Ever since the pandemic eased out, more and more people have booked tickets to travel abroad, and most of these tickets were booked online. While tourism in the Middle East fell by 73% at the height of Covid-19, it recovered quickly and is expected to see a rise of more than 100% in 2022. Modern infrastructure blended with natural beauty, mesmerizing beaches, historial significance and tons of entertainment options is what attracts tourists the most. With middle eastern countries hosting numerous sporting events like the ICC World T20 tournament and the Fifa World Cup 2022, the number of people booking tickets online will increase exponentially. In fact, nearly 3 million people are expected to arrive in Qatar for the Fifa World Cup alone.

If you’re a travel agency trying to get back on your feet after the pandemic or are just starting out to attract customers, you should know the importance of payment gateways and accepting payments online from customers. Not only does it make life easier for customers, but it also ensures that transactions are completely safe and secure. While payment gateways are important for your travel business, choosing the correct one is also crucial.

In this article, we’ll list some points you can consider when selecting a payment gateway for your travel agency. It is important to understand that several vendors exist, and not every payment portal might suit your business needs and aspirations.

Tips for Choosing the Best Payment Gateway for Your Travel Business

Customer Service

One of the most important and basic features your payment gateway needs to have is efficient customer service. Travel agencies deal with customers from around the world, and they can face many different issues regarding payments, refunds, and more. Coherent customer service becomes necessary so that customers’ issues can be resolved promptly and effectively. Choose a payment gateway that is not only trustworthy but is available round the clock for your customers. They should also provide additional features like an active phone number that customers can contact for quick resolution and a working email address. There should also be support for handling queries online through the help of a chatbot or a voice bot.

Security

Your preferred payment gateway should be secure as well. Customers are always sceptical when transacting online and generally fear losing their money. Partnering up with a payment gateway that ensures safe and secure payments instils a sense of trust among the customers and gives them the confidence to not only do business with you but also come back in the future to do business with you again.

Look for payment gateways that offer bank-grade security features like PCI-DSS compliance, fraud detection, two-step verification, and more. Such features ensure that all your transactions are encrypted, safe, and protected from phishing or fraudulent activities. The fewer payment-related troubles you’ll experience, the more will be the faith of customers in your business.

Ease of Payments

Many of your potential customers leave the website if they don’t find their preferred mode of payment. You can lose a lot of business if your chosen payment gateway doesn’t allow customers to pay for products however they like. The best payment gateway for your travel business will accept payments in a number of different modes, currencies, and options. Along with providing different modes of payment, you need to ensure that paying for products on your platform is straightforward for even the least technically savvy person. Unnecessary complications and too many intermediary steps before a transaction are complete can trigger the customer to leave the payment mid-way and search for a competitor. 

Cost

The next most significant factor you need to consider while choosing a payment gateway for your travel business is how much it will cost you upfront and in the long run. It’s important to understand that payment portals will incur costs in different areas, including the set-up fee, charge for every transaction, and an annual maintenance charge. If you’re a small travel agency or are just setting up your business, it becomes all the more important to analyse your budget and how much you can afford to spend on a new-age payment gateway.

Examine the volume of transactions your business experiences on a daily basis and estimate future trends. If your transaction volume is considerably high, choosing a payment gateway with a higher transaction fee and annual charge might not fit your budget. Similarly, if the transaction volume is low, you can look at some competitive pricing and still be profitable. However, it is vital to have a payment gateway in place in 2023, no matter what it costs, due to its high ROI in the long run.

Timely Payouts

Maintaining cash flow in your business is essential to ensure you don’t run out of funds when needed. Customers can book tickets and pay for services on the same day, but if it takes a lot of time to reach your bank account, then you have some deliberation to do about your payment gateway. While a three-day wait is considered typical for business payouts, anything more than that should be a reason for concern. If your payment partner takes more than three days or even a week to pay you back, it can cause serious cash flow issues, especially when customers ask for refunds or cancel their booking. Choose a payment partner that doesn’t have a history of delayed settlements and goes through with their payments at regular intervals.

