Top Payment Trends in the Digital Landscape

India has experienced some amazing shifts in the digitisation of payments over the last two years. Demonetisation brought about a strong impetus for consumers to switch to cashless methods of payment. 

There has been an increase in adoption of digital instruments which have been aided by a rise in merchant outlets, and proliferation of UPI which has simplified money transfer to banks. 

Merchants accepting card payments have increased by twice as many coming to about 3 million merchants with the number of UPI transactions rising up to 250 million in June 2018.

What’s interesting is that a major portion of the activity in digital payments has been led by non-banks. E-wallets and payment gateways in India have gained significant prominence. Digital payments are expected to evolve rapidly in the next few years to overtake cash spending by 2020. 

Below are the top 5 trends that will drive this change:

1. UPI

The technology underlying UPI enables instant payments from one bank account to another and is path-breaking. Users are often inconvenienced when they have to log into websites or apps VPAs. Third party providers who offer payment apps on top of UPI using open APIs make this process convenient and almost invisible. This enables many consumers to access UPI and use it for peer-to-peer payments.

2. QR code

With the use of the QR code technology for digital payments at merchant outlets, the need for expensive EDC (electronic data capture) machines or NFC (near-field communication) devices is eliminated. This improves the economics of merchant acquiring. A rise in merchants accepting non-cash payments is expected owing to this advantage. Mobile phones will be the device of choice for payments using QR codes. Traditional acquiring models will get disrupted, and new-age acquirers will offer value added services to merchants in order to make acquiring business economically viable.

3. Zero transaction fees

Government incentives and competitive forces are driving the economics of payment transactions to a decline. The RBI (Reserve bank of India) has capped merchant discount rates for debit card transactions at 0.4%. Most fintech firms are giving their payments services for free. This downward trend is expected to continue and will lead to payments being offered for free with players looking to monetize data through sale of other financial and non-financial products.

4. Cybersecurity

With greater focus being placed on customer acquisition and driving adoption of digital payments, risk management and fraud control haven’t been as stringent as they should be. Cyber-attacks have been reported to have caused alarming financial damages of more than $500,000 to Indian companies in the last 12 months alone.

It is imperative for digital payments players to embrace new technologies like biometric authentication, AI, ML and pattern matching for real-time fraud prevention for digital payment transactions.

5. Payments space

A large number of new players have ventured to join the space of payment gateways in India in the last couple years. Some of them offer niche solutions. From the perspective of consumers ubiquity is important, as they look for instruments that can be used for both purposes online and offline.

This space is expected to witness consolidation with a few large players dominating the market in the coming years.

Benefits of having an online payment gateway with UPI

Unified Payment Interface (UPI) is among the most advanced method of payment among all the options available for digital commerce.

This payment mechanism allows instant money transfers without bank details. It does so using a virtual payment address.  In this article we look at the benefits of UPI:

1. Cheapest Way of Money Transfer

UPI is the most economical method for fund transfer. The nominal charges make UPI a strong way to promote non-cash transactions of small amounts.

2. Secure

UPI minimizes and mitigates cyber security concerns. Since bank details and information isn’t requires for payments using UPI the risk of them being hacked is eliminated. Also the authentication takes place at your smartphone. The level of security is increased by using two different PINs. You can easily make it discrete while typing at your smartphone.

3. One UPI App Many Accounts

When you use an online payment gateway that has UPI as a feature, you no longer need multiple apps for different bank accounts. A single UPI can be used to access many bank accounts.

4. COD Without Paying Cash

About 80% people choose the option of cash on delivery while shopping online. Behind this choice lies a simple apprehension about being delivered the wrong product. Also for expensive purchases you may not always have cash on hand or an ATM nearby. UPI puts an ends to this hassle. With UPI you can choose the COD option without actually paying in cash and using the instantly UPI fund transfer. Of course the merchant should be using the UPI fund collection facility as well.

5. Immediate Payee Registration

Usually a waiting period is required before you can make transfers to a new payee online. This time could be from half an hour to up to 48 hours. UPI requires no waiting time, so an online payment gateway with this feature is the most preferred choice for e-commerce businesses.

Owing to the many advantages relating to cost, efficiency, ease for customers, and highly secure nature of transactions that UPI brings, it is the most coveted feature ecommerce owners look for while choosing an online payment gateway. If you are in search of a payment provider for your online business or are looking to change from your existing one, take care to check for the UPI feature before you finalize your decision.

