How to partner with your payments processor to drive ecommerce growth

Since the first online transactions more than 30 years ago, the internet has forever changed the relationship between buyer and seller. Businesses can quickly reach a global audience without the costs associated with operating multiple physical locations. Customers have more buying options than ever before and enjoy the convenience of products delivered directly to their home.

These expectations are no longer reserved for large global brands – research shows that small businesses increasingly rely on online sales to reach new customers and keep up with buyer expectations, especially during popular shopping seasons. While small businesses cannot always compete on inventory breadth or prices, you can differentiate from big box online retailers by providing specialized products and personalized customer service in ecommerce offerings.

As your small business grows, you need support from your payments provider to ensure your operations and point-of-sale solutions meet your growth goals in the rapidly evolving ecommerce marketplace. Consider these steps to get started:

1. Pick the right ecommerce model for your business

You have several options for where and how you provide your offerings to customers online. It is important to do your research and select a model that best aligns with your products/services and the needs of your customers.

Traditional online retail
This is the most common method of ecommerce; traditional online retail is the model by which customers can make purchases online to be directly delivered to their home or other location of their choosing. This has become nearly ubiquitous as the primary shopping preference of  consumers, with many developing strong loyalties to companies of all sizes who offer fast and affordable delivery of products purchased online.

Subscription ecommerce
The next evolution of online retail is subscription-driven ecommerce purchases. As consumers continually seek fast and convenient shopping options – for everything from groceries to clothing and electronics – they are increasingly subscribing to online retailers who provide monthly shipments and billing. This provides huge opportunities for businesses of all sizes to create loyalty and forecast demand over long periods, while ensuring satisfied customers.

Invoice-based ecommerce
For service providers, offering online payments and invoicing can be a valuable way to attract new customers and allow them to pay how they prefer. This can also improve cash flows and transaction transparency for your business – rather than waiting for paper invoices and cheques – and create more opportunities to offer services to other businesses as well.

In-app purchases
Small businesses can create mobile apps to support their retail customers, especially in industries where consumers expect multi-channel shopping and payment experiences. While app purposes and functionality will vary widely by business type, many apps allow customers to complete orders, pay bills, and manage their account from their phone. This mobile-first ecommerce option can help your business grow in competitive spaces and use data-driven insights from app use to improve your offerings.

Social media commerce
Young shoppers are increasingly comfortable using social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok to discover consumer products and make purchases. Social platforms allow companies to reach vast audiences quickly and cheaply but is not the right fit for all product types or industries. Small businesses with direct-to-consumer products, like lifestyle goods, should consider developing social media content strategies and choosing a payments provider that can capitalize on this emerging ecommerce trend.

2. Choose a scalable payment gateway to support your ecommerce goals

As the owner of a growing business, you need a secure, easy solution for accepting multiple forms of payments. Your payments provider should take the guesswork out of accepting payments and managing your business so you can focus on your customers and offerings.

Our gateways’ advanced security features, streamlined business management tools, enhanced analytics, and customer-centric service provide you with a robust, yet easy to use solution. We offer the payment expertise, so you can focus on expanding your business capabilities, increasing your revenue potential, and empowering your customers to do business with you.

The goal of any business is to be successful and continually grow their business. Scale your business with Elavon’s interactive customer portal that empowers you to easily manage your payments in one location. Elavon is also compatible with over 50 leading ecommerce platforms. In addition to processing payments for your business, an ecommerce Platform provides a unified platform to run your business. You benefit from a number of simple tools handling everything from payments, marketing, checkout, and shipping.

3. Invest in robust security solutions to protect your online presence

Business owners may not be cyber security experts and don’t have time to stay up to date on the latest protection needed to safeguard their payment data. Current rules, regulations and certain laws place more responsibility for protecting cardholder data on businesses. Failure to meet industry, card brand, and regulatory data security standards can result in fines, a loss of income, and negative brand perception.

Elavon helps protect you and your business and your customer payment data with state-of-the-art security solutions that protect data both in transit and at rest with encryption and tokenization. Encryption digitally scrambles numerical information for security purposes, while tokenization converts or replaces the numerical cardholder data with a unique token value that is unrecognizable but can used for subsequent or recurring transactions. These are just two examples of Elavon’s commitment to provide you with a safe and secure payment acceptance solutions.

4. Consider faster funding options that meet your cash-flow needs

As the owner of a growing business, it can be frustrating to have strong sales and then need to wait days or weeks to gain access to your funds. You need to know when your money will be deposited into your bank account because it impacts cash flow and day-to-day business operations. Elavon’s feature, Fast Track Funding, provides peace of mind that your funds will be deposited when you need them. That means no guessing the exact hour of arrival or wondering if the funds will arrive before a withdrawal hits your account.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to expand an existing online presence, we’re here to help find the right solution. Your Elavon account representative can help advise you on specific ecommerce services that complement and enhance your existing payment processing set-up.