Accelerate Your International Revenues Using Local Payment Methods on the IRP

As we all know, the international ecommerce landscape is complex and technology is ever changing.

There are now hundreds of new payment methods available for transacting online and the preferred methods will vary greatly between countries.

Digital Wallets (eWallet), Mobile Pay, Direct Debits, Credit Cards, Bank Transfers, Prepay and even paying the postman when your parcel is delivered are just a few of the many payment options offered online.

Offering your customers a checkout experience where they can use their local payment method will undoubtedly increase your conversion rate as customers are more likely to:

• Trust the payment gateway.
• Be willing to put their hand in their pocket or pay with their face, fingertip or passcode.
• Feel positive about the shopping journey.

This added trust will increase the likelihood of a customer coming back to shop on your website and drive your presence in international locations with elevated consumer confidence.

Consider demographics too: with the rise in social shopping through mobile devices, a large number of your customers will be interested in an easy checkout process that allows them to pay using their fingertip or through face recognition technology.

Entering your credit card number on a mobile device is cumbersome and may lead to a checkout drop-out, therefore enabling Local Payment Methods (LPMs) on your website will improve conversion.

You can license the IRP's built-in support for Local Payment Methods through an integration with the payment gateways Global Payments (Realex) and Worldpay.^3-6 (There is a small module fee because the LPMs require ongoing configuration and support.)

The potential benefits of enabling Local Payment Methods are huge:

• Greater choice for customers in checkout.
• Better for first-time buyers.
• Increased customer confidence in checkout because it offers them familiar payment methods.
• Improved perception of customer service.
• Reduced checkout dropout and fatigue associated with multiple field entry.
• Increased international trust.
• Increased conversion rate across devices.
• Increased likelihood of repeat custom.

Consider: what percentage of your customers are first-time buyers? International customers? Checkout on mobile? You could be missing out on valuable sales by not having Local Payment Methods as an option in your checkout journey.

There are many other potential advantages for both the customer and the retailer of offering Local Payment Methods.

• Create and design heading banners for mobile and desktop highlighting the new payment method.
• Create model banners with the updated payment method.
• Update the desktop and mobile footers to include the mini payment logos.
• Segment your email marketing for that particular country and send an email detailing new payment method.
• Create a PPC campaign alerting users to the new payment method.
• Update your affiliate network.

References

1. Retail e-commerce sales worldwide from 2014 to 2021 (Statista)
2. China to Surpass US in Total Retail Sales (eMarketer)
3. Offering Local Payment Methods on the IRP (IRP Strategy Centre)
4. Local Payment Methods (IRP Knowledge Base)
5. Local Payment Method Accounts (IRP Knowledge Base)
6. Alipay on the IRP and the Implications of Currency Conversions on Accounting (IRP Strategy Centre)