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Global Payment Perspectives: Key Considerations that Can Make or Break Your POS Software Global Expansion – Part 2

Global POS photo

Thinking of expanding your POS software into international markets? Great! As a global merchant services company, we can help you do that. We’re able to provide a single gateway integration that allows software companies to enter foreign markets without having to integrate with multiple new banks and acquirers.

But First …

When going into new markets, I always advise my clients to make sure you’ve done your due diligence. In a previous post, I talked about the first step to take before entering international markets. Please check out that post first if you haven’t.

My last post covered specific considerations to take into account before global expansion.

There’s a bit more I wanted to cover, so let’s get into it and complete our list of key considerations.

1. Regional and Cultural Payment Preferences

Payment preferences are very different in different countries. You’ll want to know the common practices in the country you’re expanding into.

For instance, did you know, over 58% of online transactions that occur in Asia Pacific are done with alternative payment methods — not with standard credit cards or even direct debit?

In Asia Pacific, consumers pay with alternative payment methods like PayPal e-wallet services that are specifically geared towards specific regions.

Another example of payment differences: In Europe, especially in Germany, consumers prefer to set up direct debit for any transaction. Whether it’s their cable bill or gym membership, they are not accustomed to payment with a credit card. They prefer to use direct debit.

2. Consumer Behavior from a Consumption Perspective

You’ll want to consider different cultural differences when deciding which regions to expand into. For example, maybe you sell software used by fitness centers and are considering expanding to the Middle East-North African region. If one of those areas is primarily Muslim — which is one of the predominant religions in that region — you’ll want to consider making adaptations to your software to allow for cultural differences that would happen in a health club environment.

An example: you might want to provide the ability for women to have their own spaces or times to exercise without men present, and vice versa. You’ll likely want to account for that somewhere in your software so that the set-up of that software can include specific hours for specific groups that may need their own time.

3. International Fulfillment

If your product is typically sold domestically and you’re selling internationally, you’ll want to make sure your customer understands the logistics of shipping. Communicate the logistics by way of your marketing materials and website. Make sure the communication is clear and concise about what the fulfillment times are going to be, so that you set clear expectations.

4. Regulatory Issues

There are regulatory and legal issues to consider when moving into specific foreign markets. For example, the UK has specific, strict requirements to protect consumers from unauthorized charges. It takes a good while for a bank transfer to be authorized before you can begin debiting someone’s account.

If you want to debit someone’s account on the first of the month, that process needs to start anywhere from 10-14 days prior. There’s a customer mandate which is essentially the customer giving permission for you to debit their account and that must be submitted at some point 10-14 days prior to the day you want to debit their account.

Additionally, if consumers have an issue, you need to make sure everything is compliant. PCI compliance applies in all countries. Specific things about how customers will be charged needs to be communicated. If you are not a native speaker, you may need a website designer that can provide you a native language website and ongoing website support.

5. Legal Partner

It’s strongly recommended you hire legal counsel that can advise you to the nuances associated with moving into new international markets and make sure you’re following local laws of the region.

One international issue in some countries is that if you wish to process payments, you must have a local entity where mail can be sent and meetings can take place face to face with representatives of the company. This is particularly the case in the Middle East.

Yes, there’s a lot to consider before expanding internationally. And while this post and Part 1 of Key Considerations for POS Software Global Expansion give you a good starting point, it is by no means exhaustive.

However, I’m by no means trying to deter you from expanding. There’s much opportunity and business to be had when expanding globally. It’s just in your best interest to take the necessary steps to consider the entire picture along with the opportunity.

Many of Constellation Payments’ partners found integrating with our gateway more preferable than doing it themselves. With a single gateway integration, they were afforded access to multiple foreign markets and gained a partner already familiar with the payments landscape they were preparing to enter.

As always, if you have questions about our global payment capabilities or expanding your business into specific regions, feel free to give us a call at 888.248.7060 or send an email to sales@csipay.com.

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globeGoing Global: How to Successfully Sell Your Software Internationally

Considering expanding to international markets? Request a copy of our 30-minute webinar for more tips and guidance on growing your base outside the U.S.

