Online payments have never been easier.

And yet, evolving technology has increased user expectations just as much. Card decline? Switch the site. Payment failure? Leave a bad rating. We’ve all been there. Can you believe 56% of shoppers are permanently put off from a site if they don't find payment methods of choice?  

Online businesses keep upgrading to keep their customers satisfied. Alternate payment is one such advancement.

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What are Alternative Payment Methods?

Let’s look at UPI, which has almost become the country’s default payment method. The volume of transactions grew exponentially from just INR 0.02 billion in FY17 to 60 billion the fiscal year until December 2022 recording 7.82 billion transactions worth 12.82 trillion in December alone.

UPI is a success story for local payment methods.

Payment methods like PayPal are familiar worldwide, while some others like AliPay, Klarna, WeChat Pay dominate some specific geographies. UPI in India, Giropay in Germany, GrabPay in Southeast Asian regions like Singapore and Malaysia are some more examples.

So, what exactly are alternate or local payment methods?

Payment options other than cash and major international or domestic cards are collectively called alternative payment methods.

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Types of Alternative Payment Methods

Alt-Pay Methods are majorly categorized into these 5 broad categories:

• Bank transfer
• Wallets
• Buy Now Pay Later
• Local Cards
• Cash based methods

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Boost your sales with Alternative Payment methods

77% of all online purchases in 2021 were made using a local payment method. Offering local payment methods of your global customers is now a necessity. Its benefits far outweigh the setup time and costs. Alternative payment methods can increase your business reach, boost customer experience and drive more sales. Here’s how:

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Higher reach

Payment methods have evolved to cater to customer convenience. Case in point, the rise of digital wallets even in geographies with high card penetration.

Local payment methods are especially popular in geographies where card adoption is low which will help the merchant to cater to the customers who use local payment methods as an option to pay instead of using major card schemes.  

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Increased customer trust

Users are familiar with local payment methods. For customers transacting with a cross border merchant, this familiarity can help feel more comfortable and connected. Local payment methods are also considered more trustworthy are reliable by users leading to better payment experience

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Lower fraud

Most of the local payment methods have no chargebacks because of the nature of payment where it needs multi-layered customer authentication which enhances the trust, thus reducing the risk of frauds.  

Set up alternate payments for your business

Now that you know what alternative payments are and the potential edge they can give your business, get alternate payments set up today. Connect with our team for help.

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