Conclusion

An increase in the number of people opting for booking tickets online should be an indication of how important a payment gateway can be for your travel business. Apart from just booking tickets, it will prevent any fraudulent activities from happening with you or your consumer, provide complete visibility on the transactions, and help you increase your business. PayTabs is an excellent payment partner for your travel business. With decades of combined experience among the team and several clients under their belt, PayTabs is one of the best payment gateways for any business.

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Customers are the life and blood of businesses. No matter what you sell, your customers need a few common things: security, quality, and safe payment options. You might be surprised to know that 18% of the customers abandon their cart because they don’t trust the website with their credit card information, and 9% because of a lack of payment options.

Which is why, payment integration in a website is crucial to your business. Therefore, it is necessary to choose a payment gateway that helps you retain your customers by avoiding the above-listed problems. Your payment gateway should both satisfy your and your customers’ needs. Now, before you dive into how to add payment gateway to a website, find out what a gateway is.

What is a payment gateway?

A payment gateway allows authorisation and processing of payments by transferring data. With the world going digital, payment gateways have become a part of almost all online and offline stores. One of the reasons why they are so popular is that they ensure the safety and security of data while ensuring speedy transactions. A website with a payment gateway typically has a higher chance of sales and profits.

How does it work?

Just like a point-of-sales terminal, a payment gateway ensures quick and smooth transactions. To ensure the safety of the data processed and transferred, payment gateway providers use encryption and security protocols.

A payment gateway follows these steps:

1. The customer clicks on the “pay now” button during checkout.
2. They select the payment method and enter the required card details.
3. The details added are shared with the payment gateway.
4. The payment gateway encrypts the data and shares the details with the payment processor.
5. The bank gets the authorisation request and responds to the payment processor with approval or rejection.
6. The merchant bank receives money from the customer’s bank.
7. The website displays the confirmation/rejection accordingly.

Types of payment gateways

There are two types of payment gateways for a website.

· Hosted

Hosted payment gateways involve redirecting your customers to the website with payment gateway for the payment process. It is a third party where customers complete payment and are redirected back to your website. This type of gateway does not require PCI compliance and the customer data is stored by the vendor. Since they require you to redirect your customers, this type doesn’t help in promoting your business. It is considered best for small businesses, which do not receive high traffic as well.

· Integrated

These types of payment gateways are also called non-hosted payment gateways. Integrated payment gateways help your customer to stay on your website and pay from there only. The best part of these gateways is that you can customise them to match your brand and promote your business. Customers also get a smooth payment process since they are not redirected anywhere. However, since they are integrated into your website, you need to obtain PCI DSS compliance, and the payment gateway integration requires a development team.

Transaction types

One of the reasons why payment gateways are so popular is that they support a variety of transactions. Some of them are:

· Payment/sale

Immediate payment happens under this transaction. It is a combination of authorisation and capture transactions that helps you fulfil instant orders and payments.

· Authorisation

Authorisation is used to check whether the customer can pay the requested amount or not. Funds are not transferred in this transaction, but the availability of funds for future payment is verified. This type of transaction takes a while to complete.

· Capture

This type of transaction allows you to capture the authorised money for settlement. When it takes time for you to ship the product, the payment is first authorised and then captured once the product is shipped.

· Refund

When the customer cancels an order for some reason, the refund transaction is initiated. It happens only for sales and capture transactions.

· Void

This happens between the authorisation and capture transactions. Void transactions are cheaper than refunds and can happen when a payment has been authorised but not captured by the merchant.

Integrating a payment gateway into your website

Before you make a payment gateway integration into your website, you should understand the working and benefits of payment gateways. There are a lot of gateways available in the market. Explore your options and check which ones are compatible with your website.

The steps of integrating a payment gateway into your website will depend on your business needs, the customisation required, and the payment gateway you have chosen. However, the general flow of the steps remains the same.

