Retailers, what if having multiple payment solutions could help you increase your profitability?

Accepting payments should never be a barrier to conversion; it should be a growth accelerator. Yet, many retailers limit themselves to a single payment service provider (PSP), thinking it simplifies their operations. This approach can quickly show its limitations: service interruptions, high fees, and unoptimized acceptance rates—all obstacles that directly impact revenue!

By diversifying payment solutions and integrating multiple PSPs, retailers gain flexibility and performance. Cost optimization, better geographical coverage, and reduced payment failures—these advantages turn payment management into a true growth lever.

Adopting a multi-PSP strategy means regaining control over your payments and improving the customer experience. Why miss out? 

Why can a single PSP limit your business?

1. Excessive dependency and lack of flexibility

Relying on a single payment service provider (PSP) is like putting all your eggs in one basket. A technical outage, an update issue, or a simple bug can cause a portion of your transactions to fail, leading to an immediate loss of revenue. Without an alternative in place, it is impossible to reroute payments to another solution during a malfunction.

Beyond technical incidents, a single PSP can also limit your ability to offer payment methods tailored to your customers' expectations. Every market has its preferences: credit cards in France, PayPal in Europe, wallets like Alipay in China, and the rapidly growing Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options. With only one PSP, you risk missing out on customers who would have preferred a different option.

2. Hidden costs and lack of optimization

Transaction fees vary from one PSP to another, and a single provider won't necessarily be the most competitive across all your payment flows. Without the ability to compare, you risk paying excessive fees with no room for negotiation. Conversely, a multi-PSP setup allows you to leverage competition and optimize costs by routing transactions to the most advantageous providers based on region or basket size.

Furthermore, a PSP may apply additional fees depending on the type of transaction (international cards, foreign currencies, chargebacks, etc.). A multi-PSP approach allows for better cost control and the ability to choose solutions that reduce unnecessary expenses.

3. Difficulty adapting to international markets

International expansion requires adapting to local payment preferences. A single PSP will not always be able to offer all the methods favored by consumers in every country.

For example:

• In Germany, Sofort and Giropay are essential.
• In the Netherlands, iDEAL dominates online payments.
• In China, purchases are primarily made via Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Retailers looking to expand internationally must ensure they integrate the right payment solutions. A multi-PSP approach facilitates this adaptation by allowing for the rapid activation of new payment methods without having to completely switch providers.

Read also: E-commerce: does your current payment solution really meet your customers' expectations?

Why choose a multi-PSP strategy?

Improve acceptance rates and reduce payment failures

Every declined payment is a lost potential customer. And very often, these declines are not due to insufficient funds, but to technical limitations of the PSP:

• Acceptance rates vary by bank and card type. 
• Overly strict security filters. A PSP may reject a transaction (wrongly) suspected of fraud. Another PSP might have accepted the payment after enhanced authentication.
• Temporary technical issues. If the primary PSP experiences an incident, the lack of a backup plan prevents any payment validation.

A multi-PSP approach allows for the integration of a system of fallback :

• Transactions are optimized based on PSP performance, reducing cart abandonment rates.
• Smart rules allow transactions to be routed to the PSP offering the highest acceptance rate for a specific card type or geographic region.

Cost and ROI optimization

A single PSP imposes its own fee structure, which can be high, with no room for comparison. A multi-PSP approach allows you to optimize these costs by selecting the most advantageous providers based on various criteria.

• Competitive bidding between providers : having multiple PSPs allows you to negotiate more favorable pricing terms.
• Transaction routing to minimize fees : payments are directed to the PSP offering the lowest cost based on the payment method and currency used.
• Reducing costs associated with payment failures : every declined transaction incurs fees and a potential loss of a customer. Better payment management prevents these unnecessary losses.

Improved customer experience and boosted conversion

A seamless payment process tailored to consumer preferences is a key conversion driver. A customer who cannot find their preferred payment method is more likely to abandon their cart.

• Adapting to local preferences : payment habits vary by market. Offering the right payment methods improves conversion rates.
• Frictionless payment process : a good payment orchestrator helps avoid unnecessary interruptions by dynamically adapting the validation steps.

How to effectively orchestrate multiple PSPs?

Payment orchestration solutions: a key asset

Managing multiple PSPs manually can quickly become complex. Each integration requires time, technical resources, and regular monitoring. This is where payment orchestration solutions come in.

A payment orchestrator centralizes PSP management and automates transaction optimization. It allows you to:

• Easily connect and activate multiple PSPs without heavy development.
• Implement intelligent routing rules to direct payments to the most efficient and cost-effective provider.
• Manage payment failures with automatic fallback and retry solutions.
• Unify data collection and analysis for optimized performance tracking.

Payment centralization and real-time analytics

One of the main advantages of a payment orchestrator is the centralization of flows. Instead of navigating between multiple PSP dashboards, all transactions are grouped within a single interface.

This centralized management offers several benefits:

• Performance tracking and analysis : comparing PSP success rates, identifying bottlenecks, and adjusting in real time.
• Financial flow optimization : better management of cash flow and transaction costs.
• Simplification of accounting operations : payment consolidation, automated bank reconciliation, and reduced reporting errors.

Integrating multiple PSPs may seem complex, but with an orchestration solution, it becomes a real growth driver. Automation, cost optimization, and improved security: the benefits are numerous.

By rethinking their payment strategy, retailers can improve their performance and offer a seamless experience to their customers. Why limit yourself to a single PSP when smart payment management can make all the difference? 

Read also: Purse, an agile and autonomous payment orchestration tool to lighten your roadmap!

As a payment orchestrator, Purse allows you to integrate, manage, and optimize your payments via a single interface. With over 80 payment partners, a simplified integration and intelligent transaction orchestration, Purse turns your payments into a real growth engine.

Don't let your payment system hold back your expansion any longer. Contact us today and discover how to optimize your payment strategy!