Our high street retailers are not dead!
Far from it, retailers will always sell, grow and continue to change. Those that can't change or those that won't change, will be forced to change.
Proactively finding where to change is the tricky bit. Locating the differentiator that makes your offering the natural choice, without breaking the bank, is the 'holy grail' of merchant retailers.
Through many years of hard-won payments experience, Savanti have identified the 4 critical and strategic pillars that each merchant must put in place in order to maximise their retail offering, today and for the future.
To make payments your revenue differentiator, you must be;
Efficient - Minimising is key. Reducing your effort to handle your payments infrastructure, while lowering your customer's energy to pay with you, will ultimately drive your revenue and reduce your costs
Secure - At all costs. Protect your hard-earned gains, your customer's trust and the credibility you've won
Flexible - Change is a given. Your ability to pivot and flex to take advantage and accommodate the breath-taking speed of technological and customer expectations is critical
Accessible - Each payment transaction is a customer contact point. Every contact leaves a trace, and these contacts provide a wealth of data and information that smart retailers must use. The trick is to access this data without compromising your inherent trust and credibility
Have the flexibility to meet expectations
As of 2018, 7.4 Billion people inhabit our world. Of this number, 4.93 Billion people own the 7.2 Billion mobile phones that are in existence, this number is not reducing!
The capability to buy something from you, the retailer, is held by nearly 67% of the world's population - a statistic that can't be ignored.
But how do these people expect to pay for your products?
If you're in the US or Brazil, then it's very likely that payments will be made by VISA card. Based in China? AliPay is the obvious option. However, if you're shopping in Germany or perhaps the Netherlands, a SEPA Direct Debit or maybe an iDeal payment is the best payment method. It's not just a case of offering VISA and MasterCard payments to satisfy your customer's expectations.
Your payments offering needs be context-driven. Ask yourself exactly who is making the payment, and how would they expect to pay? Your customer's expectations are being driven to ever-increasing heights of aspiration.
Now it's possible to view transactions on a mobile phone, with the ability to review shopping receipts in a digital format and receive digital loyalty offers from popular merchants. Our customer has very high expectations, all of the time, from each and every merchant interaction. If expectations are not met, over time they will only shop with merchants who fulfil their needs. See Amazon.co.uk
How your customer pays is an area of mass disruption. With disruption comes significant change, which leads into an opportunity. Ensuring your retail payments infrastructure is ready and capable of change is a critical component in making your payments the differentiator.
At Savanti, we consistently advocate the need for change by design and work closely with key industry vendors to deliver technology solutions that allow you to change. We ensure that you benefit from the disruptions of innovation and put you ahead of the competition.
We'd be happy to support you on your journey, please get in touch info@savanti.co.uk or visit the chat function on our website: www.savanti.co.uk