 

 

 

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Global Payment Perspectives: Key Considerations that Can Make or Break Your POS Software Global Expansion – Part 1

Global Payment Perspectives: Key Considerations that Can Make or Break Your POS Software Global Expansion – Part 1 photo

We recently held a webinar on Constellation Payments’ global payment capabilities. And while it’s extremely exciting to provide our partners with the opportunity to expand into different markets, we encourage our partners to be aware of the challenges they may face when expanding. And encourage them to have a plan to overcome those challenges.

Our last post covered the very first step in taking your POS software to international markets. It’s also extremely important to review this list of key considerations before moving forward into foreign markets.

Native Language Web Experience

If your product is marketed on the web or sold directly over the web, you’ll want to consider the native language web experience of your prospective audience. There is a large amount of evidence showing that you’ll get more sales and convert more leads from your site if there’s a native language version of your website in the regions you serve. For example, if you provide a product or service in Mexico, a Spanish version of your site is strongly advised.

Native Language Customer Support

What kind of inbound calls do you get today? Presumably you’re going to get similar calls from your international clients. How are you going to handle that? Should you get a third-party to handle support calls on your behalf? If not, should you consider online only, text-based support and judicious use of translation software? Knowing how you’re going to provide customer support is critically important.

Purchasing in Native Currency

This is very important because cart abandonment in ecommerce is a big issue. Put yourself in the shoes of a foreign consumer.

Say you were doing a search for a product or service you are interested in buying, and came upon a website written completely in Russian. You don’t speak Russian or understand Russian currency exchange, and now you’re deciding whether to hit the final button to pay with your credit card and make the purchase. Would you be OK with it? Would you be at ease?

Most people would be much more comfortable to read a webpage in their native language and pay in their currency. They don’t have to worry: “Did I get that exchange wrong? Am I overpaying?

13% of all cart abandonment in 2016 was due to prices not being presented in native currency. It’s important to present native currency on the marketing side and on the ecommerce side when it comes to the shopping cart experience.

Cash Flow Considerations

Consider native financial regulations. In North America, for example, funding happens pretty quickly. We’ve got a very robust internet backbone and robust financial system. Merchant processing and direct debit processing happens relatively quickly compared to the rest of the world.

On the other hand, you may be doing business in a foreign country where there’s a 10-15-day delay between purchase and funding into your account. Understanding those effects on your business is important so that you can make sure you have enough cash flow to float during that time.

No doubt this is a lot to take in. We’ll leave you with these four considerations and wrap up the list in our next post. If you have questions about our global payment capabilities or specific countries, payment principles, or regional differences regarding cash flow timing, please call us at 888.244.7060.

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Global Payment Perspectives: The First Step in Taking Your POS Software to International Markets

Global Payment Perspectives: The First Step in Taking Your POS Software to International Markets photo

It’s an exciting time here at Constellation Payments. We’re expanding our global payment processing capabilities at a rapid pace. It’s a unique opportunity we can offer our POS software provider partners.

For example, if a partner wants to enter the European market, they don’t have to go with another gateway provider. We’re able to offer a single gateway integration that allows our partners to enter this market, and many others around the world, without having to integrate with multiple new banks and acquirers. One integration allows the ability to process with many, many processors. Partners get a single point of contact with us.

Thought it’s exciting and unique, expanding into international markets shouldn’t be done on a whim.

We know it’s very easy to get really excited about the opportunities to expand a business. But, you want to make sure that you don’t get so excited about the opportunities that you miss the challenges you’ll need to overcome to do things the way you want them to be done.

SWOT It Out

Before entering new global markets, we strongly suggest taking all challenges into consideration.

The best way of doing this is to perform a SWOT analysis on the countries and regions in which you’d like to expand.

A SWOT analysis means looking at your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors that give your business an advantage or disadvantage, like financial resources, internal processes, and systems.

Opportunities and threats are external elements that influence your business like market trends, customer demographics, environmental issues, and suppliers.

After identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, you’ll want to have an internal discussion with your key product stakeholders of what markets are attractive to your software business and why.

Look at what offerings you have and make sure they’re as relevant in certain countries as they are in the countries you’re currently operating in.

How the SWOT Helps

If you’re born and raised in North America, you have a good understanding of how consumers feel about a product like yours. But when you’re entering a foreign country with different currency, different language, and a different culture, it’s very important to understand how your product or service is viewed by the prospective audience.