· For hosted gateways

Hosted gateways are available on the provider’s website. All you need to do is add a payment button on your website and the connection is made through API. Hosted gateways are highly secure and can be easily integrated.

· For non-hosted gateways

Non-hosted gateways require a little more effort to integrate. Since you need to add it to your server, you need a technical team to handle the integration. This method also uses APIs to make the connection with your server.

· Direct post methods

This method ensures you don’t need to get PCI DSS compliance since the data doesn’t get stored on your servers. A vendor can easily set up an API connection between your website and the payment gateway.

Some things to keep in mind while integrating:

• If you choose a hosted payment gateway, you will require an SSL certificate, merchant’s ID, MWS access key, and secret key.
• If you choose an integrated gateway, pay special attention to security and safety measures. You might also require PCI DSS compliance.

Benefits of payment gateways

A payment gateway has several benefits that make them perfect for your website. Some of them include:

• Quick transactions: Payments through payment gateways take mere seconds to process.
• Security: A secure payment method is a key to customer loyalty. Payment gateways use several security protocols and encryption to ensure a safe and secure transaction.
• Wider reach: Due to their availability in all corners of the world, payment gateways increase your customer base and sales.
• Costs: Apart from the initial set-up cost, most payment gateways charge an affordable transaction and chargeback fee.
• Saves time: Since the payment takes only seconds to process, payment gateways save both your and your customers’ time.
• Improves customer experience: A smooth payment process and availability of multiple payment options offer a superior customer experience and enhance customer loyalty.
• Promotes business: This happens in case of a non-hosted payment gateway that allows you to customise it as per your requirements.
• Availability: Your customers can pay anytime and from anywhere in the world using a payment gateway.

Choosing a payment gateway provider

Consider the following factors while choosing a payment gateway provider:

· Pricing

Pricing is one of the most important factors when it comes to choosing a payment gateway provider. All providers typically charge setup fees, monthly fees, merchant account setup fees, and transaction fees. Read the pricing requirements cautiously and check if there are any hidden costs. Choose an affordable payment gateway that also ensures long-term quality.

· Ease of integration

After pricing, it is crucial to check the process of payment integration in website. A simple and inexpensive integration process should be the preference. However, that also depends on the type of gateway you choose. Hosted gateways have a simpler integration process than non-hosted ones.

· Settlement

Check the settlement cycle your gateway offers. A quick settlement cycle is crucial for the smooth functioning of your business. Choose a payment gateway provider that suits your needs the best.

· Number of payment methods

A gateway that offers the maximum payment methods is the most preferable one. More options will ensure that you can reach a wider customer base and reduce the cart abandonment rate.

Begin by listing your requirements before choosing a payment gateway. Consider and compare different options and check their suitability for your business. A gateway is a crucial part of the website and your business. Integrating one into your website is not a lengthy process. Keep the above-listed things in mind before integration.

Or, to be on the safe side, simply choose PayTabs as your payment gateway provider as it comes with excellent customer support and avant-garde technologies to quickly and conveniently integrate into your website or e-store.

Running an eCommerce business is sure lucrative in a world that has gone online for quite some time now. But it works only if you deliver an awesome customer experience and receive your payments smoothly. Which is why, picking the right payment gateway is so important. It is a vital bridge connecting your consumer and your product. With a reliable, secure, and advanced gateway, making and receiving online payments can become a breeze. It will minimise business risks, ensure secure transactions, reduce instances of shopping cart abandonment, and provide a better brand experience overall.

In fact, it might interest you to know that more than 50% of online shoppers abandon eCommerce portals without completing their transactions. Reports have shown that the payment page experience plays a significant role in influencing your customers’ shopping journeys. About 17% of all online customers today don’t trust online shopping sites with credit card details. 6% of customers abandon their carts because their choice of payment card wasn’t available. About 4% leave your site because of technical glitches.

