How to Choose The Best Payment Gateway for eCommerce in 2021

The Best Payment Gateway for eCommerce in 2021 – Tips to Find The One

E-commerce is inseparable from electronic payments. However, in order for your online store to be popular and demanded, you need to offer not only excellent product quality and customer service. You also need to invest in a great, modern solution, plus give users the ability to pay for their orders in a way that suits them. To do this, you need to integrate the best payment gateway for eCommerce, however, the choice of the best will be individual for each eCommerce website since it depends on users’ preferences and others, no less important factors. Here is how to find the most suitable payment gateway for eCommerce and make sure it really fits your business. 

What Is a Payment Gateway and How It Works?

A payment gateway is a technological solution that connects your eCommerce website and the financial institution you use to receive payments from your customers.

Here is how it works. 

After the buyer creates an order in your online store and pays for it, the means of payment pass through the gate and go to the bank or other financial organization. Next, the bank confirms this payment and redirects it to your company’s account. All these steps take a few minutes.

What Is the Role of a Payment Gateway?

An electronic payment system is very important for the eCommerce store operation. What is more, it opens up a lot of innovative opportunities and is quite beneficial for your customers and internal business processes.

According to the research, “Some of the benefits provided by online payment systems include improved cash flow efficiency, guaranteed transactions, reduced costs, increased protection of sensitive information, and increased protection of the payment provider.”

• Fast payments. E-commerce payments are made instantly so neither your customers nor you should wait until the money will be withdrawn and delivered. This contributes to better users’ experience and allows you to always stay updated with the amount you have. 
• Secure payments. ePayment gateways come with security features such as authorized payments, SMS, and Pin codes. There are also in-build antifraud features that allow making sure that the payment isn’t made by a scammer. 
• Transparent reporting. Unlike cash, online payments are very easy to track. What is more, with the help of special solutions, the data about transactions may be easily shared with your accounting software, thereby, making the work of your bookkeepers easier and error-free. 
• Better customer experience. Paying online is a modern and already adopted practice. What is more, the eCommerce websites that don’t use an electronic payment system raise suspicion and concern. 
• Cashback and other bonuses for customers. A lot of financial institutions offer favorable partnerships. You may integrate the best payment gateway for E-commerce provided by them, and allow your customers to receive bonuses and /or cashback after each deal with your online store.
  
  

What are the types of payment gateway?

Looking for the most suitable payment gateway for eCommerce, get started by analyzing the four main types of payment gateways.

• Hosted payment gateways. For example, PayPal is a hosted payment gateway. After your customer confirms his order, he is transferred to PayPal’s checkout page where he is required to fill in his credentials to proceed with a transaction. 
• Self-hosted payment gateways. As for the example, Shopify payments is a self-hosted payment gateway. Surely, it makes sense to use this feature if your eCommerce store is powered by Shopify. 
• API hosted payment gateways. As the name implies, in this case, the payment is processed with the help of a third-party’s Application Programming Interface or HTTPS queries. 
• Local bank integration. In this case, you build a bridge between your online store and the local bank. After confirming the order, the customer is transferred to the local bank’s website where he should finalize the payments by logging in or filling in his financial data. 

How to Choose the Best Payment Gateway for E-Commerce?

So, let’s find out how to choose the best payment gateway for eCommerce. Choosing the right one, you should analyze:

• Its security features. Perfectly, your eCommerce payment gateway should have as strong security features as possible. There should be built-in anti-fraud protection with the help of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Also, the payment gateway provider should follow the best industry practices like Address Verification, IP tracking, and so on. 
• Payment integration capabilities. Here, there are a lot of things to consider. Find out whether multilingual and multi-currency processing, fraud management, multi payments, and multichannel features are available. And of course, don’t forget about the expectations of your users and the core needs of your business. 
• Ease of setup and use. Analyzing this factor, it makes sense to consult with your development company since they will be able to suggest the best alternative according to their practical experience in eCommerce development. 
• Cost. The cost to use an electronic payment system starts at $500 and may reach $2000 per month depending on the provider. Since each provider offers its features and condition of use, the choice may be challenging and probably, the most expensive solution will be the one that fits your business. In this case, creating a custom payment gateway makes more sense since you will need to invest only once and this investment will be paid off in one-three years. What is more, you will be able to share your API to generate additional profit. 

How to Set up a Payment Gateway?

As a rule, a payment gateway provider shares clear instructions on how to set it up on your website. In this case, you should ask the developer of your website to help you with the integration process. However, installing it before your eCommerce website launch is a better idea since your users will be immediately able to shop online and enjoy the benefits of an electronic payment system.

What is more, there is an opportunity to create a custom solution if none is suitable after analyzing e-commerce gateway reviews. Doing this way, you will be able to come up with a specific set of features that meets the needs of your business and the expectations of your users, cut costs on the best payment gateway for eCommerce maintenance, and embed powerful eCommerce fraud detection functionality. 

Conclusion

Having an electronic payment system on your eCommerce website is one of the indicators of your reliability and integrity as a company. What is more, it is one of the ingredients of successful online shopping experience. So if you still keep asking your users to pay in cash on delivery, stop doing so today. Nowadays, cash is not only inconvenient but also unsafe.