Global Merchant Services Solutions

Why Merchants Who Treat Payments the Same Everywhere Struggle to Scale Any merchant who has had to deal with expanding their business globally knows that it isn't as simple as just offering some new payment methods, but rather that it is about understanding how each region prefers to pay and then optimizing to accommodate customers to do that. However, I still frequently talk to merchants who think that having the "essential" payment options, such as credit cards, PayPal, or maybe a digital wallet, is enough to go global. In reality, local nuance matters far more than you’d expect. According to McKinsey & Company, over 70% of global e-commerce growth stems from regional payment preferences. Think Klarna in the Nordics, iDeal in the Netherlands, and Pix in Brazil. Missing these nuances is like speaking the wrong language: you can offer the “right” payment methods, but still lose customers who don’t see their preferred local approach. As a Payments Strategist, I’ve frequently worked with merchants who invested heavily in marketing to expand internationally, only to stumble at checkout because they treated all customers the same. But why is that? Let me explain... What most merchants often get wrong is: Overlooking local behavior. Some regions have a high adoption of specific e-wallets or cash-based vouchers. Sticking only to global card brands can lead to cart abandonment. One-size-fits-all fraud checks. Global fraud patterns don’t translate cleanly across borders. A strict rule set for Europe could create false declines in Latin America, where the IP and device profiles differ. Difficulty in scaling operationally. Managing multiple gateways, local acquirers, or alternative payments can become an operational nightmare. Without the right orchestration layer, you end up with scattered data and inconsistent reconciliation. Missing out on better approval rates. Visa and Mastercard have both reported higher authorization rates in cross-border transactions when merchants adopt local processing or network tokens. The solution? Focus on regional optimization, not just “adding more payment methods.” Payment orchestration platforms (like IXOPAY) enable merchants to tailor routing, tokenization, and risk checks to each market. That means higher approval rates, fewer false declines, and better customer experiences—no matter where your shoppers are. Personally, I see local payment strategies as the final piece of the puzzle for a true global scale. Having multiple methods at checkout is essential. Knowing how people want to pay and implementing the technology to support is what ultimately drives growth and revenue. What do you think? Are local payment preferences the hidden barrier to global expansion, or are merchants focusing too much on niche payment methods? Let me know in the comments. P.S. Check out my newsletter for more Payments Strategy Breakdowns https://buff.ly/IDbkSLw

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝗻 🌏 It's common, a locally successful company launches in a new market with all the right ingredients. Localized product, translated website, tailored marketing, but they forget one critical thing: 𝙄𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙, 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙪𝙡𝙩 Bringing a U.S. checkout to a non-U.S. market can kill expansion faster than most other problems. Let's look at why 👇 ___ 𝗔𝗣𝗠'𝘀 → In Brazil, over 50% of all eComm purchases use either Pix or Boleto → In the Netherlands, iDEAL accounts for more than 70% of online purchases → In India, UPI hit 14 billion transactions in May 2024 alone 🔹But when U.S. merchants expand into these markets, they often only bring cards to the table, then wonder why conversion tanks 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺: 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 🔹In many countries, cards aren’t well trusted or even available → In LatAm, fewer than 30% of consumers have credit cards → In Africa & Southeast Asia, most digital payments are made via wallets → Even when cards exist, foreign BINs often face higher decline rates + fees 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 🔹With the recent rise of orchestration platforms and MOR providers, merchants don’t need to integrate every payment method individually. A few key players now offer: → Pre-built local integrations → Dynamic checkout routing → Reconciliation tools for non-card rails → Dodo Payments, for example, supports: ▪️End-to-end local acquiring across over 50 markets ▪️LPM enablement, including Pix, UPI, iDEAL, and more ▪️Global tax, FX, and compliance management built direct to checkout 🔹Using a MOR can quickly unlock local payments to global merchants, accelerating time to revenue in a new market 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 ✔️ 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 → Consumers are more likely to complete checkout using familiar, local rails ✔️ 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 → You serve underbanked and cash-preferred populations ✔️ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 → Many LPMs bypass interchange entirely, especially with account-to-account transfers ✔️ 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 → Domestic methods avoid card decline logic and foreign issuer suspicion ___ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲 📌 Expanding globally means thinking locally at checkout. Global conversion isn’t about more traffic. It’s about offering the right ways to pay. Source: Pix, UPI Annual Report, iDEAL Annual Report 🔔 Follow Jason Heister for daily #Fintech and #Payments guides, technical breakdowns, and industry insights.

