Alternative Payment Solutions to Expand Your Customer Base

For most merchants, getting paid is intrinsic to the success of their business. While how merchants handle payments was once a relatively straightforward process, now, customers have increased flexibility in how they choose to pay. Although this wide array of options has made payment processing complex, it also represents an enormous growth opportunity for merchants to offer alternative payment solutions. Offering consumers various options at checkout is an opportunity to expand your customer base. 

With consumer adoption of alternative payment solutions expected to continue rising, more payment options will be necessary to remain competitive and stay ahead of the curve. Businesses that can adapt to new consumer demands and implement payment solutions that provide fast, easy, and convenient ways to pay will be rewarded with a strong competitive advantage. OLS Payments can help businesses by offering flexible solutions that allow merchants access to the latest payments capabilities and expand their customer base.

How can alternative payment solutions benefit my business?

Customers increasingly prefer specific payment types, including alternative payment solutions. They are even choosing where to shop based on whether they have the right mix of digital payment options. Offering alternative payment solutions means reaching more consumers and removing friction experienced during the transaction process. Characterized as quick, simple, and secure, consumers see these cashless and often cardless payment methods as more convenient ways to exchange money, providing greater consumer convenience and a more effortless shopping experience, ultimately increasing revenue. 

More Consumers are Choosing Alternative Payment Methods

In a global economy, many factors, from technology and location to demographics and income, may contribute to people’s payment preferences. Regardless of why a consumer may choose a specific payment type, merchants need to know what payment methods their consumers prefer and ensure they offer those various payment solutions. If a customer is faced with a transaction where they cannot use their preferred payment method, a growing percentage of them will abandon their purchase. 

If merchants cannot find ways to address diverse payment preferences during the checkout experience, they could inadvertently be excluding large segments of the population from their customer base. With global digital wallet spending alone expected to increase by 83 percent by 2025, offering additional payment methods, including emerging and alternative payments methods, allows merchants to reach a wider variety of consumers. As your payments orchestration partner, OLS supports every major payment network in the United States and an increasing number of international payment types.

Accept More Payment Types to Reach More Customers

Consumers want to make purchases with payment methods that are common to them, which vary significantly by location and demographic. Although many of these payment methods are referred to as alternative payment methods, many, including Alipay and WeChat Pay, have become dominant forms of payment in some regions of the global economy. While some merchants may feel they don’t have the goods or services to draw a large enough consumer base from these locations to justify implementing a new payment method, that assumption could be short-sighted. 

To benefit from that population segment, a merchant doesn’t need to engage consumers within their home geographical location. For example, even if a merchant does not have the location to draw a large Chinese consumer base, they can still benefit from the millions of Chinese tourists and college students entering the United States each year. Merchants need to be prepared to accept their preferred payment methods to capitalize on these visitors. With alternative payments like the digital wallet expected to become the dominant e-commerce transaction type by 2023, you’ll want a platform, like the OLS Payments platform, that can support an ever-expanding number of payment types. It is unlikely that a retailer will find a POS or payment type that OLS cannot support.

A Payments Orchestration Partner Can Help Businesses Accept Alternative Payment Solutions

To expand the customer base, maintain a competitive advantage, and maximize revenue, merchants need a payments system that provides access to the latest payments capabilities, including emerging and alternative payments methods. A payments orchestration partner can help businesses accept new payment methods while reducing payment processing complexity. Contact us today to learn how OLS Payments can help you implement a payments solution that is flexible, future-ready, and enables cost-effective scale.

Key Takeaways

• Offering consumers alternative payment solutions is an opportunity to expand your customer base.  
• Many factors may contribute to consumers’ payment preferences in a global economy.
• Businesses that implement new alternative payment methods will reward a strong competitive advantage.   
• OLS supports every major payment network in the United States and an increasing number of international payment types.