Is there a need for your product?

For example, we recently worked with a business that has an app with a payment component for personal trainers. They’re looking to expand into North America. A SWOT analysis revealed that there are challenges based on the current products that are currently on the market in North America. In this example, the SWOT analysis was key. The analysis uncovered the current competitive landscape and provided an eye into the future.

Deep Industry Experience Can Give You a Leg Up

If you have lots of experience with your industry, a great practice is to look at the foreign markets and say to yourself: “What’s missing from those markets? What’s missing that we can offer?”

Some emerging and foreign markets are a bit behind a more modern, robust market like a North American or European market. All the growing pains that have occurred and all lessons that have been learned in markets you’re familiar with can be applied into a new environment. That market may be lacking services and opportunities you can fill that others can’t.

Experience is also a key factor in choosing a payment processing partner. At Constellation Payments, many of our integrated partners chose us because we’ve done much of the work with regards to payments in these foreign markets already.

Bottom Line

Do your due diligence. Run a SWOT analysis. It’s important to note too that there are limitations to a SWOT analysis. We’ve seen very extensive SWOT analyses, but also very simple iterations that are more a summary than anything else. Regardless, a SWOT analysis of any kind is a good starting point and can provide valuable insight before venturing to foreign markets.

Should you have any questions about our global payment capabilities or performing a SWOT analysis, feel free to contact us at 888.248.7060.

Images courtesy of Pixabay.com.

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Payments Around the Globe: 5 Things You Need to Know Before Selling Products and Services Internationally

Payments Around the Globe: 5 Things You Need to Know Before Selling Products and Services Internationally photo

It’s 2017 and one thing’s for sure: Businesses are growing internationally. Franchises are opening more and more locations overseas. Companies that sell online are extending their reach into new and often emerging markets.

While profitable for many, these types of expansions can be complicated, particularly when it comes to payment processing. Each region has its own unique payments landscape which must be considered prior to market entry.

We’ll get into specific scenarios, such as online retailers, a little later, but for now, let’s consider those factors that affect all merchants wishing to sell to international customers.

Platform Payment Integration

Whether your sales are initiated via a traditional ecommerce platform, your own website, or a third-party POS platform, the platform itself will need to be integrated with a payment processor that is registered to accept and process payments in the countries where you wish to expand.

CSIPay Global Reach infographicOne challenge many companies encounter: very few payment gateways can facilitate payments in every country where they wish to expand their business. Without this ability, businesses wishing to acquire customers globally will face increased cost and reduced speed to market related to integration of their platform with several unique payment channels.

This challenge was the inspiration that drove Constellation Payments to design a gateway where merchants connect to multiple processors while simultaneously benefitting from one provider for the bulk of their international transactions.

The Constellation Payments gateway can facilitate transactions in North America, Central America, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, New Zealand, and multiple countries in the Asia Pacific region. Businesses wishing to accept payments from customers all over the globe should examine their current gateway’s capabilities to be sure it will match their expansion goals.

Research and Adapt

Not all markets function the same. For example, in Europe, consumer use of direct debit payment methods both for one-time and recurring transactions is far more prevalent than it is in North America or Asia. Companies that don’t understand this nuance will exclude themselves from a significant portion of the market. While you don’t have to offer every payment method under the sun, it is advisable to choose a platform/gateway combination that will offer the payment methods your target customer is most likely to use. When entering new markets, businesses are encouraged to discover what those methods are and evaluate their payment gateway and/or processor accordingly.

Another best practice is to present yourself and your company in the best possible light to foreign customers. Imagine tracking down a retail item you want to purchase only to discover that the site where you will purchase item is in a language completely foreign to you and in a currency different than your own. You can’t read the site, and you’ll likely have to leave the site and find an online currency conversion tool to verify that the price you are paying is acceptable.

Many customers facing this dilemma would simply leave the site without putting anything in their carts at all. Those that do proceed to checkout are likely to leave the site without completing their purchase due to the foreign currency issue.

In fact, 13% of all cart abandonment in 2016 was due to prices being presented in a foreign currency.