Signs That You Need a New Payment Gateway

If you have any kind of online business, the payment provider you choose is one of your most important partners. It is an indispensable interface between you, your customers, and your bank and allows safe, convenient, and timely transactions between you and your customers.

Seeing the significance of your payment gateway partner keeping its performance in check is necessary. Keep a keen eye to check for any of the following signs that reflect whether your payment provider is benefiting or costing your business:

Sign #1: Not enough payment options
Customers like to have more than one payment option. With the level of distrust around online transactions still not vanquished, more payment options help instill trust in customers towards your offering. Credit cards, debit cards, and direct bank transfers are major payment methods in the market that customers expect from you if not more.

A good payment gateway should not only offer all three payment methods, it should also be easy to use for you as the merchant. Steer clear from gateways that require you to create or log in to more than one account, or download multiple reports. Concise, comprehensible, easy to access information about every transaction through your gateway should be stored in one central location, from where it can be downloaded and interpreted easily.

Sign #2: Customers need to register twice through your payment gateway

Greater the number of hoops your customer has to jump through to complete a purchase, the more likely they are to leave halfway. If your website requires your customers to register before they can start shopping, they might grumble a little but most of them will stick with you. Asking them to register a second time before they actually make the payment can be problematic. You want to choose a payment gateway that makes the entire purchase process easier, not more complex.

Sign #3: Expensive or weak fraud protection
A number of specialist fraud protection services exist but they are quite expensive and time-consuming to run. You want to partner with a payment gateway that offers affordable and easy to use fraud protection. This isn’t something you can risk ignoring as its one of the most important measures you can take to protect yourself against fraud. Ensure your gateway safeguards you from credit card fraud.

Ultimately it comes down to customer focus: As an online retailer, you want the effort you put into making your site experience a memorable, one that pays off.  If that effort is undermined because of your key partners it’s time to make some important changes. If you’re in search of a new partner, visit Easebuzz at <link>, one of the best options for a payment gateway India has.

Role of Payment Gateways in the Growth of SMEs

For the longest time small businesses have looked at e-commerce giants such as Amazon, E-bay, and Flipkart with envy. However the tide appears to be turning in the favor of the little guys.

Online payment gateways are encouraging and educating SMEs to establish a strong presence in the e-commerce market with the help of online payment systems.

Taking their businesses online will facilitate a greater occurrence of innovations for SMEs. For this steps are to be taken, to make business owners comfortable with using apps and other high-end technology.

The SMEs who have jumped on the payment gateway wagon have reported a 10% increase in the number of clients, increased visibility, and greater networks which resulted in a higher number of leads.

Easebuzz, a high-ranked payment gateway in India is one such entity that handles end to end payment flow for growing businesses across the country. 

Their services include creating multiple stores according to the businesses’ requirements, payment link solutions, and a single platform for handling complex processes from one place.

With Easebuzz, business owners have the option to create products like events tickets, physical items, digital items or subscription based services with a free integrated payment gateway.

Business owners also have the option to connect and share links of their web-store with their customers using any social media channel. 

This is one payment gateway in India that makes the process of collecting payments faster and smarter.

Customers are updated about order statuses through an automated order tracking system, the marketing tool by Easebuzz can be utilized to send mass e-mails and SMSes to a large audience, your webstore will be available on multiple platforms with optimized performance so that your business has high accessibility.

Furthermore, Easebuzz also allows business owners to use real-time reports and analytics derived from their dashboard to make faster and more informed business decisions.

For SMEs who are looking for a payment gateway in India to help them get their business online and make a strong footing in the world of e-commerce, this is probably your best choice; no one else makes it as easy as Easebuzz does.

Why Do I Need an Online Payment Gateway for My Online Business?

Adoption of digital payment methods chosen over cash or other modes of transactions is on the rise.

Digital finance and payment methods are powerful tools of improving sales and business for e-commerce merchants.

Unfortunately a lot of merchants are unaware of such advantages and only 40% of merchants are aware and benefiting from this facility.

This article breaks down the significance, uses, and suitability of an online payment gateway for potential or existing online retailers. Read further to learn how payment gateways work and how you can choose the right payment gateway for your business.

What is a payment gateway?

An online payment gateway authorizes transactions for e-businesses, online retailers, or traditional brick and mortar stores. It is used to transfer information between a payment portal and an acquiring bank. Payment gateways encode private information such as credit card details, to keep the information transfer between a customer and merchant secure.

