Seamless sales When paying for a premium product, consumers expect a premium experience. In-store, that experience might include getting a fancy product bag or a glass of fizz when browsing the store. Whereas online, creating that feeling of luxury is slightly more difficult – with payments playing a bigger role than you’d think. The checkout process should be seamless and quick and anything else becomes a barrier to conversion and may cause luxury shoppers to abandon their carts. An example of this could be complicated authentication checks and slow server response times. Fraud Another key element of the online customer experience is the mitigation of fraud. With more money on the line for consumers, brands that don’t embed double-shield protection, rules and criteria into their payment processes, risk not only the sale but the customers’ overall brand loyalty – one of the key drivers for sales in luxury. Historically, luxury brands have worked hard to address payment friction. Many brands have entered partnerships with a variety of payment methods, for example, Klarna, to offer customers a premium, seamless and simple, purchase experience. The problem with this is time. The reconciliation of collecting each partner’s bespoke payment data (i.e., sales volumes, VAT, purchaser demographics) and then bringing that data together in a meaningful way, is a significant undertaking taking a huge amount of capacity. One that many businesses will, mistakenly, skip when revenue is flowing in. A bespoke shopper experience To create a bespoke shopping experience aligned with the target audience, retailers need to first understand their customer: where in the world they’re based, how they like to shop, their payment preferences, the time of day when they are most likely to make a sale. To easily capture these insights, brands should partner with a merchant acquirer that offers a dashboard of data. The dashboard should provide live insights which instantly allow businesses to identify trends, fraudulent patterns and customers’ payment preferences. Leveraging these insights, brands can go on to create the perfect personalised payment experience. Again, the most important thing for luxury shoppers is a smooth shopping experience, regardless of the brand touchpoint. Whether the consumer is shopping on their mobile, tablet, or in-store via a virtual check-out, the process needs to be consistent and quick. An easy solution to streamline the process across all digital platforms is securely saving card details. After the first purchase, the customer’s card can be immediately tokenised, protecting them from unauthorised access and fraud. Once stored on file, the card can be used for one-click payments, enabling customers to check out in moments, rather than minutes. The payment process becomes premium and the bespoke shopping experience is improved. In addition, it’s important to align the payment options available to the wants and needs of the consumer. From open banking to buy now pay later, the diversification of payment methods is allowing F i nanc i a l Innov a t i on & F i nTech 52 Finance Monthly.
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