Online shopping remains relatively popular even as more people return to buying in physical stores. According to e-commerce statistics, the UK market is the fourth largest e-commerce market in the world, with a 27% growth and earnings estimated to be £10 billion ($10 billion). Coupled with computers and mobile phones becoming more accessible, more businesses have been transitioning their services online to enhance customer experience. In fact, consumer expectations have never been higher with the advent of omnichannel commerce.

With this in mind, businesses need to adapt their models to accommodate digital orders and payment through online means. The need for solutions to receive settlements online has paved the way for payment technologies to make the transaction process all the more convenient. This article will address how payment tech can be integrated into web and mobile applications.

Payment gateways

Mobile commerce can be tricky to facilitate independently, especially when there are concerns over security and compliance. To streamline the payment process, merchants rely on payment gateways to process transactions, allowing customers to “check out” their purchases through cashless payments. Incorporating payment solutions that have been designed for small businesses will allow you to offer customers a range of credit card payment options with equipment and a pricing plan that fits your specific needs. These platforms can direct customers to payment pages that receive card information, encrypt the data, and communicate with payment processors to accept or deny purchases.

Suppose you’re looking to implement a prebuilt payment gateway into your website or mobile app. In that case, it’s essential to consider the fees involved with the service, such as the setup fee, monthly gateway fee, merchant account fees, and fees per transaction. While these may seem costly, these providers often come with their technical support and help your business save time from having to fully set up and maintain data storage and compliance.

Payment processors

Payment processors work hand-in-hand with payment gateways to enhance security. As mentioned above, payment gateways pass credit card information onto payment processors, which then shuttle this information to the issuing bank and merchant accounts. Payment processors can validate a card’s security before communicating with the cardholder’s issuing bank and transferring funds into the merchant’s account, where they can issue a receipt afterwards.

In addition to regular one-time transactions, payment processors allow both businesses to establish unique payment plans. These can be subscription-based models, interchange-plus payment processing, and flat-rate payment processing — options that depend on the number of sales a business makes per month. The added benefit of subscription-based models is that it continually engages with customers through emails and other relevant media, making it a great marketing opportunity for businesses with high transaction volumes.

Tech considerations

Before integrating payment technologies into your website or mobile application, you must consider their compatibility and security. As shared in our post on types of mobile apps, different applications have varying levels of interactivity and security. For example, some progressive web apps may not be the best for facilitating payments, as these aren’t supported on Apple or older Android devices. On the other hand, hybrid applications may not be as secure as Native Apps, so they're not recommended for applications that handle large volumes of financial transactions.

Investing in payment technologies can help you streamline the transaction process and improve customer experience. This can boost customer satisfaction and increase return rate, helping you grow your business.