Over the last few years, e-commerce has established itself as a future alternative for millions of businesses around the world. However, nobody would have expected that the 2020 menu would bring a real revolution in the way we use e-commerce.
The focus on e-commerce was transversal to all types of companies and consumers. Businesses that already had a digital presence increased their offer. Others with a physical presence, but no supporting website, created online logistics and others, born out of entrepreneurship or the need of thousands of Portuguese to create a new future for themselves, turned social media marketplaces or ready-made or pre-made e-commerce platforms on the market into their favoured vehicle for selling online.
Despite the multiplicity of challenges that each business faces in the e-commerce universe, there is one that is common to all of them: how to receive payments online?
How to receive online payments for your project?
Just as important as attracting an audience for your products or efficiently managing your marketing tools, providing a shopping experience that satisfies consumers and keeps them coming back inevitably involves making payment simple.
Configure e-commerce payments Simple and secure, this is a fundamental pillar of your online business. There are currently two ways to solve this problem: opt for an intermediary or a payment gateway.
When you choose an intermediary, such as Paypal, you are choosing a system that will connect the consumer, the shop's website, the bank and the credit card operator, thus getting the purchase process underway. These intermediaries are, in practice, a system that takes care of liaising with financial institutions, guaranteeing the security of customer data and ensuring that the amounts received are passed on to the seller of the product or service provider. In the case of online payments with a credit card, one of the most common, the intermediary will analyse the available limit with the bank that issued the card and act as mediator for the entire transaction.
Online payment gateways work differently. To begin with, unlike intermediaries, these online payment systems for companiesAs they are more comprehensive, they require an initial investment from the companies that provide the means of payment.
Despite this initial investment, a payment gateway proves to be a cheaper, more professional and more advantageous solution for the company, since your customers don't have to leave your site to make the payment. The entire purchase process takes place on your website. Due to the simplicity of the process, the number of sales tends to rise.
How an online payment system works and its advantages
If the option to buy and sell online As the number of online shops in the most varied sectors of activity has soared, the number of companies that have signed up to payment gateways during this period has not been far behind. Between March and April this year, REDUNIQ recorded an increase of 333% compared to 2019 in demand for one of its payment solutions for e-commerceThis underlines the importance that the online payment methods have in building a digital business.
At the root of these adhesions are, as we have mentioned, the REDUNIQ's online payment solutions. The offer is varied and consists of REDUNIQ@Payments, E-Commerce and Payment by MB reference.
Starting with the last product on the list above, and because many of the new online businesses are micro-enterprises (the bulk of the Portuguese business fabric), REDUNIQ has developed a product that allows you to pay by ATM reference online. This "Payment for services by MB reference", one of the payment methods most used by the Portuguese, issues references for online multibanco payment and can be integrated into the website (simple integration if you have the REDUNIQ E-Commerce solution).
If the merchant does not have a website, they are offered the "Payment for Services" solution to accept invoice payments using an entity, reference and amount in a paper document or digital format.
On the other hand, @Payments, designed with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the digital world in mind, allows you to receive payments by e-mail, SMS or e-mail. WhatsApp with Visa and Mastercard, this solution (with no monthly fee or minimum revenue) does not require an online shop or integration with the merchant's website (since the portal is REDUNIQ's) and, like the online ATM payment feature, can trigger immediate payment to the customer's mobile phone.
In practice, the payment request is sent to the customer via email, SMS or WhatsApp. The customer then clicks on the link and fills in (or confirms) the information requested and makes the payment. When the payment is accepted, the merchant is notified via email.
In contrast, the REDUNIQ E-Commerce solution is an e-commerce module for websites that allows payments to be accepted on digital channels via a single interface. Aimed at medium-sized and large companies, this "one-click shopping" module (customers don't have to re-enter their card details with each new purchase) authorises payments directly on the merchant's website, is integrated with the online shop's shopping cart and accepts payment by online credit card (MB, Visa, Mastercard and American Express), pay with MBWay online and by MB reference.
A accepting online payments by credit card turns out to be essential, since most e-commerce platforms, particularly marketplaces, only accept this type of payment. In an integrated offer, the portfolio Unicre extends to Unibanco which, through its contactless credit cards with cashback offer and 100% digital membership, offers an efficient and secure online shopping experience. The possibility of splitting payments into three instalments without interest, 3D Secure security services and MB net (virtual cards that can be linked to your card) are some of the virtues of these cards.
The simplicity, speed, security and integration capacity that these solutions offer companies when it comes to receive payments onlineThese are synonymous with a more complete shopping experience that not only helps to build customer loyalty, but also to better analyse and manage sales.
