated marketing strategies to supply consumers’ need for instant gratification were established, like e-commerce and its successor, social commerce.

Social Commerce started appearing in the U.S. a couple of years ago on popular social media platforms. Although social commerce can be new and confusing for many marketers and brands out there, social commerce has come into existence quite seamlessly in the past years.

Social commerce, stemming from eCommerce, refers to the shopping experience that occurs directly on a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok. This trend relates directly to the time consumers spend on social media platforms.

According to Forbes’ article “The Future Of Selling Is Social: Social Commerce Vs. E-Commerce,” consumers spend more time on mobile apps than web browsers. Making social media platforms a most powerful advertising tool than any search engine. “Given that consumers spend more time on mobile apps than on their mobile web browsers, wishful thinking may imply an indirect paradigm shift away from Google, as the world’s most powerful advertising platform, to Facebook.”

The NOW Gen is all about using social media for entertainment, communication, staying in the loop of news and trends, learning, and even commerce. This instant-gratification-looking generation has made the swift move from traditional e-commerce to social commerce because it feels natural to instantly shop what you are discovering in your social media timelines. The seamless addition of social commerce to the consumer’s routine of social media usage will allow its growth and fulfillment.

In the past couple of years, various social media platforms, from Facebook to Twitter, have invested in features to facilitate selling products. These people-connecting platforms are now integrating live stream events, digital stores, and more to become a selling point to its users.

Social commerce for the U.S. is still in its early stages, but it is expected to be just as big as in the Asian markets. On the other side of the globe, specifically in China, social commerce is a popular trend amongst social media users. “About 51.5% … of social media users have or continue to purchase via a social media channel.” It is no surprise, since China is also the global eCommerce market’s leader, that they are also leading this social commerce trend globally. “China continues to lead the global e-commerce market, accounting for 52.1% of all retail e-commerce sales worldwide, with total online sales just over the $2 trillion mark in 2021. It also has the world’s most digital buyers, 824.5 million, representing 38.5% of the global total.”

Many brands are getting on social commerce because the consumer is asking for it. As mentioned above, the NOW generation is known for its need for instant gratification. Therefore, the paramount convenience of social commerce is immediacy.

Consumers are also looking for “mouth-to-mouth” product recommendations, and social commerce allows them to hear directly from brand ambassadors. The social shopping experience is richer than a regular shopping experience. With added social factors, consumers can seamlessly complement their social interactions with the brands they know, trust, and hear from new products or brands.

As Ad Age has mentioned in their article, “Shopping Trends Every Marketer Should Embrace In 2022”, getting on board with the social commerce experience will give consumers the convenience and engagement they are looking for. “Expanding virtual shopping experiences appearing on social platforms will entice consumers who want a more engaging and convenient way to shop online. The in-store experience will never look the same as everything from easing curbside pickup to concierge services to enhanced AR/VR visualizations will become normal features. Moving forward, brands that engage directly with consumers via content and creator-influenced experiences that come enabled with commerce functionality will capture significant market share.”

Brands are learning from China to implement social commerce strategies. Some trends you can look out for include: video, live stream shopping, live chat, and social influencers. The consumer is looking for these things to be convinced that your product, and brand, is the best option. If you are looking to join the social commerce movement, consider the following ideas:

Choose the right platform and format to showcase your business. It is critical to understand what social platform is used more by your consumer segment. Also, evaluate how you will present your products on social media, now your newest storefront.

Prioritize quality visuals. The social media consumer is constantly flooded with thousands of videos on social media. Your business needs to stand out from the rest to make an impactful shopping experience. Take your time to tailor these assets for your brand and product.

Finally, although this new way of commerce is significantly increasing in our markets, don’t forget to constantly evaluate and adjust your strategy. With the NOW generation, speed and change are crucial to success. Social commerce is here to stay; take advantage of it.

Business

The future of E-Commerce after the vaccine

admin

March 29, 2021

2020 was sure a year to remember, not only because the pandemic hit us worldwide, but also because it was a year of transformation. We were forced to stop and take a step back. We started reflecting on what is important to us and realizing that nothing was going to be the same as before.

Behaviors changed for everyone. We moved from eating out to cooking at home, from partying, to enjoying quality family time and from rushing to the nearest store, to buying online. And we see this behavioral shift in a booming 10 year growth in E-commerce happening in just 90 days.

Nevertheless, vaccination is becoming available, and brick and mortar shopping is, little by little, plunging back to normal, so how are these changes going to affect E-Commerce? Is E-Commerce on the verge of an exponential decrease?

Not quite.

COVID-19 has undoubtedly left us with a growing desire to escape from our homes, but we are still wary on doing activities we used to do before, and one of those activities is going to an in-store shopping.

Due to the safety and convenience E-commerce brings to the table, it is becoming a default activity in our daily lives. In a research done in the UK market, 42% of people surveyed said that they will continue to shop online more frequently, even after the outbreak is over. It’s considered that this behavior will persist, but not to the same degree as last year, and all of this depends on the customer satisfaction with the E-Shopping experience.

With new opportunities come new responsibilities.

More and more E-shoppers are appearing every day, meaning there’s a new window for opportunities, as well as challenges that force E-shops to innovate and create better solutions for not only attracting new customers, but to keep the existing ones loyal. It’s crucial for companies to implement strategies that will retain their clients and stay relevant in its growing E-commerce competitive market.

Time for uniqueness.

E-Commerce companies have to be on the lookout of solutions that match the needs of immediacy, simplicity and convenience to their customers. Nowadays, people have the total control of their shopping and are continuously looking for E-shops that will fulfill their expectations, so it’s up to the companies to keep up with them.

Build a robust omnichannel customer experience: – More and more people are turning to mobile shopping. Having your site responsive is a must if you don’t want customers to leave (if a site takes more than 5 seconds, the bounce rates will increase at 22.2%). Cultivate direct shopper relationships in every touchpoint, be active in social media with relevant content, have a quick response when help is needed and a quick checkout process are also effective ways to create retention.

Loyalty programs at its best: – When it comes to E-shop, 75% of customers will only buy once in the same online store, so having a loyalty program is very important if we want people to come back. From creating a point or referrals system like Sephora, to free delivery and special offers, there are so many ways you can create an original top-of-the-line program in your E-Commerce sites that will keep customers happy and loyal.

Everything has changed, but we are still optimistic that by giving you solutions such as content and fast up-to-date optimizations for your E-Commerce, we will make sure that your customers have a strong, trustworthy relationship with your company that will perdure in time, even when that time is hard.

E-Commerce

Alternative Payment Options

The New Brick-and-Mortar: Social Commerce

The future of E-Commerce after the vaccine

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