Editorial

We’d all like a year full of good news and we’re happy to say that we have some.

We’ve been seeing numerous positive trends as 2010 begins. Many e-commerce companies have begun investing in tools and technologies to support and foster growth when the economic climate turns positive again. Some are investing in new ways to grow their businesses and offerings in their current markets. Others are exploring new emerging markets, especially in Asia and Latin America.

In this edition, you’ll find articles about how Netgiro can help you make the most of these positive trends. You can preview our newest fraud prevention tool, Transaction Defender. And if you’re looking for an easier way to enter new markets, you’ll be interested in the articles on FX Services and our Payment Page solution. There’s also an invitation to our Webinar on Online Payments in China and Brazil that you shouldn’t miss.

If you have some new growth strategies for 2010, please tell us about them. We’re always ready to support your business and to help you generate more revenue online.

Best regards,

Ingrid Lindström
MD, Netgiro Systems

Online Payments in China and Brazil: Summary and new developments

In 2009 we gave you an overview of two emerging e-commerce markets: China and Brazil. Since then these e-markets have evolved even further.

In China, consumers spending in services and goods remains strong and there’s no sign that it is slowing down. The e-wallet Alipay continues to dominate the payment space in China with a user base of over 200 million accounts. In Brazil, the liberalization of the payment market continues in tandem with continued growth in e-commerce and consumption.

We at Netgiro have learned a lot about what it means to be local in these markets and to process payments locally for our customers. We are sharing our experiences in these exciting new markets in a new Webinar. As an attendee you’ll hear a short summary of what has happened in these markets during the past year. And you’ll hear the latest “Dos and Don’ts” when expanding into these markets.

Netgiro FX Services: Local currencies turn a global profit

It’s a fact that selling in local currencies improves the shopping experience for your customers and generates more revenue. A single-currency cart loses international customers and international sales.

Netgiro’s FX Services lets you easily add multi-currency pricing and settlement to your payment mix. You simply set the product price in your preferred currency. FX Services automatically converts your price into many foreign currencies using up-to-date conversion rates.

Before FX Services, merchants worried about the hassles and risk involved with a multi-currency cart. There was the time involved in managing exchange rates and prices. And the risk of eroding margins if prices weren’t updated quickly enough.

The automation built into FX Services makes this service a risk-free revenue generator. When your customer is ready to pay he will be given the choice of currencies — your preferred currency or the customer’s local currency as identified by FX Services. (In our experience, about 80% of consumers will choose their local currencies.) The system ensures that the converted price reflect the latest exchange rate. And, instead of the card association and the issuing bank keeping the foreign exchange conversion fee, you get to collect this revenue.

FX Services summary of benefits

	>	Additional Revenue: FX Services shifts the currency conversion fee beneficiaries from the card network and the issuing bank to the merchant.
	>	Speed to market, at lower risk: You can enter local markets around the world faster and without exposing your company to foreign currency risk.
	>	Improved customer experience: Showing local consumers prices in their local currencies will increase conversion rates and eliminate unexpected surprises — a common occurrence when cardholders look at their credit card statements and see that their issuers charged them high foreign exchange fees.

Coming soon! Transaction Defender: A new way to minimize fraud while maximizing sales

Transaction Defender is an intelligent fraud prevention engine that learns from past transactions on more than 40,000 Netgiro and Digital River e-commerce clients’ online stores. It employs the latest tools for effective fraud prevention such as IP Geo-Location, Order Velocity Checking and PC/Device Fingerprinting. As a Netgiro customer, you will soon be able to integrate this state-of-the-art fraud prevention system and experience the benefits of improved chargeback rates and fewer good customers stopped by your fraud system.

Does your current fraud system mis-identify valid transactions as fraudulent? Do you know how much revenue this costs you every year? Does your system give you enough visibility to identify fraudulent activities and guard against them? More details on Transaction Defender and all its features will be available later this year. If you’d like more information right away about Transaction Defender and how it will support your business growth, please contact us today.

Transaction Express – International payments in a box

Transaction Express is the most recent addition to the Netgiro products portfolio. It’s a pre-packaged solution for e-commerce companies who wish to enter or extend their presence in the European region.

Why Transaction Express? Because it is fast and easy. You gain a single point of contact for all payment options, integrations and contracts. Plus, you can be up and running in only 30 days. With Transaction Express, you’ll have everything you need to succeed in the European marketplace.

