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Our experience in the payments market means we understand the payment players’ solutions, pricing and how they relate to the rest of the business and the customer journey. We provide impartial advice in all these areas and take care of the entire process with minimal resource consumption on your part. You choose whether you want us to do the job for a fixed or performance-based fee.
Consumers are looking for local payment types that make it simple and fast to complete a purchase. Get an independent assessment and recommendation for your company’s online and physical payment solutions, payment types and provider selection to ensure a world-class shopping experience across all your markets and sales channels.
In the world of payments, there are typically three different settlement models.
Flat rate
One price for all card types
A pricing model where the acquirer operates with one percentage price on all card types.
The model is very straightforward, but since the supplier needs to ensure that no money is lost on the most commonly used card types, in most cases the pricing will be too high on multiple card types.
The advantage is that the company doesn’t have to deal with more than 24 different price categories, but there is a risk of overpaying.
Blended
Differentiated pricing per card type
A percentage fee that the company pays for each transaction.
The fees are often broken down into 24 price points, including domestic debit, domestic credit, domestic corporate card, EU debit, EU credit, EU credit, EU corporate card, Non-EU debit, Non-EU credit and Non-EU corporate card.
For this price, some card acquirers charge a differentiated transaction fee.
Here, the company must consider all 24 price points to assess whether they are priced correctly.
Interchange++
A pricing model that can be used in Europe and the US
The model is used for MasterCard and Visa payments. It offers more transparency than the other pricing models, as it provides a more detailed breakdown.
But the model is also more sensitive than other models, and when rates are adjusted, the price can both increase and decrease within a short time frame. This is one of several pitfalls and areas to look out for when choosing an Interchange++ pricing model.
In Denmark, trust in card payments is very high, but if you have customers in neighboring countries, you will find that they are reluctant to pay for goods before they have been received. As a result, bank-to-bank payments and cash are much more common here. For example, it’s not uncommon that you can’t pay by card in a physical store in Germany.
An important prerequisite for optimal conversion is to offer local payment types in the countries you operate in. And it’s important to keep track of what payment methods your customers expect.
NORTH has advised several companies in this area, aligning payment types in the markets they were active in.
As mentioned, consumers in Denmark have a high level of trust in card payments. Card transactions cover the majority of payments in Denmark. In addition to cards, wallet solutions are widely used in both physical stores and e-commerce.
In Germany, the market is more conservative than in Denmark. Cash and bank-to-bank payments are the preferred options here. Card payments have become more widespread over the past three years, but trust in card payments is significantly lower than in Denmark.
In Sweden, mobile payments are very often used with the local mobile payment system. Customers in Sweden are very happy to do business with BNPL (buy now, pay later). Consumers also buy everyday items on BNPL, unlike in Denmark, where it is primarily used for more expensive purchases.
In Norway, a local payment card similar to the Dankort in Denmark is used. The market for mobile payments is also large in Norway, where local card types are the most commonly used. This is followed by various international map types. BNPL has become more popular in Norway in recent years.
In the Netherlands, the bank-to-bank method is used very often and alternatively, consumers pay with international card types. The Dutch, like the Danes, have a high level of trust in card payments. The international wallet solutions and BNPL are also used in the Netherlands.
In France, the local payment card is used as the primary payment card. It is a co-branded card supported by an international debit card. Bank-to-bank payments are also often used in conjunction with the most popular wallet solutions.
In Poland, international payment cards are used as the primary payment method. As an alternative to payment cards, local wallet solutions are widely used. BNPL has also made inroads into the Polish market.
In Austria, the international payment cards are most commonly used, supplemented by a local payment card. In Austria, customers rely heavily on bank-to-bank solutions, which have a large share of payments. BNPL is also used in Austria, but only to a lesser extent.
In the UK, payments are primarily made with international debit cards. BNPL is commonly used in the UK and statistics show that the trend is increasing in the UK. Wallet solutions are also widely used in the UK and are growing rapidly.
In the US, most card types are used. The major international card types are most commonly used, while local payment cards are also used. Wallet payment solutions are also very popular, as is BNPL.
Internationally, Visa and MasterCard are the most commonly used payment cards, but locally it’s important to offer customized payment types. An area we have extensive knowledge of.
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) products give private customers the option to pay after, for example, 14 or 30 days with no fees or to pay over 12 or 24 months.
The company receives payment immediately from the BNPL provider, who then takes care of the subsequent collection.
Providers
Klarna, AfterPay, ViaBill, Affirm, Resurs Bank, SplitIt, OpenPay, Zip, Uplift and Qliro as well as newer ApplePay and PayPal.
BNPL in Europe
Analysis shows that BNPL adoption in Europe is growing significantly and may well have grown up to 175% by the end of 2024. Figures from 2021 show that BNPL revenue in Denmark accounted for a whopping 8% of total e-commerce revenue. In other European countries, BNPL revenue accounts for very large shares of e-commerce revenue. Here is BNPL’s share of e-commerce revenue in our neighboring countries:
Benefits for your business
Disadvantages for the business
At NORTH, we have successfully engaged with BNPL providers and created transparency and better terms for our customers on the above points.
Before choosing a payment gateway (PSP), companies should consider the following:
Which countries should we sell in?
PSPs focus on different markets, so make sure the one you choose can offer relevant payment types.
What are the local payment methods?
Following on from the point above, it is important to check whether the chosen PSP offers the payment methods that are most common in the countries you want to sell in.
What are the technical requirements for the PSP?
Make sure your PSP can meet your webshop’s requirements for omnichannel, app, subscription management module, reporting, ERP integrations, Enterprise, e-commerce integrations and more.