How do payment gateways work?

A payment gateway first pulls information from a credit card transaction, encrypts this information, directs this information to the credit card processor, where the transaction is finally approved or declined. This is a seamless process between you and your customer via your shopping cart and a secure connection.

Why should I use a payment gateway?

Payment gateways are vital for keeping online transactions secure. They can be integrated with most websites and shopping carts online, to streamline online credit card processing. A shopping cart is usually used before the payment gateway. This allows customers to choose items they want to purchase and at the checkout, the shopping cart totals the items, adds tax and shipping and collects customer’s shipping and billing information.

How do I choose the best payment gateway?

Here is a checklist to finding the best payment gateway for your e-business:

1. Budget of payment gateway
2. Time of accepting payments
3. Time of receiving revenue from sales
4. Security of the gateway
5. Cards accepted
6. Compatibility with existing integrations

We hope this article was helpful in answering some doubts you may have had around using an online payment gateway.

Advantages Of Using Payment Gateways In India

Payment gateways authorise payments for retailers in several categories of business. Payment gateways safeguard sensitive information such as credit card details, entered into an e-commerce website and are passed between the customer and merchant and from the merchant to the payment processor by using encryption.

Initially merchant accounts providers and payment gateways operated separately, but with increasing adoption of e-commerce by businesses of all kinds, many processors have started offering an all-in-one solution for merchant processing and gateway services.

Payment gateways offer several benefits for merchants that include the following:

• Secure transactions:

Payment gateways use industry-standard encryption and effectively protect sensitive information, safeguarding both merchants and customers against fraud.

• Larger customer base:

Payment gateways make it possible for customers all over the world to access your business from your online store which in turn works towards expanding and increasing your customer base.

• Bundled with shopping cart:

Gateways club shopping cart software with their own programs. This software makes it possible for customers to choose products with a simple, easy click of the mouse, add them to his/her shopping cart, and complete their purchase at the checkout stage. The shopping cart calculates the cost of the items, sales tax, and shipping charges without you or an employee being present to carry out the sale.

• Faster transactions:

Using a payment gateway is much faster than manual processing which allows customers to make faster purchases without the inconvenience of waiting in long, rushed lines.

• Convenience:

Payment gateways allow you to keep your e-business open 24/7. Your customers can shop at any time of the day, from the comfort of their devices, at the comfort of their homes.

• Customization and user experience:

Payment gateways can be customized to suit the look and feel of a website. Customers need not be directed to an external website to make payments, which helps create a seamless experience for the user and enhances their user experience.

Choosing the right payment gateway for your business helps increase transparency, security, and other features that will make your business flourish.

Expectations from the payment gateways partners

The online payment gateway has now become mainstream for most of the businesses - from chat support, surveys, movie tickets to food catering, e-commerce and many more. According to the report by Google and Boston Consulting Group, the digital payments industry in India is projected to reach $500 Bn by 2020, contributing 15% to India’s GDP.

The main objective of any payment gateway is to authenticate the customer’s credit card, debit card, net-banking details and wallet details securely, and enable the transfer of the funds to pay to the other party online.

This process involves four key steps – collection of the purchased item, authentication of the bank account, an authorization that the payment has been approved, and settlement and validation of the transaction amount in your bank account. Any incorrect process or manual error can create chaos for the buyer as well as for seller.

Online payment gateway should ensure simplicity, security, reliability, availability, and dependability. Merchants need a single solution that enables them to extend reach, allow seamless and timely transaction ensuring safety and security, and the one that build trust. Additionally, the merchant is also concerned about the speed of the transactions during sale or peak hours.

The key barriers to the adoption of payment gateways include the complexity of use, safety and security concerns, fraud or hidden charges involved in the payments process, among others.

The research from Google and BCG also shows that 1 out of 2 non-users haven’t used digital payments because they found the product too complicated to understand and 61% of non-user merchants find it complex to use.

The payment gateway providers need to ensure the ease of use, security and speed are the main features provided to delight the users. Other feature that drives adoption is ease of reaching the customer care for help or support. Customers should not be kept waiting for 24 or 48 hours to get a response to their query.

In Indian market the regulations and laws around payment gateway are still shaping up. It is important for payment gateway India providers to build simplified payments solutions with inevitable features for both buyers as well as purchasers.

