Are you still thinking of payments as background infrastructure? This mindset might be costing you more than you realize. After all, 83% of shoppers are willing to abandon a brand if their preferred payment method isn’t available. That’s five out of six customers gone, simply due to a gap in your shopping journey right at the finish line.
For retailers, this means remaining agile and maintaining control over owning your payment relationships should be paramount – while going beyond boosting conversions. Here’s why.
Moving beyond infrastructure
Platform-managed payment solutions are easy to set up, require minimal internal expertise, and come bundled with your eCommerce stack. The appeal is obvious – but this kind of convenience comes at a cost.
When a platform controls your payment stack, it also controls your data, may dictate your processing fees, and provide limited flexibility. In the US, interchange rates usually shift twice a year, in April and October. What’s more, card brand rules from Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and Amex change alongside them. If you don’t own the relationship directly with your processor, you often won’t know about the consequences of an upcoming change until it’s already hit your margins.
Beyond fees, there’s the question of consumer expectations. Shoppers today pay with digital wallets, tap-to-pay, buy now pay later (BNPL), and an expanding range of local payment methods that vary significantly by market. If your platform can’t keep up, it doesn’t just create friction at checkout – you’re losing sales.
What owning your payment relationships actually means
Taking ownership doesn’t mean becoming a payments expert overnight. It means working with the right people so you don’t have to be one. As Joe Campagna, Principal at Technology Payment Advisors (TPA), puts it:
“The expectation at the business level should be that you don’t have to act as the expert. There’s so much change in the US, Canadian, and global market. The key is having a true partner on the same side of the table – someone who makes sure pricing changes don’t catch you off guard, and who cuts through the noise from other providers trying to get your business.”
Owning your payment relationships is about giving yourself an edge. From cost structures, frequently used card types, the actual cost of each transaction, and seeing where fraud risk is concentrated, knowing how these impact each sale entails is key.
“By taking ownership, you could negotiate savings that could lead to 20-40 basis points in markup fees each month,” explains Joe. “You also allow yourself to own the credit card tokens from your customers if you need to switch and move payment processors.”
Going global? Your payment strategy needs to follow
For US retailers entering Europe or vice versa, payment complexity increases quickly.
- The US landscape is dominated by credit cards, with an extensive tier system of reward cards that directly drives up interchange costs. Some card categories now push interchange rates above 3% based solely on their point structures.
- In Europe, the picture looks entirely different: country-by-country variation, regulated interchange under the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), and consumer habits don’t cross borders.
Other parts of the world, like South America, the Middle East, or Southeast Asia, also come with unique requirements, so “culturally, understanding what consumers in a specific country are used to is huge,” says Joe. “Don’t assume costs in Europe are the same; American companies often make that mistake, and it’s fatal. Europe is very different from country to country, just like the American market differs from the Canadian one.”
Engaging the right partner can help you take advantage of transactions outside of your home turf currency. Some processors even allow for preferred exchange options or revenue share.
Agility as your competitive advantage
When consumer behavior changes, payment technology often shifts with it. Retailers who stay competitive long term are those who can adapt without a full rebuild every time something changes. That’s why platform choice matters as much as provider choice.
“The biggest feature is choice. You should have at least three to five payment processors to choose from as options, including well-known solutions, so if something goes wrong, you can act. If you’re locked into one processor and they can’t deliver, you end up throwing out everything just to fix one thing.” – Joe Campagna, Principal at TPA
A platform that supports real payment flexibility is one that allows you to switch providers without overhauling the system – and one that scales with unexpected growth, so you’re ready for whatever comes next. “A good platform also allows you to manage your data and regulatory compliance needs based on location and industry,” says Joe Campagna.
Payments as a lever for growth
Payments are a margin lever, a customer experience decision, and a growth enabler – all at once.
If your payment provider changed their pricing tomorrow, would you know? If a new wallet gained traction in your key market next quarter, could you add it with just a few clicks? If a fraud spike hit your checkout, would your system spot it?
Owning your payment relationships allows you to stay in control of what happens come checkout time, so your shopping journey doesn’t collapse at the finish line.
Learn more about enterprise eCommerce that empowers you to stay in control.
Joe Campagna, Principal at Technology Payment Advisors, is a payments industry veteran with 17 year’s experience helping businesses navigate their payment options. He focuses on ensuring clients find the best solutions to grow with their business and challenges.