Make it Easy to Order
By Lisa A. Yorgey
Companies using the Web to connect with customers beyond U.S. borders risk alienating them by offering a credit card payment option only.
Credit card penetration, generally speaking, is much lower outside the United States, and those customers who have a credit card may be reluctant to use it for Internet transactions. For example, few German consumers pay with a credit card and prefer to pay by invoice. And checks are a popular method of payment in France.
Offering international consumers the ability to make payments using their preferred method doesn't require you to set up accounts with local in-country banks. For example, if your company is a multinational catalog and accepts many currencies, you may outsource your collections operation to a payment-solutions provider.
GlobalCollect, a Holland-based provider of global payment solutions, offers WebCollect, an e-solution that allows global marketers such as catalogers to accept payment via the Internet through all local payment methods, including bank cheques, debits, wire transfers and credit cards. WebCollect supports the currencies of 236 countries and territories, 36 payment methods and 11 languages through its international banking network in more than 50 countries.
E-marketers can choose from two versions of WebCollect depending on their needs. The Merchant Link solution is hosted on the e-marketer's server; when a transaction is completed, WebCollect receives payment details, and processes and collects payment. Using the Customer Link version, users are redirected from the e-marketer's site to WebCollect's payment server that hosts pages replicating the look and feel of the e-marketer's site. Users are returned to the e-marketer's site upon completion of the payment transaction.
For more information or a demo, visit www.globalcollect.com.
- Places:
- France
- Holland
- United States