The final goal of merchants is to find a cool gateway that backs their business model, product or service by letting them create any payment scenario they want to in the most simple and friendly way. Payment gateway provider in India like EaseBuzz, exceeds customer’s expectations by providing high standards of convenience and security.

How to choose an online payment gateway –questions you should ask

Choosing the right online payment gateway for your business is like choosing a partner for life. It crucial, and it gets difficult to select the one that matches your criteria.

Whether you are selecting a new online payment gateway provider or looking to replace your existing one, there are many questions that you would want to ask for an efficient, flexible product that fits your budget. Let’s look at what are the major concerns that you should raise when finalizing on an online payment gateway.

How easy is the onboarding process? 

Making business go fast is the aim of all entrepreneurs. The valuable time of an entrepreneur should be focused on their products or services, rather than staying busy in the gateway setting up process. For instance, Easebuzz, a payment gateway, provides complete online KYC process where the business can get started with handy PAN card and bank details. Find out a partner that provides quick onboarding.

Are there any value added features other than regular payment options?

Besides ensuring smooth transactions, payment gateways should provide other value-added services. From attracting customers to managing reports, event tracking, email and SMS marketing, referral schemes, quick pay options even without a website - there are numerous services that your provider can offer you and make your online operations easier.

How secure is the payment gateway?

Today, online businesses who accept digital payments face the risk of frauds, which can hurt the business badly. It’s important to go with a payment provider that offers secure transactions. This means it should at least conform to the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) and has an end-to-end SSL encryption for all transactions.

How good is their customer support?

You’re dealing with monetary transactions and daily setting of funds, and so your solution provider should be accessible 24/7. You definitely need to know where to ask for support, and that you should not be waiting 24 or 48 hours to get their reply. Good payment gateways like Easebuzz will assign you an account manager that will be there for you when you need him.

Is the pricing transparent?  

Ask the provider to list down all the costs you might come across whilst using their service to avoid horrid surprises of paying double the actual price.

Your choice of online payment gateways in India can impact the overall experience that you promise your customers on the website, so think through consciously before choosing one. 

Blockchain And Its Impact On The Payment Industry

Today everyone is talking about blockchain technology and a number of organisations are racing to harness the power of its many applications. Let us understand what this means.

A blockchain is a distributed ledger of transactions that are recorded chronologically. Blocks that make up a blockchain contain data related to the most recent transaction and a hashed reference to the previous block.

This hashed reference creates a link between all the blocks in the chain, and as no one technically ‘owns’ a blockchain, it makes it impossible for any single participant to corrupt it. This data is stored across the blockchain network which gives it its inherent security.

Blockchains can benefit international payments majorly due to the positive impact on speed, cost and security.

A payment gateway based on blockchain would enable payments to be sent anywhere in a period of 15 to 20 seconds. This is notably faster than routing payments through traditional banking routes which could take up to 3 days.

Using blockchain ecosystems as a base, payments are made more secure and less prone to attack compared to a traditional online payment gateway.

Security is a fundamental element that will drive mainstream acceptance of blockchain into the online payment industry.

Incorporating blockchain into a traditional payment gateway is not only beneficial to merchants with respect to decentralization but also for consumers as their confidence in online platforms will be imbued by this core security association with blockchains.

As of now, this ability to make business payments is an option restricted only to a few technology firms. Currently it is the financial service sector that has tapped into the potential of blockchain to change the way it functions.

Ultimately, businesses that want to streamline processes and make payments easy, secure and quicker should look to adopt blockchain technology.

Payment gateways in India are also looking into blockchain technology to further enhance the services they offer to their merchants.

The future of online payments demands adoption of blockchain in all businesses by seeking out payment service providers that will be able to help with access to blockchain.

This would be true for high-impact sectors such as multicurrency payments or international settlements where fewer traditional online payment gateways are present.

Future Of Digital Payments

About a generation back, a consumer could think of no way other than making payments in cash for his/her shopping needs. The arrival of personal computers, launch of companies and mass digitalization has familiarized customers with the concept of online shopping. This change has been accelerated with the wide adoption of the smartphone, which has made commerce available to consumers, anyplace and anytime.

Technology has a huge role to play in reinventing commerce. It has changed customer experiences in physical retail outlets. It has changed the face of online payment gateway industry.

Let us take a look at the trends in technology that have made the biggest impact in shaping payment gateways online:

1. Emergence of new forms of payment:

Initially ecommerce could be operated only from computers or smartphones. With the coming of several new devices, such as connected devices, fashion accessories and sensors, clothing and appliances there is a created potential for disruption of existing ecommerce and prospective new payment forms.