Do you want a hosted or embedded payment window (i.e. pop-up or embedded)?
Hosted payment window redirects the customer to a pop-up or an overlay PSP-branded payment window that adds an extra step to the payment flow. It may appear safe as the customer recognizes the PSP’s logo and URL.
An embedded payment window is naturally integrated into the webshop homepage. This makes the purchase process as short as possible, but on the other hand, it can be difficult for the customer to decipher who the recipient of the card information is, as it is often not clearly visible.
NORTH’s consulting ensures the company significant savings on their payment solutions with minimal resource consumption on their part.
We achieve this through:
Based on our insights into the payment market, we benchmark your current payment solutions and prices against the market and recommend your potential to optimize and save money. In some cases, we request quotes from other players if better solutions, local payment types and prices can be achieved.
You present your payment solutions, challenges, needs and wishes. We present the areas in which NORTH can create value, transparency and savings for you. We agree on analysis, benchmarking, assessment and recommendation.
NORTH gets peek access to your payment provider and insight into the data that will support the analysis. This requires minimum involvement on your part.
Based on our insights into the payment market, alternative fintech solutions and market prices, we benchmark your current payment solutions against the market and identify your potential to optimize and save money. In some cases, we request offers from other providers.
A meeting is arranged with your payment provider, where NORTH's analysis and assessment is presented and we renegotiate prices and terms with your providers in collaboration with you. NORTH's role is aligned with you.
Through our advice and negotiation with your suppliers, you'll achieve a better working relationship with better prices, terms and transparency. You may also be able to upgrade the user experience by supplementing your setup with other payment types or modern fintech payment providers.
A new and better agreement is made with your payment provider. If desired, offers are requested from other players and NORTH provides an impartial recommendation.
Below you can read testimonials from some of the 2000+ companies that our team at NORTH Financial Procurement has helped achieve better payment solutions and prices. You can see more references here and meet our team here.
“Due to our positive experiences with North, it was natural for us to use their consultancy again when our needs changed and complexity increased. North brought exciting solutions into play that we were not aware of ourselves. They were able to think outside the box and worked patiently towards the perfect solution for us. Their advice has helped us with simpler solutions and significant savings without compromising the customer experience.“
“North has advised DK Company on the assessment and optimization of our payment solutions, both regarding our physical as well as our international online payment solutions. North has acted very professionally and handled the process satisfactorily, resulting in significant savings.”
”The efforts of North have resulted in significant savings. In conclusion, I can mention that I already have recommended my network to make use of North’s competencies, and I therefore would do the same to other companies.”
“As a result of the obtained transparency, we have achieved a complete overview of our costs and opportunities. Therefore, we are now able to make decisions on an informed and optimal basis.”
‘’Financial Procurement has with their strong insight and competences on the financial business area, contributed with holistic counseling, which has given an essential increased transparency and insight in the pricing, solutions and relevant suppliers on the market. They have been able to negotiate satisfying individual agreements on our behalf, whereas we have obtained better global solutions – as well as a significantly improved pricing. Furthermore, the improvements of the solutions and prices are significantly better than I initially expected.’’
“The team at North were professional and diligent throughout the process and delivered on expectations. This conscientious support resulted in the business achieving the project objectives despite the challenging environment. I would happily recommend North’s services.“
“With North, we found a partner who, through solid work, conducted an educational review of all the different cost drivers for our checkout. This provided us with the transparency and knowledge we were seeking. Additionally, we reduced our costs without compromising our service levels for our customers”.
“We had some initial meetings with NORTH to access how they could help us with our payment landscape and our agreements with the various providers. We entered an agreement, and their work have been very helpful during the process to optimize our terms and solutions. They have focused on the best possible holistic solution – and not only the cost part, even though we also have reduced our cost and achieved much better transparency on every single payment level.
A trustworthy advising and good cooperation and dialogue is the reason why we can recommend other large merchants to use NORTH’s insights and competencies”.
“Financial Procurement’s market insight and competencies within payment solutions have ensured substantially improved solutions and prices and secured greater transparency and clarity”.
“We have experienced North Financial Procurement as a trustworthy and competent impartial advisor to look at some of our major payment agreements. North has thoroughly analyzed our payment mix and given recommendations regarding new potential payment types we with advantage could add to increase the conversion rate – and reduce the dependence of few suppliers. It has been instructive and insightful – and has resulted in a much deeper overview of all the costs regarding the respective payment methods et cetera. Furthermore, the insights and benchmarks – and subsequently negotiations have resulted in satisfying results. We will continue to use their competencies, due to a valuable process”.
“This has resulted in a cost reduction, which we would not do without. Therefore, we are satisfied with their counseling and the related results.”
“NORTH has acted as a trusted independent financial advisor, where they have created significant value both in the analysis phase and in negotiations with suppliers, thanks to their expertise and insight into various financial areas. It has also been reassuring to be able to ask other professional questions and receive quick answers, even if it was not part of the process or task. It has been a pleasant and value-creating process, where I am very satisfied with the result, and therefore, I gladly recommend other companies to use NORTH.”
“It has been extremely valuable for us to rely on North’s competence and experience in this extensive process, as they have a much better insight into the market than our company is capable of having. From our side, this resulted in significant cost reductions. Therefore, it is very likely that we will engage North again in the future.“
Fill out the form if you are interested in learning more about how we can help you achieve the optimal individual financial solution at the best price.
Contact us for a no-obligation chat about your financial solutions.
Benjamin Feldman, Partner and Director,
Financial Procurement
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