Unlock Global Sales: Choosing a Payment Gateway for Your Ecommerce Website

Step 1: The customer enters their payment information

When a customer is in the checkout process, they fill their payment details on your online store’s checkout page. The payment gateway then encrypts and safely sends this sensitive information, and, of course, all are guaranteed secured.

Step 2: The payment processor authorizes the transaction

Once the payment gateway provider receives the payment information transferred from the customers, they pass it along to the payment processor. This processor then reaches out to the customer’s credit card company or bank for authorization.

Step 3. The gateway receives and confirms authorization

After the payment gateway has done authorizing information from the processor, it sends confirmation back to the ecommerce platform, allowing for the next step in the payment process.

Step 4. The financial institution transfers funds to the merchant account

At this stage, to accept credit card payments, you typically need a merchant account. This account serves as a temporary holding place for funds before they’re transferred to your business account. 

Once the transaction is authorized, the buyer’s financial institution moves the funds from the customer’s account to either the merchant’s bank account or their business bank account. This is when the payment is considered completed. After this, the business can then move forward with fulfilling the order.

One important thing to note for all merchants is, many payment gateways apply a mix of fixed transaction fees and monthly charges. Therefore, it’s essential for retailers to consider these costs when devising their ecommerce payment processing plan.

Improve customer experience

In this day and age, modern buyers expect more exceptional experiences than in the past. They anticipate smooth, adaptable, and trouble-free shopping encounters, and a payment gateway aligns with these expectations. 

To cater customer requirements, payment gateways empower customers to make payments conveniently, regardless of time and distance. Which means whether your customers are on-the-go, at home, or using any device, payments are ready to be fulfilled. By leveraging payment gateway for ecommerce website, store owners are able to enhance the customer’s journey and boost Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) as well. A seamless payment experience nurtures customer loyalty, encouraging repeat purchases and fostering enduring customer connections.

Enhance security

Using payment gateway for ecommerce website, you can ensure data protection for customers as they prioritize advanced security functions to shield sensitive customer data. 

To do this, they employ advanced encryption technologies and secure protocols to safeguard information like credit card numbers, shielding them from potential fraud and data breaches. 

Faster processing

With automation processes, payment gateways can streamline transactions, significantly speeding up the checkout process compared to manual handling. This swift pace ensures a seamless checkout experience for customers and expedites the sales cycle for businesses, ultimately enhancing cash flow.

Global expansion

For ecommerce businesses who are on the go of penetrating into global markets, a payment gateway for ecommerce website becomes indispensable. While serving people around the world, you have to handle a significant amount of customers who come from diverse regions. How can you address the problem of multi currencies? Of course it seems to be impossible for human labor to do it manually.

Fear not, payment gateways facilitate transactions in multiple currencies, empowering businesses to serve customers across different countries. This feature is especially advantageous for businesses engaging in international sales, as it enables them to accept payments in their customers’ local currency, enhancing convenience and accessibility.

As you can see, payment gateway for ecommerce website play an integral part in enhancing overall operations, beyond transactions. They contribute to a more secure and efficient checkout process, improve customer satisfaction and bring opportunities for global expansion. That said, they are the driving force for online business success in today’s interconnected world.

Shopify Payment

Shopify Payments is integrated with the Shopify platform, which serves as the built-in payment gateway for ecommerce website. It offers smooth payment processing for customers while allowing analytics functionality within its system.

Pros:

• PCI DSS compliance to ensure data security.
• Accepts various payment methods such as credit cards, digital wallets, Shop Pay, and PayPal.
• Processes international payments in customers’ local currencies for convenience.
• Access to 24/7 customer support for assistance.
• Automatic deposits enable effortless withdrawal of funds from your Shopify admin to your business bank account.

Cons:

• Only available to Shopify merchants.
• If you are not a member of Shopify Plus program, you have to pay an extra fee for transactions if you want to integrate third party payment gateways.

Pricing:

• Shopify’s payment processing fees vary based on your chosen plan, ranging from 2.9% to 2.4%, in addition to a 30¢ fee per transaction.

Paypal

When mentioning PayPal, it ranks top payment gateway for ecommerce website for businesses with a global customer base who have PayPal wallets.

Pros:

• Access invoicing capabilities to streamline transactions
• Implement protection programs to prevent fraud 
• Enhance customer experience with one-touch checkout functionality.
• Assist international payments in various currencies
• Free setting up

Cons:

• A distinct setup process with the checkout, which can be quite complicated
• Limitations in customer support
• Apply additional transaction fees
• Higher transaction fees than alternative payment gateways 

Pricing:

• PayPal charges a transaction fee of 3.49% along with a $0.49 fee per transaction. For international payments, merchants face an additional 1.5% fee on top of the base transaction fee, as well as a fixed cost based on the currency involved.

Stripe

Stripe stands out among many B2B ecommerce platforms as a leading payment gateway provider, specializing in mobile ecommerce, SaaS, non-profits, and platform-based payments. It is interesting to note that Stripe has the capability to  manage high transaction volumes and supports over 135 currencies, which not all payment gateway for ecommerce website can do.

Pros:

• Ensures compliance with PCI DSS standards for secure payment processing.
• Free to customize options to tailor the payment experience.
• Automatically converts currencies to streamline international payments.
• Includes subscription billing features for processing recurring payments and securely storing card details.

Cons:

• Requires technical experience for setup and utilization.
• Complicated guideline document to for non-technical users

Pricing: 

• A standard packaging fee of 2.9% plus 30¢ for transactions made with cards and wallets. 
• Additional fees include 0.5% for manually entered cards, 1% for currency conversions, and 1.5% for international cards.

Square

Square payment gateway is suitable for small businesses that need a method of credit card processing for in-person transactions, though they do charge a premium for manual transactions.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface 
• Flexible pricing options for merchants.
• Complimentary swipe card reader for added convenience

Cons:

• Higher fee for additional functionality
• Limitations if processing high transaction volumes.
• Limited integration options with third-party marketplaces.

Pricing:

• A transaction fee of 3.5% plus 15 cents per transaction for in-person payments
• 2.9% plus 30 cents for purchases made through an online store, online checkout, ecommerce API or online invoices.

Amazon Pay

A huge plus point for Amazon Pay is it allows customers to utilize the payment information stored in their Amazon account for purchases on your store. It reduces time and efforts while attempting to complete a transaction, enhances brand recognition and trust during checkout.