Why Is Having Alternative Online Payment Options For Your Ecommerce Shop Important?

The Internet has made the shopping experience faster and more convenient for consumers, and over the past 20+ years, each change in Ecommerce technology has aimed to strengthen and develop this trend. In 2023, therefore, providing a seamless and exceptional shopping experience for your customers (on any device) is essential for sustaining and developing your market share.

The Biggest Hurdle For Ecommerce Businesses

Unfortunately, it is at the shopping cart/payment stage that the consumer experience often falls down. Many businesses expect their customers to jump through numerous lengthy hurdles to sign up for an account or enter endless details as a guest before they can pay, and then go through multiple stages of entering payment details by hand, followed by Captcha challenges, and then the ubiquitous phone or email code verifications. 

People don’t face this kind of hassle on the high street, so why should they online? It’s enough to deter even the most enthusiastic of shoppers and frequently leads to abandoned shopping carts.

Improving The Customer Experience

One of the most crucial aspects of optimising your customer experience is, therefore, offering multiple payment options to make checking out as fast and convenient as possible. But what does this mean in practice for Ecommerce SMEs? Are credit or debit cards and PayPal enough, or should you also be including Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Stripe, and even consumer credit options like Klarna and PayPal Credit?

The Short Answer Is Yes

Providing your customers with a range of payment options is essential for your online shop’s success. Let’s look at how alternative payment options can help boost credibility, trust, and sales.

Higher Conversion Rates And Fewer Abandoned Carts

When you offer multiple checkout and payment options, customers are more likely to find a method that they prefer or trust, leading to higher conversion rates. By accommodating their preferences, you will also reduce any potential friction and delays in the checkout process, resulting in fewer abandoned shopping carts.

For example, some customers may feel more comfortable using Google Pay or Amazon Pay since they have their details saved and can complete their purchase with just a couple of clicks – without physically having to get out their credit/debit card if they are shopping on their mobile away from home.

Enhanced Credibility And Trust

Customers want to know that they can trust the online shop that they spend their hard-earned money on. Offering well-recognised contactless payment options – e.g. PayPal, Apple Pay etc – on your site adds an extra layer of trust and credibility. Think about it; if your customer trusts the payment process, they are much more likely to make a purchase and come back to spend more in the future. What’s more, these proprietary payment options usually come with additional security features like buyer protection and advanced encryption (that you don’t have to pay for to set up yourself), further boosting customer confidence in your website – which is essential as an independent business.

Attracting more customers with flexible credit options

It’s risky business for SME Ecommerce businesses to offer credit directly, and it can be time-consuming to offer a credit facility through a bank. By providing flexible credit options through PayPal Credit and Klarna, you offer greater convenience to customers who may want to spread the cost of their purchase. 

By enabling consumers to spread their payments over time, you’ll make higher-value products more accessible and attractive to a broader range of customers. In most cases, it is the credit provider that undertakes credit control once the purchase is made, simplifying the administrative burden on your team.

Download Our Free Ecommerce Sales Guide

To find out more about payment strategies for Ecommerce businesses, and how you can optimise your sales website to gain more customers, please claim a free copy of our Ecommerce Sales Guide today.

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