So, it is evident that choosing the best payment gateway for eCommerce transactions plays a significant role in determining profitability and brand experience. Read on to know how you can go about it.

What is a Payment Gateway and How Does it Work?

 Payment gateways aim at conducting simplified transactions while ensuring the security of sensitive customer information shared during this process. Different types of payment gateways use different security protocols to ensure customer data security. This includes encrypting details like bank and card numbers, one-time passwords, etc.

So, if you have an online business, it is vital that you know how a payment gateway works so that you can identify problems when something goes wrong. Here are the steps followed to complete a transaction through a payment gateway for eCommerce websites:

Step 1: A client or customer adds items to their cart, confirms their order, and clicks on Checkout.

Step 2: The eCommerce portal or website redirects them to the payment gateway page. Here, the customer must enter all the required data about the card they intend to pay with, the issuing bank details, etc. The payment gateway takes the customer directly to a secure 3D or issuing bank page, depending on the type of payment gateway, for transaction authorisation.

Step 3:  Once the transaction is authorised, the bank performs its checks (validity, available balance, etc.) and either approves or rejects the transaction. If the transaction fails, the customer receives an ‘error’ message and must try again from the start.

Step 4: Else, the issuing bank approves the payment and transfers the funds to the payment gateway, which in turn settles the amount with the seller, which is you.

Step 5: Once each of these steps has been completed, the customer receives a message of confirmation stating the order has been placed.

From these steps, you can clearly see that every monetary transaction on an eCommerce portal requires the exchange of sensitive data. Bank details and card information are highly personal and can have a deeply negative impact if leaked. Thus, all vendors and types of payment gateways for eCom payment processing must ensure complete security around personal user information.

Using a reliable and credible vendor for your payment gateway services is an effective way to ensure that data does not get leaked. Such vendors offer strong countermeasures, data insurance, and other features that ensure data is not leaked or that the damage is minimised should a leak ever happen.

Types of Payment Gateways You Can Choose From

Now that you know what is a payment gateway and how it works, ask yourself which type of gateway solution do you need for your business? There are basically two types of payment gateways to choose from:

1. External or hosted payment gateways: These payment gateways are integrated with your primary eCommerce website. However, for every transaction, it redirects users to your payment gateway page to complete transactions. The primary benefit of this type of payment gateway is that you don’t need to worry about transaction safety. The payment gateway provider takes full responsibility for transaction security and platform compliance. External gateways are also easy to set up and don’t need customisation.

2. Direct or integrated payment gateways: This type of payment gateway doesn’t require the customer to leave the host website. As the merchant, you are responsible for all the interactions that take place since they take place on your website. The greatest benefit of integrated payment gateways is that you can provide a much better and more personalised user experience. You have the option of tailoring your checkout process so that it fits your business requirements and strategy. This ensures a seamless experience and is ideal for mobile transactions.

6 Factors to Consider While Choosing Gateway Payment Solutions

Since there’s a lot that depends on your payment gateway, it’s critical to make the right choice. However, with so many options available, it could be hard to choose. Keeping the following factors in mind can make this process easier though.

