From clicks to bricks - how connected commerce continues to shape the payment industry

• Connected commerce offers customers a seamless experience whether they engage with a merchant online or in-person.

• Implementing the right technology stack is key to ensuring that all systems used by a merchant can operate effectively together.

• New and emerging payment technologies, particularly mobile payment technologies, need to be leveraged to reach the goal of truly connected commerce.

• Security and data integrity are key to ensuring trust and customer loyalty.

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Whilst customers may not particularly notice the technology that enables their payment experience, there are some key technical trends that sit behind the connected commerce experience:

• Mobile payments - Because mobile phones can be used for contactless payments in stores, (typically what we mean when we say mobile payments) and for online or in app purchasing, they’re key to tying the whole connected experience together. Apps can include loyalty schemes as well as recommendation engines, making them a key point of interaction between merchants and customers.
• Digital wallets- These are systems on electronic devices, typically mobile phones, which host payment information. Like a physical wallet, they can hold multiple different accounts.  This technology allows phones to be used for in-person payments in stores, and these accounts can be used online. Closed digital wallets, which are created by one specific business, require users to load funds into them that can be spent with that business either online or in-store. This gives that business an easy way to unify and provide a connected commerce experience. 
• Integrated POS systems - This is where a point of sale (POS) system is integrated with other systems, such as customer loyalty apps, closed digital wallets, or recommendation engines. Integrating a POS system in this way relies on a flexible and fast payments platform that can manage payment orchestration quickly but also securely.  

Consistency is one of the key pillars of customer experience and in ensuring that brand promises are kept. Consumers like predictability, and connected commerce is a great way for businesses to deliver this, ensuring that no matter where a customer interacts with a brand they will get the same level of service and the same outcomes.

Whilst we’re on the topic of brand promise and predictability, one of the other things that connected commerce systems offer is the opportunity to keep customers informed about fulfillment status. Customers feel happier if they know where their order is, when it will arrive, and are reassured that it hasn’t been forgotten about. This is where reliable technology and the right platform, that integrates with systems across a business, feeds directly into customer relationship outcomes and experience. 

Having a real time view of stock levels and the locations of that stock is hugely valuable for merchants, allowing them precise control of global inventory, in turn helping to better manage cash flow and stock ordering, which can be the difference between business success and failure for businesses in ultra-competitive sectors such as hospitality and retail. 

Connected commerce also helps merchants better understand their customers and gives a truly global picture of how and when people are engaging with them both on and offline. This enables better segmentation, recommendations and the opportunity to reward customer loyalty in both online and offline environments. 

Once a connected commerce system has been established, it allows more payment options to be easily integrated and offered to customers, offering even more convenience and flexibility. Examples of these include:

• Tap to pay (aka contactless payment) - This payment system leverages near field technology, allowing a card or device, like a phone, to be tapped against a POS system for funds to be transferred and payments to be accepted. As well as being very familiar to customers, it is a fast and seamless process, ensuring that customers experience efficiency and staff can quickly get on with other tasks after payment. It also enables unattended payments, meaning that taking payments from customers can be completely removed from staff. 
• QR codes - Easy for merchants to create and for customers to scan and initiate payment, QR codes are a growing trend in the payments industry. They’re also flexible and can be placed in a variety of locations such as receipts, packaging, or physical signage. Customers simply scan the code using their mobile device to initiate payment, without needing to enter card details manually. QR codes can also be used for both in-store and online transactions, making them a versatile option for businesses. With low setup costs and the ability to integrate easily into digital platforms, QR codes provide a convenient and secure way for businesses to accept payments..
• BNPL -  Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) allows customers who might not be able to cover the full cost of a purchase immediately the chance to purchase the goods or service they need by spreading the cost over a series of future payments. Being able to facilitate these kinds of payments allows merchants the opportunity to engage with a whole new swath of customers who might not otherwise be able to afford what they have to offer. 

These types of flexible payment options, that are very much part and parcel of connected commerce, work for businesses at any scale but can be particularly powerful for smaller businesses, helping them access customers and offer them personalized recommendations that they may not otherwise have the ability to do. 

Connected commerce is not only here to stay, but we expect to see it grow and be leveraged by more businesses in the future. Merchants will seek to more closely align online and in-store experiences driving omnichannel loyalty, and using mobile based payment solutions to keep customers happy and engaged.

The ability to connect different technologies together on one platform, and have them work seamlessly together from both the merchant and customer perspective, is key to delivering on the connected commerce ambition. Not only this, but merchants need to be able to select the technologies that work for them and their ambitions.

As Eddie Johnson, Aevi’s CTO said:

This is not to say that there are no challenges posed by the drive towards connected commerce. The desire to offer convenience cannot be allowed to compromise security and there can be no compromise in ensuring that the large amounts of data that will be gathered by necessity to make connected commerce work stay private.

Once again, the right technologies are critical here in ensuring that security standards are met and maintained.  Once these are in place and a joined up customer experience is the focus, then seamless payment orchestration across multiple touch points can flow.