An increasing number of merchants are shifting their view of payments systems from functional tools to key drivers of business growth.
According to a survey conducted by PXP among U.S. and UK merchants, nearly two-thirds recognize payments technology as essential for expansion. Over half of respondents are actively leveraging payments tech to unlock new revenue streams, monetize payment capabilities, and increase their appeal to consumers.
“This data from PXP underscores what Javelin is seeing in our research—a great payment experience for customers is becoming table stakes for retailers, both online and in-store,” said Don Apgar, Director of Merchant Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Merchants are working hard to deliver a better payment experience than their competitors.”
Expanding the Menu
One way to improve the customer experience is by offering more options, and this trend is becoming more prevalent across the merchant space. According to PXP, over a third of respondents are expanding their payment options. Merchants are also increasingly aiming to provide an omnichannel experience, where customers can seamlessly transition between a brand’s in-store, online, and mobile environments.
However, delivering this experience is easier said than done. Merchants often face challenges in determining how to allocate funding and resource investments for their omnichannel solutions. In addition, tracking and managing inventory across e-commerce and physical locations can quickly become cumbersome, especially as a business scales.
Augmenting the Brand
To solve for these challenges, there has been an increasing demand for enterprise point of sale (POS) systems, according to a separate data from Shopify. An enterprise POS is a unified system that connects sales, loyalty programs, and inventory across multiple channels. This cohesive solution, powered by APIs, provides merchants with a holistic view of their operations.
Payments data plays a key driver in the omnichannel experience, as most merchants rely on it to track customer purchasing activity across various sales channels. However, as organizations introduce more payments solutions, it is important to ensure these systems enhance the brand experience, rather than detract from it.
“Enterprise retailers tend to value flexibility and extensibility above all other features in a POS platform—every retailer has their unique spin or ‘secret sauce’ that makes their business stand out from competitors and the POS needs to accommodate that,” Apgar told PaymentsJournal.