1. Availability of services: You need to know where most of your customer base is located. Depending on this, you need to choose a payment gateway that is available in the country where you are doing business and where your customers are. Almost every gateway provider has a list you can check against. You can also email them to confirm.
2. Transaction fees: Every gateway provider levies charges on transactions based on several factors. This could be the payment method, type of card, number of transactions per month etc. Make sure you choose the right criteria, or else your transaction fees might exceed your monthly profit.
3. Recurring payment system: Several businesses today use a subscription-based model to sell products and services. This could be like OTT platform subscriptions, membership plans, or rented furniture. If you are in the subscription business, you need a payment gateway that enables repeated payments. This means your customers won’t have to make manual payments every time a payment cycle ends. A few payment gateway providers also offer advanced features that let customers upgrade plans easily, pause payments, or add new subscriptions. Before you finalise a provider, make sure they have all the services you will need.
4. Miscellaneous fees and charges: Another key factor that you need to consider is the accumulation of non-transaction fees that gateways might charge. These could be fees for setting up your account, maintenance charges, deposit or withdrawal charges, fees for chargebacks, and more. If you are just starting and sales are not that high, these fees could bring down profitability significantly.
5. Customer payment mode options: As an online merchant, you need to ensure that completing a transaction is as easy as possible for your customers. For this, you need a payment gateway for eCommerce that accepts payments from the maximum possible card processors and issuers as well as all types of mobile wallets. Having limited options while wanting to make payments could drive your customers away.
6. Payment security: In case of online business platforms, fraud is a real concern. Several online shoppers are concerned that their data isn’t safe on eCommerce platforms. There are several regulations in place such as the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) system that gateway providers must comply with. Make sure you choose a vendor that meets these standards.

Choose Payment Gateways that Secure Customer Information

The best payment gateways ensure that your data is always safe. Here is a look at some of the fundamental implementations and protocols that a payment gateway follows to provide data security:

• Every online data transaction going through a payment gateway is conducted using an HTTPS address. The S stands for ‘secure’ and sets it apart from the average HTTP address. The transaction passes through this secure channel.
• Due to the # function, payment gateway systems generally use signed requests from the seller for validating the transaction request. This request is in the form of a secret code word known only to the payment gateway and the merchant.
• To ensure the payment page is secure as a result of this process, the requesting server’s IP is first verified, ensuring it detects any dangerous activity.
• VPA or Virtual Payer Authentication is currently being backed by issuers, payment gateways and acquirers, so that the payment process is even more secure. VPA is implemented in compliance with the 3D secure protocol. It provides an additional security layer and gives online sellers and buyers easier authentication of the opposite party.

Select the Right Payment Gateway and Enjoy these Benefits

There’s more than one benefit of using the right payment gateway for your online business.

• PCI-DSS Wallet: Compliance with PCI-DSS ensures adequate security for users to securely save personal data in the gateway or portal for easier recurring payments. This is how you can save multiple cards, UPI IDs, and mobile wallet information on a payment page.
• White-Label Wallet: Certain types of payment gateways enable users to carry out digital transactions using mobile wallets and applications. This is among the most popular current trends as it allows users to complete multiple transactions without any hassle or friction. Money from the mobile wallet can be brought to the website and then used to complete transactions on the seller’s platform.
• Fraud Screening Tools: Several payment gateway systems offer you fraud screening functionalities and tools to mitigate the risk of data loss. This includes the CCV, CVV and AVS numbers, among others. Providing these additional layers of security ensures that no one can carry out transactions using the card details saved on your page.

The primary focus of payment gateway systems is to create secure paths between merchants and customers and facilitate secure payments. It mandates the authentication of both parties from their respective banks.

The key benefit of a payment gateway for eCommerce website is that millions of users can use a single gateway simultaneously. This makes it possible for businesses to buy or sell products or services around the clock.

So, when looking for payment gateways for your business, keep this guide handy. With the growing level of competition in the eCommerce space, let your payment gateway solution be the differentiator. Partner with the right provider to improve customer experience and drive brand loyalty.

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In 2022, shopping is no longer limited to physical brick-and-mortar stores. With advancement in modern technologies, availability of faster shipping options, and the recent pandemic that limited the movement of people, more and more customers are shopping online. While there are third-party channels like Amazon, Etsy, eBay and more that allow you to sell your products on their website, have you ever considered opening your own online store?

An online store dedicated to your brand and products can be tremendously beneficial as well as profitable. However, to reap the benefits of an online store, you must be familiar with how to create an online storefrom scratch. The process might sound too technical and troublesome but it’s quite simple and straightforward in fact. Read on to know more.

How to Open an Online Store?

