Consumer-centric commerce: Why banks and merchants need to step up their customer experience game

E-commerce is growing year on year, with expectations that US$4.6tn will be spent in this area by 2022, but with this growth come a variety of problems and opportunities that need to be addressed. Consumer interaction with today’s brands is changing as technology advances, and mobile technology dictates how customers want to pay, buy, browse, receive offers and earn loyalty rewards. Any merchant or service provider wanting to retain a foothold in ever more competitive markets needs to embrace this technology and use it to both their and their customers’ advantage. Merchants have real power when they get this loyalty piece right, increasing customer sales but also creating the opportunity to generate additional revenue from banks and credit providers, who increasingly want access to a merchant’s loyal customers. Trust is an issue for financial institutions, so piggybacking on the existing trust between merchants and their customers makes perfect sense. Payment services technology allows the seamless integration of the range of services necessary to facilitate these transactions, enabling the management of all interactions with clients. Robust and secure systems that comply with the latest regulatory requirements, including payment card industry (PCI) compliance and strong customer authentication, offer a secure and technologically advanced environment that will keep up with whatever payments methods or regulations are devised next. This paper discusses the result: potentially limitless benefits to all parties that can be adapted to suit future needs at will, thanks to the seamless integration of a single-platform service that provides benefits to all simultaneously.