back Back

Bridge: The buck stops with payments in post-COVID e-commerce

Bridge, COVID-19, Cross Border Payments, Domestic Payments, E – Commerce, Instant Payments, Payment Innovations, Payment Orchestration, Payment Processing, Payments as a Service, Real-Time Payments

October 16, 2020

  • Bridge
  • COVID-19
  • Cross Border Payments
Share

By Brian Coburn, CEO at Bridge

Brian Coburn, CEO at Bridge
Brian Coburn, CEO at Bridge

The ability of COVID-19 to dramatically change consumer buying behaviour continues to challenge the e-commerce world.

Lockdown restrictions, customer anxiety over physical spaces, and increased screen time across all demographics has created an e-commerce boom of unprecedented proportions. Online operations have been tested to the limits and even the most traditional businesses have found themselves forced to pivot and innovate to find new ways of engaging customers. For many retailers, e-commerce has gone from a secondary channel to becoming the primary connection to customers, which makes a strong, resilient online payment structure even more critical than ever to capture every possible transaction opportunity.

Amidst the chaos, many fledgling payment trends have accelerated and previously niche innovations have received a boost.

Consumers have been prompted to try out new or alternative mechanisms such as mobile wallets, payment services, person-to-person transactions and order-ahead apps as they adapt to the new, socially distanced ‘normal’. As much as we all want to see the back of this pandemic, it is unlikely we will see a full retreat from online retail and many of the new payment provisions that have swiftly gained popularity.

Now the ball is in the e-commerce court to catch up and keep customers spending online. It demands a reliable mechanism to minimise cart abandonment and incomplete transactions, the ability to take payments in more varied, innovative and flexible ways, and processes for collecting data to understand what has worked – or not – and why.

Bridge logoNone of this is simple or straightforward. In fact, a relatively new term ‘payment orchestration’ is likening the need for management and integration of the many active parts and processes involved in transactions to the task of conducting an orchestral performance. It reflects the challenge of accommodating a growing array of customer payment preferences while also navigating the increasingly complex and fragmented integrations associated with needing to connect to different payment services.

In times of uncertainty, we look for what we can control. The same mentality is apparently behind the rush to stockpile toilet rolls in the early days of the pandemic. But through the lens of e-commerce, control – and resilience – are exactly what businesses need to shore up. With payment orchestration, vendors regain ownership of their payment platform and it puts the complexities of dealing with multiple payment service providers back under their control. E-commerce vendors can then achieve a much clearer, consolidated view of the whole payments infrastructure and support the speed, convenience, personalisation and trust that customers want from online retail.

In the ‘new normal’, these will be the most important influences on the ways in which people choose to shop and engage online and, ultimately, pivotal in the success of e-commerce operations.

Brian Coburn
CEO
Bridge

Bridge is a new payment orchestration layer for e-commerce enterprises that want to unlock the potential of existing and new digital payment services. Bridge has been created to put payment control in the hands of the merchant. Its single integration layer delivers more control over payment service providers, consolidates internal reporting, builds resilience and enhances the ability to test new payment innovations and opportunities at speed.

Previous Article

October 12, 2020

Backbase: How banks can better support SME customers in Q4

Read More
Next Article

October 26, 2020

Creating a resilient treasury for now and the future

Read More

IBSi News

Merger and Acquisition, FinTech Acquisition, Europe, FinTech news, UK

March 28, 2024

Bridge

5 Major FinTech Acquisitions announced in March 2024

Read More

  • Daily insightful Financial Technology news analysis
  • Weekly snapshots of industry deals, events & insights
  • Weekly global FinTech case study
  • Chart of the Week curated by IBSi’s Research Team
  • Monthly issues of the iconic IBSi FinTech Journal
  • Exclusive invitation to a flagship IBSi on-ground event of your choice

IBSi FinTech Journal

  • Most trusted FinTech journal since 1991
  • Digital monthly issue
  • 60+ pages of research, analysis, interviews, opinions, and rankings
  • Global coverage
Subscribe Now

Other Related Blogs

January 17, 2024

Payments investigations: a market opportunity

Read More

November 29, 2023

Redefining the relationship between PSPs and merchants

Read More

July 27, 2023

The gateway to success: Why businesses shouldn’t underestimate the importance of payment gateways   

Read More

Related Reports

Sales League Table Report 2023
Know More
Global Digital Banking Vendor & Landscape Report Q4 2023
Know More
Wealth Management & Private Banking Systems Report Q4 2023
Know More
IBSi Spectrum Report: Supply Chain Finance Platforms Q4 2023
Know More
Treasury & Capital Markets Systems Report Q4 2023
Know More