Creating an online store on your website or app is not just popular these days, but also very important for brick-and-mortar businesses to survive in what we call the new normal. More and more consumers are turning towards online shopping with each passing day.
While getting your website or app ready for your online business is of great importance, figuring out how to start accepting payments online is equally important.
A good e-commerce website needs a good payment gateway to collect payments from the customers. Although many other factors determine a seamless customer experience, the right payment gateway is one of them.
The payment gateway you select for your online business should support:
- A wide range of payment sources (credit/debit cards, net banking etc.)
- The highest-in-class payment success rates
- Dedicated support
- Bank offers and EMI options
- Instant refunds
- Recurring payments
- Competitive pricing
If you are looking for a payment gateway for your online store, you need to first learn how to compare payment gateways.
As a smart business owner, you need to first understand what a payment gateway does and how it can benefit your business.
Payment gateway comparison – what does it really mean?
Comparing payment gateways simply means diving deeper into their feature sets and understanding their benefits before you choose one of them.
The fundamental goal for most online businesses is to ensure maximum sales by minimizing all possible constraints that lie during a customer’s journey.
Carrying out thorough research to compare payment gateways is not just a need but an essential part of setting up an online business.
Comparing different payment gateways available in India is important for many reasons.
- It helps you understand various features of a payment gateway better
- It makes you focus more on the business-centric benefits of different payment solutions
- It helps you create a checklist of what to look for while searching for a payment gateway
- It helps in assessing peer recommendations to make an informed decision
- It helps in understanding the competition in the payment gateway market
Step-by-step guide for payment gateway comparison
You can easily compare different payment gateways in India by following the steps given below:
Make a list of renowned payment gateways in India
Make this list by searching for payment gateways online. Even the results for the query ‘best payment gateway’ on the first page of a search engine can make up this list. However, there are other ways to find out more options and build this list.
For instance, you can ask other members of your business community for recommendations of a payment gateway. Similarly, you can keep an eye on the payment gateway used by the brands you most commonly buy from.
Create a list of payment gateway features
The reason why you need this feature list is to understand what a specific payment gateway can do for your business. Keep in mind that the payment gateway comparison is to be done based on the value that these features provide, not just the feature count.
In simple words, if ‘Payment Gateway A’ has more features than ‘Payment Gateway B’, this alone should not push you to select the former option. What value the features can add to your business matters more.
In general, here’s a list of features you should look for while comparing payment gateways:
- Ease of integration on both website and app
- Activation process
- List of payment methods supported (including credit cards, debit cards, UPI, etc.)
- Payment success rates
- Merchant support services
- Transaction handling capacity
- Saved payment instruments
- Merchant account dashboard to check payment reports
- Provision to offer bank offers/EMI options to customers
- Settlement process
- Support for International payments
Create a payment gateway comparison table
At this step of comparing payment gateways, all you need to do is to add data from the two lists you created in the previous steps into an easy-to-read table. Ideally, it should look like this:
Assess the feature set with your business needs
The last step involved in payment gateway comparison involves matching your business needs with the payment gateway features. Again, you should not look at only the number of features in a payment gateway to make a decision.
For instance, if your business involves selling to local customers only, then the international payment support provided by a payment gateway is of no use.
A payment gateway comparison table like the one above can give you a good idea of how to proceed with selecting a payment solution. However, the process does not end at analyzing that table alone.
Perform payment gateway fees comparison
While comparing payment gateways largely involves checking the features of different payment gateways, you should also check the difference between pricing plans of different payment gateways.
In general, payment gateway pricing or charges refers to the cost involved in enabling online payment transactions. This flat fee is generally expressed as a percentage of the order value received.
Recommended Read: How to Choose the Best Payment Gateway in India?
Look at existing clients
The existing clientele that relies on a payment gateway says a lot about its credibility. It also means that they have looked into its feature set and analysed the benefits it can offer. If you can find some of the biggest brands in your industry or even others relying on a payment gateway, you can also go for it.
Payment gateway comparison – conclusion
There is no silver bullet to find the most suitable payment gateway for an online business. It is primarily about gaining knowledge of how a payment gateway works and what your business specifically needs.
Ask yourself what kind of benefits you expect from a suitable payment gateway, and make the comparison table as shown above. You will then have a pretty good idea of how to select the right one.
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