Another shift that has been witnessed is consumers moving from the type interface to voice interfaces with personal interfaces. This has resulted in payments becoming more commodities than experiences. There is an expectation among consumers that checkout experiences be seamless across all devices, as the number of established payment platforms have increased. Companies like MasterCard have taken an initiative to increase security in the digital era, by making a provision where card issuers can see where all their cards are stored across all digital devices. This puts customers more in control of how, when and where their card is being used.

2.Machine learning to take center stage:

Companies have been able to source large amounts of data but are now in a fix as to how to make sense of it. Artificial intelligence (AI), helps companies better synthesize data and improve the ecommerce experience for their customers. With the growth in data, sophistication of networks and smarter algorithms coming together, artificial intelligence is going to transform several industries including the payment gateway industry.

With companies beginning to invest in machine learning, information is becoming smarter over time and this is resulting in fraud risk prevention as well as increased efficiency with respect to online orders, status of balances and transfers between accounts.

We hope this article helped you get an insight into what to expect in the near future of payments online, and that you keep yourself tuned to this upcoming, exciting digital transformation!

Better payment solutions for a better business!

Once upon a time, there was a businessman. He dealt in clothing and had his own website for selling it. He used to take orders online, deliver them at the mentioned address and collect payments. He was a happy man until the online world changed. Mobile transactions and online payment solutions revolutionised the way business was done on the internet. He suffered huge revenue losses. People no longer wanted to pay in cash.

The businessman was confused. He wanted to scale up his business but how, was the question? How could he find the best payment solution for his business?

Almost every other businessman faces the same dilemma at some point. The option that they have is to go online. Going online would also require them to get a platform to collect payments. And this is what has been happening around the world. According to a Google-BCG market study, 75% of the merchants believe that using digital payments would accelerate future sales. It is also said that in India, 50% of the internet users will use digital payments by 2020. The potential that online payment solutions provide for a business to scale-up is tremendous. It is an easy and quick option for the businessman to adopt for increasing revenues and customer base.

Looking at the market survey we find that the mobile-based transactions have increased to 2860 million in 2016 from a mere 224 million in 2014. It is almost an increase of 1177% over the previous year. The world is shifting to the internet for payments and is accepting this mode. Despite this, about 69% of online transactions are abandoned costing the retailers about $4 trillion every year (Business Insider survey). Of this about 35% are easily convertible if the providers improve the checkout and payment process (Baynard Institute).

To improvise, payment gateways in India need to work on building quicker and smoother payment solutions with multiple payment options. If you take the example of Easebuzz, a recent entry in the payment gateways in India list, it has almost every option that a customer could choose while making a payment - netbanking, card payment and wallets. It has recently started giving UPI as an option for payment as well. Apart from this, the transaction failure rate is almost negligible (less than 0.05%) due to the backend technologies Easebuzz uses. It has helped many businesses to scale up and has gained the trust of more than 15,000+ merchants in a very short time. The support services provided by the team also ensures that the customers making payment through Easebuzz do not face any issues. Customers paying through Easebuzz also get the option to avail 50% returns through coupons of A-listed companies.

All this combined together provides an excellent payment experience to the customers and builds the trust of the businesses on the payment solutions. Eventually, this leads to increase in the revenues of the business by tapping the 69% of the people who never go ahead and complete payment processes due to its glitches!

Isn't this a really simple method of scaling business which is also aligned to the current market trends? We hope you will agree with us!

Once upon a time, there was a businessman. He dealt in clothing and had his own website for selling it. He used to take orders online, deliver them at the mentioned address and collect payments. He was a happy man until the online world changed. Mobile transactions and online payment solutions revolutionised the way business was done on the internet. He suffered huge revenue losses. People no longer wanted to pay in cash.

The businessman was confused. He wanted to scale up his business but how, was the question? How could he find the best payment solution for his business?

Almost every other businessman faces the same dilemma at some point. The option that they have is to go online. Going online would also require them to get a platform to collect payments. And this is what has been happening around the world. According to a Google-BCG market study, 75% of the merchants believe that using digital payments would accelerate future sales. It is also said that in India, 50% of the internet users will use digital payments by 2020. The potential that online payment solutions provide for a business to scale-up is tremendous. It is an easy and quick option for the businessman to adopt for increasing revenues and customer base.

