Omni-Channel Payments Strategy is Critical to Creating a Seamless Customer Experience, According to Nearly 8 in 10 Global Merchants

Security, compliance and fraud management are barriers to merchants' CX investment decisions

Thursday, July 06, 2017

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NAPLES, FLA—July 6, 2017—An omni-channel payments strategy is key to creating a seamless customer experience for 79 percent of merchants and retailers, per new benchmark data, “2017 Global Payments Insight Survey: Merchants and Retailers,” from ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW) and Ovum. The study revealed that although EMV has lowered fraud prevention costs for most U.S. companies, fraud continues to shift online. And while merchants and retailers plan to considerably increase investment in payments to improve customer experience (by 50% over 2015), more than three quarters of these organizations view security, compliance and fraud management issues as the biggest barriers to their investment decisions. 

Principal study findings include:

• 59 percent of merchants and retailers plan to increase their payments investments during the next 18-24 months, up from 50 percent in 2015
• Payments investment is high in all sectors, with 65 percent of travel and lodging companies reporting an increase in investment levels
• 79 percent of merchants and retailers view adopting an omni-channel approach as key to creating a seamless customer experience
• 84 percent of U.S. merchants and retailers report EMV has lowered their fraud prevention costs
• Merchants and retailers increasingly expect payments investment to improve the customer experience, but more than 75 percent indicate security and compliance are the biggest barrier to payments initiatives
• Although 52 percent of merchants and retailers say their CNP losses are growing, 70 percent say they are satisfied with their CNP fraud prevention tools

“As commerce becomes increasingly digital, payments technology is critical to improving customer engagement and reducing costs,” said Lynn Holland, vice president, ACI Worldwide. “EMV continues to influence retail fraud patterns; while the U.S. adoption of EMV has lowered in-store fraud costs and shifted fraudulent activity online, merchants must remain vigilant about preventing card not present fraud.”

“Although there isn’t one path to payments modernization for merchants and retailers, the benefits of investing in new and alternative payments methods are increasing—in terms of both merchants’ bottom lines and overall improvement of customer experience,” said Matthew Heaslip, analyst, Ovum. “To stay competitive in this changing retail market, merchants and retailers must foster strong payment partnerships with companies that not only understand their market verticals, but can also help them both improve their omnichannel capabilities and reach new customers.”

The study is comprised of organizations across myriad industries such as general merchandise, food service and restaurants, grocery, fuel and convenience, and travel and lodging, based in countries in the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

To receive a complimentary copy of the report, please click here or visit https://www.aciworldwide.com/merchantinsights

* Methodology and Demographics:

For the 2017 Ovum Global Payment Information Survey, which includes merchant, biller, and retail banking components, ACI and Ovum created a 23 point questionnaire, looking at the following criteria for key payments players: significant aspects of existing payments infrastructure; forecasts for spending; areas for investment and perceptions of where payments fit within their broader strategic objectives. This survey was sent to payments decision makers globally in December, 2016—January, 2017. It provides a snapshot of payment perceptions among merchants, financial institutions, and scheduled billing and payment-taking organizations such as higher education, consumer finance and insurance. Overall, respondents totaled 1,475 executives across 15 industry sub verticals in 25 key global markets, resulting in more than 144,000 separate data points on perceptions and expectations of payments among critical payment enablers globally.

This paper focuses on the survey findings for merchant and retailer organizations.  

About ACI Worldwide

ACI Worldwide, the Universal Payments (UP) company, powers electronic payments for more than 5,100 organizations around the world. More than 1,000 of the largest financial institutions and intermediaries, as well as thousands of global merchants, rely on ACI to execute $14 trillion each day in payments and securities. In addition, myriad organizations utilize our electronic bill presentment and payment services. Through our comprehensive suite of software solutions delivered on customers’ premises or through ACI’s private cloud, we provide real-time, immediate payments capabilities and enable the industry’s most complete omni-channel payments experience. To learn more about ACI, please visit www.aciworldwide.com. You can also find us on Twitter @ACI_Worldwide.

© Copyright ACI Worldwide, Inc. 2017. 
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