The transaction value of European digital and mobile payments seeing a 30 percent increase over the last three years to 2022 (Source: Europe Payment Market Report). Having the flexibility to onboard new payment streams has become vital for growing sales and retaining potential customers considering doing business with you.
In this context, the choice of customer payment options has changed drastically. No longer are there just a few big players in the payment market. There are now new payment methods emerging constantly. In Europe, the government has opened the door to new providers by forcing banks to collaborate with these new players and accept the money transfers they provide consumers (PSD2, open banking).
A new customer playing field
Successful business today involves customers with ever-changing payment needs. As more and more consumers adopt new payment methods your business is under pressure to provide a means to process those streams or lose business.
What does this mean for your business? As a large to medium enterprise, this involves a lot of accounting and internal support. Reconciling payments from these new streams can become a great expense and financial risk. The decision then becomes deciding on the trade-off between lost consumer purchases due to unsupported payment streams versus the cost of having to correctly reconcile your financial accounts for all those purchases.
These trends are here to stay for the long term. If your enterprise is to maximize sales and grow in this new playing field, the decision has to include finding the best internal support to process and reconcile customer purchases through any existing and future payment streams.
Reconciliation is a big factor when considering onboarding a new payment stream. Having the capability to accurately record payments and reconcile financial differences, often across large sums, can be the deciding factor shaping the final decision.
Factoring in time differences
Depending on the method of payment, money flows into your business accounts at different points in time. For accurate reconciliation, you want to allow for all payment flow variations, namely payments that flow directly into your accounts when a customer makes a purchase, those that require waiting for provider confirmation as well as those paid in bulk at particular intervals. Knowing the terms and conditions when adopting payment methods is critical for successful reconciliation once they are active. A platform that incorporates the specifications of each and presents you with clear options can provide you immense savings in time and resources.
Managing your cash in transit
Reconciling cash from cash registers is also a multi-level process when third-party cash holding companies are used . Monitoring cash traveling to the third party and then ensuring it is deposited into your bank account requires good internal financial monitoring.
Growth in Buy-Now-Pay-Later
Demand for accommodating buy-now-pay-later purchases has also grown over the last few years. While this area is expecting greater government regulation, providing customers with the options they desire gives your enterprise more opportunities for continued sales growth.
This new way of paying requires a new way of accounting and certainly adapting your reconciliation methods to cater to the time differences together with the transfer methods you decide to offer.
Payment Options Set to Continue Climbing
Today’s consumers aren’t just adopting new payment options, rather they progressively use multiple streams and would like the option of choosing between them. International purchasing ability means consumer shopping is now borderless and must factor currency exchanges into the equation. Taking on additional payment streams, therefore, means your business must also have the resources to reconcile those new streams internationally.
In addition to the classic credit/debit cards you also have payment streams such as,
- Bank-to-bank payments,
- Crypto payments,
- QR-code-based payment methods, such as Alipay, Apple Pay, and Twint.
- Marketplaces,
- Vouchers, and
- Lunch checks
Technological advances and the trend toward new players in the money transfer and open banking field mean this list is constantly growing.
Stay on top with ReconHub
ReconHub allows you to meet the needs of your customers and capture those sales. Reduce the chance of lost opportunities with the ability to process payments through any and all payment streams.
See it at the single transactional level
With ReconHub you can keep track of those individual transactions down to the single transactional level. Furthermore, when inconsistencies appear, ReconHub gives you the ability to see exactly where the source of that error is and what information is lacking or incorrect. Meaning you can reconcile with an in-depth view of all your transactions and spend the time you save focusing only on where the problems really are.
Wide coverage options
ReconHub gives you cover for 86 worldwide payment streams to date and the list is continuously growing. With ReconHub you won’t have to decide between sales and costs, you can focus on your business knowing that integrating new and existing payment streams is quick and effortlessly achievable.
Customizable by location
As a large to medium enterprise, you may have store locations with different demographics and payment preferences. With ReconHub you can customize the payment streams you process by location. Save on training staff and technical installation by accepting payments through the methods your local customers prefer. Additionally, you have the option to make sure you have the correct consumer knowledge by testing and trying a specific stream at specific locations for a fixed period. This gives you the power to make the most efficient business decisions at the individual location level.
Make the Best Business Decisions for your Future
If you’re looking to expand your business, whether it be in sales growth or opening additional locations, you want total control, regular overviews, and transparency of all the financial flows within your business. Possessing a digital platform, such as ReconHub, gives you all that in an easy-to-use platform. Assessing decisions and switching to more cost-effective options becomes effortless as you can easily compare costs, such as commission rates, and smoothly switch between the companies you use.
Your business can thrive with expert knowledge of the payment industry presented to you in one digital platform, giving you the freedom to choose and integrate the right payment methods for your enterprise. If you want to learn more about ReconHub, please contact us.