This is something we addressed at Constellation Payments early on. Our merchants can accept payments in the local currency of their customers no matter where they are, but still have the funds settled into their merchant accounts in their own native currency. This is all accomplished through something called Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC).

Not all gateway and merchant services providers can provide this service though. It is highly recommended that companies going international verify whether DCC is available on their current platform and/or gateway configuration.

All this said, having localized versions of your website that acknowledge the language, customs, and currency of your target customer is highly advised when expanding internationally.

Clear Communication

In addition to the language and currency issues described above, it is also important that international customers purchasing physical goods understand any additional costs associated with purchasing from an overseas vendor.

When done right this is not a barrier to the sale at all. In fact, it is quite the opposite and somewhat expected. Clearly stating shipping costs, and making it easy to track items during the journey overseas, is critical. If there are duties or taxes that will be levied on foreign shipments, businesses will need to decide whether to absorb those costs or pass them on to the customer. If passing them to the customer, it should be crystal clear prior to finalizing the purchase.

B2B Challenges

There are some international challenges that are unique to the B2B world. For example, a company selling point of sale software will need to consider which foreign processors their merchants will be comfortable using and how their software users will obtain merchant accounts locally.

If a company in Mexico purchases the POS platform, not only will they want the POS platform to communicate in their native language, but when they have questions about things like deposits or chargebacks, they’ll want to speak with a payments professional that can speak their native language.

To address this for our own merchants, Constellation Payments has made strategic partnerships with carefully chosen local providers of merchant services, so that software companies connected to our gateway can refer their users to a local provider of payment processing that has been approved to process through our gateway and who understands local customs and banking regulations. These representatives can assist new merchants in applying for, using, and inquiring about their merchant accounts all in their native tongue.

Data Security

Another key issue when conducting transactions with foreign customers over the Internet is data security. Don’t let your company join the ranks of those with highly-publicized data breaches that have cost them billions in damages and lost credibility in the marketplace.

Constellation Payments is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant, which is the highest level of certification available from the major card brands. Constellation also employs data encryption and credit card tokenization. Tokenization is the encoding of cardholder data such that it cannot be decoded without a key available only to the processor, and cannot be decoded or reused if intercepted by a third party.

Final Thoughts

Whether you are already offering your products or services internationally, or considering doing so, the team at Constellation Payments would be happy to review your processing needs and advise you as to your best options regarding payment processing.

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Global Payment Processing Capabilities: What You Need to Know

It’s no secret. Expanding your software’s market reach creates massive opportunities. A boost to your sales team. More leads. More sales. An improved bottom line.

What you may not know is that same payment processing platform that provides multiple payment solutions can propel your software company into new geographies — with multi-country and multi-currency capabilities.

Extending Your Software’s Market Reach

Most recently, we achieved new Elavon certifications for terminal processing in Canada (for both contact and contactless payment functionality) and online credit card processing services for Mexico.

That means you can immediately broaden your market reach to Mexican and Canadian regions.

And, ultimately, one integration with Constellation Payments gives your company the ability to grow your number of potential customers in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, Malaysia and the Phillippines.

Check out this infographic to view our current connections and functionality — along with countries and services coming soon.

View the full-size infographic here

It’s always been our goal to provide a single connection for our channel partners and their customers – one integration that enables them to extend their reach to anywhere in the world.

Our focus now, and in the months ahead, will remain on adding new geographies and payment capabilities, so that our channel partners, and their customers, can increase their market reach and continue growing their customer base.”

Steve Pinado, CEO, Constellation Payments

Questions on global payment connections or service capabilities? Give us a call at 888.248.7060 or email sales@csipay.com.

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Extend Your Reach Worldwide: Constellation Payments is Going Global [Infographic]

Looking to provide integrated payment processing solutions to customers outside North America?

You’ll be happy to know our payment capabilities are going global — enabling software providers that integrate with Constellation Payments to extend their reach to customers worldwide!

Check out the infographic to view our current connections and functionality — along with countries and services coming soon.

CLICK HERE to view the full-size infographic.

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There are lots of ways to connect with us. Connecting through your favorite social media is a great way to get updates on our company, along with recent blog posts and relevant news.

>> Follow us on LinkedIn

>> Like us on Facebook

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