Payment Page

Netgiro’s Payment Page is a ready-to-use, web-based solution for accepting cards and alternative payment options. By integrating Payment Page into your checkout flow you open the door to the world of online payments. Payment Page allows you to grow online sales around the globe by quickly and easily adding new geographical markets or additional payment options to your site.

Payment Page summary of benefits

	>	Speed to market: Payment Page is easy to integrate and maintain. Once integrated with your online store, you can rapidly add new payment options and geographical markets.
	>	Consistent customer experience: Payment Page is built on fully customizable, web page templates that can be entirely adapted to your site’s look and feel. This lets you keep control of your brand and ensures a consistent customer experience, high customer satisfaction and improved retention rates.
	>	Security: Payment Page is hosted on our fully PCI-certified server park. Because no sensitive data ever touches your site or systems, you’re shielded from the time- and resource-intensive certification process.

Payment Page also makes it easier for you to localize your payments flow to suit the needs of your local customers. This ultimately increases your conversion rates, customer retention and overall sales revenue. Contact us to learn more about how Payment Page can help your business grow.

Can a checkout redesign lower shopping cart abandonment rates?

According to a survey of US online retailers, around 60% face shopping cart abandonment rates of over 20%. Sometimes a merchant cannot do anything about it — just like in the physical world, not everyone who touches a product in the shop finally buys it. But many cases have shown that improved usability can decrease your cart abandonment rates and improve your conversion rates.

Navigation and usability functions during the shopping process — such as smart search, customer reviews, loyalty programs, etc. — are helpful features when designing an e-store. However, the checkout process can often create a bottleneck. This is especially troublesome because it’s in this critical stage that customers make their final decisions to buy. According to an article by Forrester, beyond offering preferred local payment options, there are some simple things to consider when designing your checkout process.

Reduce user input errors with clear error messages and contextual help
> Tell your user how you want the information; for example, with or without blank spaces
> Give descriptions of unclear terminology like “Security code”, “Issue number”, or “CVC/CVV” when asking for credit card details
> Use examples

Keep your interface simple
> Make it easy to understand what is expected from your customer
> Don’t distract the consumer with ads or cross sell offers during the payment process
> Reduce the number of steps in the buying process to a minimum
> Only ask for the customer information that you need to know

Streamline the checkout process
> Don’t ask consumers to register during checkout, give them the option to do it afterwards
> Adjust all steps to the simple sequence of “choose – order – pay”

Use simple language
> Don’t use long and complicated texts
> Use comprehensive words or expressions for all buttons

Sources:
e-tailing group, “8th Annual Merchant Survey”, www.emarketer.com
iPerceptions, “Retail/E-Commerce Industry Report Q2 2009”, www.emarketer.com
Marta Baigorri, “Improve Online Check-Out Functionality”, www.forrester.com
RIS and IHL Group, “Store Systems Study”, www.emarketer.com

Welcome onboard: Stena Line

Stena Line (www.stenaline.com) is one of the world’s largest ferry companies. Headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, it employs around 5,700 people. Recently Stena Line experienced increased security pressure from their banks and the card schemes, much of this due to PCI and EMV regulations. This drove an internal research project to determine how they could limit the company’s overall access to sensitive payment data and decrease the cost for PCI certification. During this process Stena Line decided to outsource payment processing for all Web and telephone sales to Netgiro.
“Netgiro have been able to meet our requirements for both system security and multi-channel sales. The new solution has taken away a lot of the administration and costs of PCI certification while maintaining compliance with payment industry regulations. In addition, Netgiro’s solution fully supports our existing booking processes, both online and via telephone.” Inger Sund, Group Cash Manager, Stena Line

Download the full case study on http://www.netgiro.com/about_netgiro/customers.aspx

Upcoming events

Meet Netgiro at the Merchant Risk Council Conference, 17–18 March, in Las Vegas.
The MRC’s Annual e-Commerce Payments and Risk Conference is just around the corner. Industry experts worldwide recognize this event as one of the most important conferences on global electronic commerce, online payments and the prevention of online fraud. Visit our booth (#205) or contact us in advance to arrange a meeting with our representatives on site.

For details about the conference, please visit www.merchantriskcouncil.org

Netgiro in the news

“Localization of Payments: Lessons from Online Travel”

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