Alternative payment methods are some means of payment used for products or services that are purchased. These methods refer to any form of payment other than cash or more conventional card brands, as technology continues to evolve, and payment methods do as well. Today, we share with you some alternative payment methods, as well as their importance and benefits for online businesses.
One of the reasons why alternative payment methods (APM for short) have become popular over the years, is to keep up with the payment habit and keep the consumer more and more secure as online shopping becomes more popular.
To better understand what is APM and how it works, here we have some alternative payment methods:
- Electronic cash payments: At the end of the purchase, the customer generates a bar code or a bank reference to make the payment
- Domestic cards: These are cards similar to those operated by Visa or Mastercard, but accepted in one or two markets. The benefit is that they provide lower processing costs.
- Direct Debit: This is an agreement between the customer and the company where the payment is automatically made directly from the customer’s bank account.
- Mobile wallets: digital format to store payment cards and not need the physical model to make purchases.
- Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL): is an option to pay in installments, mainly through a bank account, debit or credit card.
But how important do alternative payment methods need to be considered in your payment strategy? You must always be prepared and open to meet the customer’s needs. Having varied methods is to open possibilities for more and more consumers to have access to your product or service.
According to research by Checkout.com in partnership with Oxford Economics, 56% of consumers say that if they could not use the payment method of their choice, they would not complete the purchase. The truth is that everyone likes what is familiar to them, and online shopping is no different.
In many countries, even if you have traditional credit cards, it is interesting that your ecommerce has alternative methods to reach global customers and know your target’s preferences. For this reason, we recommend that you deeply understand your target needs, but also that you monitor and identify the local trends.
Among the functions of alternative payment methods is greater security, and convenience, because in addition to some reasons that can make a customer abandon the order and interrupt the online purchase, the lack of confidence in the payment options available. Therefore, the greater the variety of payment methods, the more confidence and loyalty the company will have.
On the other hand, you must ensure that the provider you use allows you to quickly integrate new payment methods, that are trusted by the customer.
In this context, Checkout.com‘s technology adds the resources that your company needs, to handle with:
- Risk
- Fraud prevention
- Add multiple payment methods to your ecommerce
They also have a highly qualified team ready to help brands improve payment performance.
Some advantages of investing in Checkout.com technology:
- Open and flexible platform
- Transparency in reporting
- Strategic partnership
- Local expertise
- Global optimization
With the options of alternative payment methods brings businesses and customers, security and more ways to control how they want to pay.
For your business to reach more people and places, you need to meet the most diverse demands possible.
Did you already have alternative payment methods on your ecommerce?