Looking at the market survey we find that the mobile-based transactions have increased to 2860 million in 2016 from a mere 224 million in 2014. It is almost an increase of 1177% over the previous year. The world is shifting to the internet for payments and is accepting this mode. Despite this, about 69% of online transactions are abandoned costing the retailers about $4 trillion every year (Business Insider survey). Of this about 35% are easily convertible if the providers improve the checkout and payment process (Baynard Institute).

To improvise, payment gateways in India need to work on building quicker and smoother payment solutions with multiple payment options. If you take the example of Easebuzz, a recent entry in the payment gateways in India list, it has almost every option that a customer could choose while making a payment - netbanking, card payment and wallets. It has recently started giving UPI as an option for payment as well. Apart from this, the transaction failure rate is almost negligible (less than 0.05%) due to the backend technologies Easebuzz uses. It has helped many businesses to scale up and has gained the trust of more than 15,000+ merchants in a very short time. The support services provided by the team also ensures that the customers making payment through Easebuzz do not face any issues. Customers paying through Easebuzz also get the option to avail 50% returns through coupons of A-listed companies.

All this combined together provides an excellent payment experience to the customers and builds the trust of the businesses on the payment solutions. Eventually, this leads to increase in the revenues of the business by tapping the 69% of the people who never go ahead and complete payment processes due to its glitches!

Isn't this a really simple method of scaling business which is also aligned to the current market trends? We hope you will agree with us!

The Players of the Payments Industry!

The payments industry is one of the toughest industries. The competition level is very high with a plenty of payment solutions providers. It doesn't take much time to overrun others. To survive and succeed in this world, you need to provide the best services to your merchants and customers. From quick payouts and great transaction rates to an excellent after sales support - the payment solutions need to be adept at every single service in this rat race to the top. When it comes to online payment gateway, the list is never ending. There are a multiple players in the market of payment gateways in India. Let's have a look at them.

1. CCAvenue - One of the oldest card payment gateways. Launched in 2001, it is very popular in the ecommerce market. With a free startup plan to a paid privilege plan, CCAvenue charges a transaction fee which can vary anywhere between 1.99% to 2.99% and a flat fee of INR 3. It also charges an annual maintenance fee. Providing its customers with multiple payment options including cards, netbanking and a few wallets, CCAvenue has been revamping its UI of the merchant dashboard and the website to improve its services.

2. Citrus Pay - Launched in 2011, Citrus has been aggressive in its market capture. In very less time it has acquired a good share of the market of payment gateways in india. With zero setup fees and INR 1200 maintenance fee, it charges a transaction rate of 1.99% plus INR 3. Despite its quick rise to fame, merchants have faced issues when it comes to support team response. The entire documentation process commence the services is also a lengthy one. Seeing all the loopholes in responsiveness and customer support, Citrus has been acquired by PayU. Its customers now can only hope for better services and leave it to their experience.

3. PayU - PayU has two versions one is specifically for large enterprises (PayuBiz). This card payment gateway provides different plans based on the needs of the enterprises ranging from INR 4900 to INR 29000 in addition to the annual maintenance fee of INR 2400. It charges a transaction fee ranging between 2.20% to 3.90%. Another version is PayUMoney. It is specifically built for SMBs (small and medium businesses). With zero setup and annual maintenance fees, the transaction rate is also as low as 2%.

4. EBS - The child of a France based global leader in payment processing services, EBS is apt for small and medium sized businesses. Though it has a mixed review form its customers, it has tried to remain competitive and not lose out on the opportunities. With plans varying from INR 4799 to INR 23999, it also charges an annual maintenance fee of INR 2400. The transaction rate varies from 1.25% to 3.75% based on the plan. It provides good service when it comes to multi currency processing and has a good UI.

5. Instamojo - Started in 2012, Instamojo gained the trust of many customers by offering services at a lower cost and quick on boarding. With zero setup and maintenance fees, its transaction rate was fixed at 2% plus Rs 3 per transaction. Started as a platform to sell digital goods, it slowly expanded into a multitude of products and services selling. It is well recommended for small business, thanks to its rates and smooth transition phases.