The Role of Acquiring in Enabling Omni-Channel Payments Today’s merchants no longer operate in just one channel. A single customer may browse a product online, pay with a wallet, pick up in-store, and later return the item using a QR refund. For acquirers, this shift is both a challenge and an opportunity. 🔑 Why Omni-Channel Matters: ✅ Customers expect seamless payments across POS, e-commerce, QR codes, and wallets. ✅ Merchants want one acquiring partner who can unify all these channels. ✅ Data from omni-channel transactions provides powerful insights to drive merchant growth. ⚡ How Acquirers Must Adapt: ✔️ Unified Platforms – Enable merchants to accept payments across multiple channels with a single integration. ✔️ Smart POS & SoftPOS – Equip merchants with modern terminals and mobile-based acceptance. ✔️ Wallet & QR Acceptance – Go beyond cards; embrace mobile money, QR, and super apps. ✔️ Data & Value-Added Services – Provide merchants with analytics, fraud detection, and loyalty solutions. ✔️ Global Reach, Local Relevance – Support cross-border payments while keeping compliance and local preferences in mind. 🌍 The acquirer of the future isn’t just a payment processor — it’s a merchant growth partner. Merchants today no longer operate in one channel. A single customer may browse online, pay with a wallet, pick up in-store, and later request a refund through a QR payment. This new reality demands that acquirers evolve from processors to true growth partners. 🔹 POS Terminals remain the foundation of in-store payments, offering secure and familiar checkout experiences while supporting contactless and tap-to-pay. 🔹 E-commerce acquiring extends a merchant’s reach globally, enabling 24/7 sales and offering multiple options such as cards, wallets, and subscriptions. 🔹 QR Payments bring affordability and flexibility, allowing both large retailers and small merchants to accept digital payments instantly, without expensive hardware. 🔹 Digital Wallets simplify the customer journey with one-tap or in-app payments, driving adoption among digital-native customers while supporting loyalty and engagement. At the center, acquirers can unify these channels to provide consolidated data and analytics — offering insights that help merchants reduce fraud, improve decision-making, and strengthen customer loyalty. ☑️ The acquirer of the future is not just enabling payments, but building seamless omni-channel ecosystems that empower merchants to thrive.

Mastercard introduces Merchant Cloud — a new platform designed to simplify global commerce and accelerate merchant growth. ✅️ Built to simplify and scale commerce, the platform provides a single entry point for merchants, acquirers, PSPs, and ISVs to access Mastercard’s suite of services — from omnichannel payment routing and tokenization to AI-powered optimization, fraud prevention, and identity verification. 🟢 Its scheme-agnostic design, with connectivity to 240+ acquirers and support for 35+ payment types, positions it as an infrastructure layer that can help financial institutions and payment providers expand reach, reduce complexity, and improve efficiency. 🟪 Key implications: 1- Consolidation & simplification: Rather than merchants having to stitch together multiple providers for gateway, fraud, tokenization, etc., Mastercard is packaging these into a more integrated offering. 2- Competitive positioning: This puts Mastercard more directly into the infrastructure layer of payments, potentially competing with specialized gateway / fraud / payments orchestration platforms. 3- Flexibility & reach: The “scheme-agnostic” nature and support for many payment types is important — it avoids lock-in and allows adaptation to local/regional payments norms. 4- AI / optimization focus: Use of machine learning / AI to maximize approval rates and detect fraud is increasingly table stakes — this is in line with industry trends. 5- Agentic payments & future orientation: The mention of “agentic payments” and integration with Agent Pay suggests Mastercard is preparing for emergent payment models (e.g. payments mediated by intelligent agents or intermediaries). As digital payments evolve, solutions like Merchant Cloud highlight how collaboration and interoperability — not fragmentation — will define the next era of commerce innovation. Full details here 👇 https://lnkd.in/d6h2_CBz