Payment success is predicated on how well one can identify and address industry trends. Here, Andy Davies and Amandeep Batra discuss those insights and how to best approach them. To start, our Global Head of Payments, Andy Davies will introduce our partnership with Stripe.
“Stripe and Endava’s partnership goes from strength to strength at significant and critical moment for payments. As a global leader in payments processing innovation, Stripe’s ability to evolve and craft modern payments processing processes is a must. We’re proud to collaborate with Stripe to fine-tune their offerings and incorporate those results into bespoke solutions that help steer our clients toward their large- and small-scale goals.
Two traits can help contribute to a memorable and effective payment process: convenience and care. When a transaction can prioritise those two values, buyers feel peace of mind, which gives them the confidence to purchase in that manner and from that vendor in the future.
Companies worldwide see this need to adapt their payment processes to appeal to a wide array of buyers. They also understand the barriers to executing some of those big-picture payment asks – next-generation technology can make those obstacles simpler to overcome, however, once we understand the issues and trends that have laid the groundwork for the current payment landscape.
And with that intro, I’ll give the ‘blog floor’ to Amandeep Batra, Payments Performance Strategist at Stripe.”
Payment method trends
Customers’ payment preferences are evolving and vary around the world, leading to an even more diverse set of payment methods. The rise of digital commerce – fueled by technological advancements – is changing how customers want to pay globally and increasing their preference for alternatives to card-based payments.
Regional trends
Payment method diversity and adoption are driven by many regional factors, resulting in customers preferring one method over another in different parts of the world. The popularity of alternative payment methods in the EU and UK is attributed to the long-standing availability of mature real-time payment (RTP) methods such as SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) and Faster Payments Service (FPS), reinforced by the regulatory landscape in the region to build an open banking ecosystem with PSD2/PSR enforcement.
Similarly, in Asian markets like India, which are trending towards becoming a cashless economy, there has been an increase in customers’ preference for payments via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) since 2020. In fact, UPI is now being accepted for cross-border transactions in other countries, including Singapore. North America is not far behind: it’s experiencing a steady growth of RTP and digital wallet payments with A2A rails RTP and FedNow®.
Enhancing the customer experience
Tailoring a payments experience isn’t just about increasing the number of payment options – businesses need to ensure that they’re surfacing the right ones, too. In one of Stripe’s surveys, 95% of customers said it was important for a website to provide the common payment methods in their country, and 86% said they would be very likely to abandon their cart if their preferred payment method wasn’t available. To expand global reach, businesses have to meet their customers’ payment expectations. That could mean offering one-click checkout in some markets, local payment methods like iDEAL in others or instalment plans in regions where ‘buy now, pay later’ options are popular.
Payment challenges
With the growth of digital payments and evolving trends in payment methods, payment processing remains a complex landscape, with each stage of processing bringing its own opportunities and challenges. Many businesses grapple with numerous challenges throughout the payment cycle, from compliance and error management to invoicing. Amid these complexities, fraud looms as a significant hindrance for organisations of all sizes and industries worldwide.
A closer look at the challenge
The pandemic multiplied the difficulty of combating fraud, as fraudulent actors capitalised on uncertainty to evolve their tactics, increasing both the diversity and the volume of fraud attempts. Fraud poses a significant threat to all organisations. However, subtle variations depending on a company’s location and industry further complicate an already complex landscape.
Stripe conducted an analysis of these trends to understand some of the factors influencing fraud patterns and regional variations. For instance, the locally managed payments structure in Latin America is one likely factor contributing to the region’s relatively higher fraud rate compared to North America and Asia Pacific. Our analysis also spotlighted particular business types, such as B2C companies with a recurring revenue model, that are particularly vulnerable to fraud.
An overwhelming 75% of such businesses reported an increase in their manual review load, attributing a larger share of resources to fraud prevention in the past year. We credit this to the elevated brand recognition of B2C businesses, which makes their products more resalable and, hence, attractive targets for fraudulent actors.
Fighting fraud
As online payment trends evolve, fraudulent actors continually adapt and refine their strategies. Initiatives like 3D Secure for online card payments, which necessitate multi-factor authentication, are vital in this fight. Additionally, the power of data analytics and machine learning in fraud detection should not be underestimated. Concurrently, adopting a rules-based approach allows businesses, regardless of their size, to recognise and block fraudulent patterns in their early stages. Together, these measures form our comprehensive strategy to navigate the complex landscape of online payments, combating fraud effectively and securing the future of digital commerce.
Payments are anything but static, and the companies ready to shift with this changing industry are best positioned to thrive within it. Find more insights in our The Account-to-Account Payments Tightrope e-book.