6. Easebuzz - Started in 2016, Easebuzz is paltform which provides integrated payment solutions to all types of businesses. Large enterprises, small and medium businesses or freelancers - there is something for everybody. With differential transaction rates, zero setup and maintenance fees; Easebuzz has gained the trust of 15,000+ merchants over the last 1.5 years. It provides varied services ranging from payment links, web stores to online payment gateway. It also gives multiple payment options including the latest UPI feature to make payments. In addition to this, it provides 24*7 support and a dedicated relationship manager to handle your account. Any problem, anytime anywhere, and Easebuzz is ready to solve it.

Some other payment solutions that are slowly entering the market and trying to make their space include - Zaapakpay, DirecPay, payment gateways in india by HDFC and ICICI etc. In addition to this there are multiple wallets that have come into play especially after the demonetisation in the country.

Every now and then you see, many enter this industry and many are unfortunate enough to leave either by shutting down or through acquisition/merger. A small mistake and there would be others to replace you. Hence it is advised to be at your best game in this industry and provide the best service for customer satisfaction. A Happy customer after all is a sign of a growing business!

Before we end, let's have a look at the summarised table for your ease of understanding and comparison. For any queries you can also write to us at sales@easebuzz.in

S. No.	Features	Easebuzz	CCAvenue	PayUBiz	Instamojo
1.	Days to start a transaction	Immediately	6-7 days	Immediately	Immediately
2.	24*7 support	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
3.	Annual Maintenance charges	No	Yes	Yes	No
4.	Differential TDR	Yes	No	No	No
5.	UPI as payment option	Yes	No	No	No
6.	Relationship Manager for a healthy support	Yes	No	No	No
7.	Enhanced Analytics	Yes	No	Yes	No
8.	Server to Server coupling for lesser dropout rate	Yes	No	No	No
9.	Multiple payment solutions like link, payment gateway, web stores etc.	Yes	No	No	Yes
10.	Marketplace Aggregator Model	Yes	No	No	No

 *To understand the marketplace aggregator model, check out our previous blog @ https://easebuzz.in/blog/

Top 5 platforms to sell products online

Hey, are you listening? The digital era is calling out to you. Your business growth today is not a game of offline sales alone. The digital arena has a major contribution to make in it. As Seth Godin, the bestselling author of All Marketers Are Liars, says "Selling to people that actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers that don't." And this is a possibility only on the digital platform; not on print, not through Television and definitely not through brick and mortar shops, which reduce your business radius to less than 5 Km. Also don't forget the digital payments! Thanks to the evolving online payment gateway systems, cash payments are definitely a thing of the past.

We bring to you some of the best online platforms wherein you can easily sell your products and reach out to a broader audience. With numerous products surfacing with each passing day, your business needs an edge and what better platform for it than the digital world? Here is a comprehensive list that will help you in your endeavours to go digital -

1. Magento - With a multitude of plugins and extensions available, Magento is best known for its scalability and SEO- friendliness. Almost 21% of the top 100,000 eCommerce sites are built on this platform. It can easily be integrated with emailing platforms and help you in the process of lead nurturing. Magento provides wide-ranging options from community open source to large scale enterprise systems.

2. Woocommerce - Though there are a plenty of plug-in options that WordPress provides to its customers, the one with the maximum popularity is Woocommerce. Woocommerce holds a market share of 41% in the e-commerce domain. It is a user-friendly and cost-effective platform for businesses and has an excellent support system.

3. Shopify - With a share of 10.74% in the top 100,000 websites, Shopify provides its customers with a multitude of themes and templates to choose from. It has over 1,200 different plug-ins available to select from related to accounting, inventory management, marketing, social media, etc. It also provides 24/7 support through its online live chat, phone support and email.

4. Kartrocket - It is one of the rare few online platforms providing integrated solutions - from an online store to product pick-ups and shipping solutions. Kartrocket ensures that all its solutions are India-focused and innovative. They have a good understanding of the local market and provide the same feel to your business platform as well.

5. Easebuzz - A new player in the market, Easebuzz provides integrated solutions to its customers. Right from an online web-store (selling platform) to an integrated payment gateway, it eases the process of going digital for the sellers. One does not have to look to separate vendors to simplify their payments with Easebuzz at their service. With 15,000+ businesses on board, it not only provides a user-friendly interface, but also ensures 24/7 support. With 50% returns to shoppers through coupons of A-listed companies, Easebuzz is revolutionising the online arena of digital selling.

We hope that this list clears your mind of all doubts and queries regarding embracing the digital platform for your business. We also hope that you are able to give your business the right head start this new year, preferably in the digital way.