There is no question about it—the world is going through an economic downturn. Consumers are cutting back on their spending and businesses are facing tough decisions, perhaps the strongest signal for a stormy period to come. According to Forrester, a leading technology analyst, “Risks have grown that the U.S. and other major countries will experience a longer and deeper recession than we had expected. If so, the hi-tech market would see several quarters of declines in purchases, not just two or three quarters with little or no growth in late 2008 and the first half 2009.â€
With these findings in mind, what can e-commerce merchants do to keep their e-business boat afloat during times when budget cuts and financial declines are the daily routine? What should they particularly focus on to keep sales revenues at a decent level? The following are five navigation rules by a payment service provider for sailing in the e-commerce world in 2009.
Rule 1 – Increase your customers’ loyalty
This is the time when customer loyalty becomes more crucial than ever, as end-users will be acting very cautiously in regards to their spending and will most likely prefer to go back to a website with which they feel familiar and comfortable rather than to a new vendor. Knowing your customers and monitoring their purchasing behavior can turn your online business into a highly profitable operation.
VIP customer tools for merchants are able to differentiate between their “good†customers that should preferably be allowed higher purchase amounts and small, occasional or new end-users who should be limited to only certain purchase amounts. Having a VIP customer tool is a highly beneficial decision—it acts as a supporting device, allowing you to define the profitable customers VIPs and increase costumer loyalty.
Rule 2 – Expand your sales reach
Targeting new end-user markets is always significant when trying to keep revenue growing. The ideal payment processor should provide you with all major currencies; while at the same time allowing processing and settlement currencies to be kept identical, allowing you maximum processing flexibility. A payment service provider that provides all major currencies—while keeping processing and settlement currencies identical—allows you maximum processing flexibility. In addition, your PSP should have sophisticated risk management, enabling traffic from high-risk countries typically blocked by acquiring banks.
Rule 3 – Secure your online payments
As you enter 2009, you should be aware of the risks involved with acquiring a bank, no matter if your traffic is local or international. Finding the connected payment-service provider that has an array of acquiring banks in its portfolio and matching it with the specific processing needs of e-commerce operators is what makes the crucial difference. Any payment processor that offers you a solution with more than one merchant account with several acquiring banks under one roof spreads your online risks.
Rule 4 – Reduce payment processing costs
Your payment service provider can help you identify specific activities that can lower costs. They should offer direct merchant accounts with solutions that focus on accurate fraud prevention. In other words, they need to differentiate between suspicious transactions that will eventually lead to profitable sales and those that will lead to fraud and loss.
Thorough and accurate fraud prevention is a crucial factor in achieving high sales goals. Blocking fraudulent transactions and approving legitimate transactions while converting them to profit is an example of this. At the end of a processing day, the fraud prevention tools aim not only to increase sales, but also to prevent unnecessary chargeback fees and fines.
Rule 5 – Increase your traffic conversion
With an active online operation, every e-merchant seeks tactics to increase traffic. Your online payment service provider can play a crucial role in increasing online traffic conversion. Instead of employing a rough scrubbing system, which in most cases, cuts down valuable traffic due to a resolute filtering policy, a “Traffic Management†tool analyzes the traffic most accurately and improves the approval ratio of profitable transactions.
Well-established partnerships with leading acquiring banks allow your PSP to control incoming transactions by splitting them between the banks according to pre-configured ratio parameters and country attribution. This assists you, as online operators, in receiving higher approval ratio, thus in receiving higher sales conversion.
Sharon Gal Franko is SafeCharge’s director of marketing and sales.
Recently, I opened up my community newspaper to learn that my favorite shoe store was going out of business—another victim of the economic meltdown. Another blow came a few days later when my husband and I drove to one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants only to be greeted by a sign on the door that read: Thank you for allowing us to serve you these past few years. Unfortunately, we have closed our doors. 
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Years ago, an exchange of cash was all it took for a customer to make a purchase from a merchant. How things have changed! Today, most businesses offer their products or services on the Internet—clearly, they can’t be restricted to cash-on-delivery practices anymore. E-commerce has emerged as a lucrative channel for merchants to boost sales and grow their bottom lines. Many consumers have Internet access both at work and at home, and browsing an online catalog can be faster than browsing the aisles of a physical store. What’s more, customers get the added convenience of shopping 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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