Here’s a brief rundown of the process which you can follow to establish your very own store listed online and ready to serve customers. The best part about opening an online store is that you don’t need a lot of experience or technical knowledge and there is a plethora of tools available that are made specifically to help you with this journey. So, if you were wondering how to create an online store, follow these steps.

• Step 1: Decide on your niche and what you will be offering the customers. Is it clothing, food items, appliances or something else?
• Step 2: Choose whether you will house the products on your own or use a drop shipping supplier to take care of the shipping.
• Step 3: Come up with a customer-friendly business name and register a domain name online for the website.
• Step 4: Select and list the products that you will sell.
• Step 5: Create the website for your brand. You can do it yourself, take help from an online store builder or even hire a developer.
• Step 6: Get a sales tax ID since you’re now a business and would need to pay taxes on your products.
• Step 7: Run marketing campaigns to get the products in front of your audience.

Benefits of an Online Store

Interested to know about the advantages of an online store and why it scores higher than a physical one? After all, most big brands have official stores and retail outlets for people to walk in, roam around, feel the products, and then make a purchase. While there’s no alternative to physical contact with the products, an online store can provide several other benefits.

• Enhanced Communication with Customers: Online shopping allows brands to capture in-depth customer information like their purchase history, shortlisted products, email address, shopping preferences, and more. All this information enables you to connect with your customers better. Targeted campaigns, special discounts, and notifying the customers when their shortlisted product is back in stock can increase the chances of completing a sale successfully.

• Better Shopping Experience: This is one of the key benefits of an online store. Shopping online gives a certain amount of freedom to customers that can’t be found in physical stores. There’s no salesperson following them around the store to make them uncomfortable and no queues for them to stand in and wait. All they need to do is browse through the website, select products they like, and buy them instantly with the click of a button. No fuss. No hassle. And no carrying things around the store.

• Reduced Costs: One of the biggest reasons behind taking your business online is the reduction in costs. Sure, you will be paying server costs, website maintenance costs, infrastructure costs and such, but they will be far lower than paying rent for a commercial space, hiring employees, and maintaining the physical stock as well as the store. The amount spent on marketing online can be as minimal as you like.

• Increased Market Access: This is another one of the top advantages of an online store. Selling products over the internet opens a wide range of possibilities that just isn’t possible with independent stores. Not only can you market to people worldwide, but third-party drop shipping and fulfilment companies like Amazon and eBay make it possible for the products to reach even far-flung customers. Setting up a shop is easy and can happen in just a matter of minutes.

• Master of your Own Finances: Since you’re not partnering with third-party channels and selling products from your store, barring the cost of advertisement, shipping, and other overheads, all the revenue, as well as the profit, is yours to keep. While selling on Amazon or eBay might feel like a good side hustle at the beginning, the earnings will stagnate over time even if your business is growing. Getting away from any third-party agreement frees you from these shackles.

• You Have the Final Say: Another online store benefit? You are not restricted to the selling metrics and strategies of other third-party companies. You have complete authority over every business decision like how it’s going to operate, sales and marketing strategies to generate leads, product presentation, pricing, and even the way the order is packaged and delivered. Customer service also becomes more streamlined and efficient.

• Convenient payment system: In case of an online store, if you join hands with the right payment gateway solution provider, accepting and keeping track of payments will become a piece of cake. You will be able to offer your customers multiple payment modes too, including debit and credit cards, net banking, e-wallets and so on. No matter where a customer is located, the funds will be deposited in your account quickly. Sending invoices and reminders will also become easy, helping you to focus more on core business areas.

Wrapping Up

Building a business from scratch and running the same is not easy, be it online or offline. Each has its own difficulties and comes with its fair share of roadblocks, but you don’t create a multi-billion-dollar corporation piggybacking on another company. Plus, there are several benefits of an online store over an offline one, as you read above. And if yours is a growing business that aims to stay in the game for a long time, futureproofing the business is vital. The world is going global and physical borders are no longer a constraint for brands trying to reach their customers. So, now is the best time to go online.