Today's world is rapidly digitalising, and it’s hard to imagine a successful business without an online presence. The move to online is driving the online payments industry growth and development. For the last years, several online payment industry trends have shaped up that entrepreneurs should take into account: 

• Payment cards became the most demanded payment instrument
• The mobile payments niche grows rapidly
• Customers increasingly tend to opt for one-click payments
• The popularity of local payment methods is constantly growing 

Moreover, the growing complexity of the payment market and a vast amount of methods and providers make choosing a perfect option challenging for business. The selection of supported payment methods and currencies varies from one acquirer to another. That’s why companies often need to connect multiple vendors to reach higher conversion and cost-effectiveness. 

Why do businesses need multiple providers and acquirers? 

First of all, it’s crucial to understand that no provider can ensure the same processing quality for every transaction type. It depends on the payment method or card type involved, the amount, time, risk level of the transaction, and many other factors. One provider can offer better processing speed, higher success rates, and lower fees for a particular type of transaction. Still, there’s no chance of one provider offering equally brilliant results and conditions for all transaction types. 

To achieve the best economic outcomes, the company needs to have multiple payment providers in its portfolio, both local and worldwide. For example, if the company aims to increase conversion rate by region, the go-to strategy is connecting a bunch of local payment providers or acquirers. The more local partners it connects, the more payment methods it would be able to support. Local payment providers charge lower fees for processing transactions within their region while offering higher approval rates for such transactions. This way, a business can reach its goal and increase conversion.

However, a multi-provider setup raises some challenges related to payment optimisation and management. The good news is that the remedies to them already exist.  

Challenges you'll face and how to solve them

Let's take a look at this issue from the side of key business metrics. 

1. Conversion. The availability of different payment providers in your system has a very positive effect on the conversion rate. Still, it does not grant it on its own. That’s because many factors may influence conversion starting from the checkout page with its UI/UX and adaptive design, localisation and personalisation, and ending with technical aspects. For example, smart routing and cascading increase the amount of successfully processed transactions. Using these instruments, you’ll increase the payments' success rate and make the checkout process seamless and straightforward for the customer. 

2. Scalability. A sure way to increase revenue is scaling to new markets. Still, the expansion is tied in with local payment issues. It’s no secret that customers worldwide prefer paying with local currency and through providers, they’ve heard about. By integrating both renowned global providers and locally loved ones, you can win the hearts of the audience of your new market. 

3. Costs. Supporting a bunch of providers implies using a lot of dashboards and accounts. Respectively, it takes a lot of time and effort to adapt them to your needs, monitor all the payments, and fix issues occurring. A unified payment platform aggregates all necessary information in one easy-to-use interface, which allows converting manual work to automated process and win time to solve crisis situations, errors or declines, and avoid revenue loss. 

4. Risks. A business needs to work with different payment providers not only to increase conversion but also to diversify risks. Even the most stable and trustworthy payment providers sometimes experience technical problems or face regulatory restrictions. Besides, the company may get blocked by the provider. If it works with several providers, it always has a plan B for successful transaction processing.

How to work with several providers painlessly

There are two options for every business considering a multi-provider setup. 

The first is establishing and maintaining numerous infrastructures, cloud services, and security solutions, each narrowly focused and specialising in particular functionality. It brings you the tools for payment optimisation and keeps you fully in control, but such an infrastructure itself is hardly manageable. 

The second option is to use ready-made payment platforms, like Corefy. Such systems offer different tools for payment management and optimisation out-of-the-box, suitable for any business type and industry. Additionally, our payment team is willing to share its experience to help businesses reach their goals faster through efficient payment setup.