According to the World Payments Report 2017 global digital payments volumes are predicted to increase by an average of 10.9% through to 2020, reaching nearly 726 billion transactions.
However, while digital payments, and in particular cross-border trade, represents one of the biggest business opportunities for merchants over the next couple of years, many are being held back by cumbersome cross-border payment infrastructure which fails to acknowledge local market nuances. At PayU, we are doing our part to make cross-border trade easier for merchants and consumers alike.
Earlier this year we launched the PayU Hub platform. PayU Hub aims to use technology to solve the cross-border commerce challenges by using a single API integration to access to 2.3 billion potential new customers in the major high growth markets across Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle-East, India, Africa and Latin America.
Rather than adopt a traditional cross-border model, using an international acquirer, we have redefined the way cross-border payments can be undertaken.
PayU Hub’s hyper-local direct connections to local acquirers and alternative payment methods sets us apart. Not only does it allow merchants to reach entire markets through alternative payment methods but it also improves customer experience.
A recent example of this is PayU’s collaboration with e-commerce marketplace AliExpress, part of the Alibaba Group, to enable Polish consumers to pay with local payment methods on the AliExpress platform.
The most popular payment method online in Poland, used by 62% of Polish e-consumers, is real-time bank transfers called ‘pay-by-links’. These are totally unique to the Polish market and as such any international merchant planning to accept online orders from Poland needs to be able to accept them.
With digital payments volumes predicted to more than double in the next two years the opportunity to open up the trade of goods internationally is undeniable. However, if the World Payments Report predicted growth is to be realised, complicated and out of date payment infrastructure and processes need to be addressed to allow merchants and consumers to trade across borders in the manner they are used to.
Any thoughts on X-border opportunities? I would love to hear from you.