The boom of the digital marketplace means that consumers are not only buying internationally while they are traveling abroad, but while they are just sitting right on their couch. Online shopping allows consumers to choose from a limitless number of stores and move far beyond the reach of where they are able to drive for a day trip. As a result, businesses who want to attract the highest number of consumers need to make international payment processing a priority. Of course, being able to accept debit and credit cards is vital in today’s competitive business environment, but businesses who want to gain an extra edge should work to make paying as easy as possible for international customers.
Placing an emphasis on international payment processing might be particularly vital for Canadian businesses who are falling behind their competition. The Canadian online marketplace has shown growth lately, but still lags behind other countries, including the United States. There are several factors that contribute to that trend, but the fact that Canadian consumers tend to buy from American and other international retailers hurts Canadian businesses. Encouraging international buying and working to attract shoppers from all over the globe might help offset that problem and, in the long run, help prevent Canadian shoppers from looking abroad.
In addition to catering to international shoppers, growing businesses must also make sure that they are able to provide an easy buying experience for mobile shoppers. In fact, last summer, the amount of time consumers spent shopping on their mobile devices surpassed PCs and laptops for the first time. Experts believe that trend will continue, so businesses who do not want to miss out on customers will need to install reliable mobile payment systems. They will be just as important as international payment processing.
Since it can be harder than it sounds to upgrade payment systems, many owners and managers will choose to partner with merchant services who can not only provide the right software and equipment, but manage the day-to-day rigors of processing payments. Lots of companies simply lack the resources needed to handle all of those tasks in-house, so merchant service providers can be an invaluable resource.
Utilizing the proper payment systems is vital for businesses who not only want to make sure online transactions are accurate every time but give customers a positive experience that they will want to use time after time. Whether that means catering to international shoppers, mobile consumers, or both will vary, but having the right systems in place is always important.
