It might come as a surprise to many readers when they hear that over 1 lakh ecommerce websites are being registered every day in India. It is also important to note that approximately 25 percent of the above-mentioned ecommerce websites are niche businesses.
The ecommerce sector in India has been evolving at a rapid pace over the last few years. It is estimated that the ecommerce industry’s market size will hit the 200 billion dollar mark by the year 2026. The Covid19 pandemic has played a key role in the rapid evolution of the ecommerce industry in India.
The nationwide lockdown that was introduced due to the Covid19 pandemic and the need to maintain social distance practices forced customers to shop online. The massive mobile internet user base in India and the availability of cheap internet services allowed e-commerce businesses to survive and function while several other businesses suffered during the pandemic.
However, ecommerce businesses need to offer a fine and hassle-free online shopping experience to users. If they fail to do that, then customers are less likely to return to your online store or website. This includes offering the right options for your customers to make payments securely without any hassles. To do that, you will need to select the right payment gateway for your ecommerce site or online store.
A Beginner’s Guide to Payment Gateway for Ecommerce Websites
A payment gateway can be described as a mechanism or software solution, which facilitates payment transactions from customers to the merchant bank account. Payment gateways will not just help businesses ensure that payment is done, but they will also notify you and customers whether the payment was successfully completed or not.
It is important to remember that most online shoppers enter sensitive and confidential information including their bank account details or credit card details while making a payment. This is why it is important for eCommerce businesses to ensure that the entered information is safe and secure, which is something you can guarantee by using a reliable payment gateway.
A reliable and efficient payment gateway for eCommerce websites and online stores must be capable of the following things.
- Verify the payment details of customers along with ensuring encryption
- Authenticate fund availability in the account of customers
- Transfer funds with minimum delay
- Provide confirmation of the transaction to both customers and businesses
Selecting A Payment Gateway For Your Ecommerce Business
If you are unable to find the right payment gateway for your eCommerce business, then it is best to seek the help of a company that specializes in eCommerce website design and eCommerce web development. In addition to that, you should consider the following factors before opting for a certain ecommerce payment gateway.
Payment Security
As mentioned earlier, customers will have to enter confidential and sensitive information such as their CVV or credit card number while making online payments. So, if you want to ensure the safety of customer data, then you will need to find a way to keep customer information safe by choosing a reliable payment gateway.
Most of the popular and reputed payment gateways in India are compliant with PCI-DSS. These payment gateways are capable of detecting frauds and use screening technology to make sure that all financial transactions are safely processed and completed.
Easy Integration
Ecommerce and online businesses should start looking for a payment gateway that can be easily integrated into the existing business system without any delays. If you have already set up a website and plans to launch it soon, then it is best to roll out the payment gateway along with the same.
It is true that the onboarding process for eCommerce payment gateways used to be cumbersome and quite long until a few years ago. However, that’s not the case today, as you can finish the onboarding process in a day or two based on the complexities of your business. It is always best to opt for a payment gateway with a short onboarding process.
Supported Payment Sources
For several customers and online shoppers, online payments mean just the use of debit or credit cards, which is not true. The scope of online payments has considerably increased over the years mainly to include other types of payment sources such as digital wallets, UPI, and net banking.
Ecommerce businesses that select the right payment gateway will be able to offer the flexibility to customers to select from different types of payment sources. Customers are more likely to buy products and services from your store if they are able to make payments in their preferred way.
Final Thoughts
In addition to the above-mentioned tips, you must consider other important factors such as transactional limits, multiple device support, multiple currency support, pricing, hosted or non-hosted, and more. This will enable you to easily identify the ideal payment gateway for your eCommerce business.
