Clik2pay Making Online Payments Easier for Retailers and their Customers [Feature] (2024)

The retail industry is a unique one comprised of an array of players, operating in a multitude of categories and verticals, that are required to pivot and shift in response to an ever-changing market and evolving consumer behaviour and preferences. Today, merchants across the country not only need to contend with these changes and evolutions, they’ve got to adjust to them while also addressing impacts to their businesses related to inflated costs and a digitization of the retail environment that’s threatening to alter the landscape forever. Fortunately for Canadian retailers, they are all challenges that can be alleviated by Clik2pay – the leading direct-from-accounts payments provider. In fact, according to Mike Bradley, the payments innovator’s Founder and CEO, helping to overcome these obstacles is exactly why Clik2pay was founded.

“First and foremost, we want to make sure that retailers are able to take care of their customers’ needs,” says Bradley. “We know that Canadians want payment options at checkout when they shop online, and that includes the ability to pay for product and services directly from their own bank accounts. Currently, however, most merchants across the country don’t accept debit payments to complete online purchases. What results is a disjointed, unfulfilled and incomplete experience for the customer, and lost sales for the retailer. By enabling debit card transactions online, retailers are not only providing enhanced options that the customer’s seeking, they’re positioning their businesses in the best possible way for further growth and customer acquisition.”

Preferred method

In fact, the desire of Canadian consumers to pay for their online goods and service with their debit cards is so prevalent that the opportunities around making the choice available to them seem limitless. According to Clik2pay research, there were in excess of 5 billion Interac® debit card transactions that occurred in-store across the country in 2020. Further, 57 per cent of Canadians use their debit card at least once a week. And, when it comes to preferred method of payment, more than 40 per cent of the country’s consumers would choose to pay direct from their bank accounts, if the option was available, with 72 per cent of Millennials and Gen Z overwhelmingly preferring to do the same. It’s a trend that Bradley says merchants should start to take advantage of, adding that it only makes sense to enable online debit purchases lest they leave customer’s stranded within the experience.

“Considering the fact that Canadians prefer to pay for their purchases using their debit cards, merchants are really prohibiting their own growth by not making the option available online,” he asserts. “And, when you think of all of the Canadians who, for one reason or another, don’t have access to credit cards, merchants are essentially leaving them in the middle of the shopping journey with no way of completing their desired transaction. What results is a lot of abandoned carts, and disappointed customers that have not received the experience that they were looking for. Making debit available for online transactions helps to solve for these issues, and more.”

Ease of use

Bradley goes on to explain that not only does Clik2pay’s payment solution enable customers to pay for their purchases directly from their own bank accounts, allowing merchants to meet their needs, it’s also incredibly easy for customers to use.

“We leverage Interac e-Transfer – a service that reaches nearly every financial institution in Canada,” he asserts. “And, paying for purchases through Clik2pay couldn’t be easier. Customers simply click or tap the Clik2pay button from any device, scan a QR code and pay for their items, choosing the financial institution that they’d like to draw funds from to complete the transaction. It’s a service that provides customers with ease and choice, embedded seamlessly within the retail shopping experience.”

Simple integration

In addition, because Clik2pay’s digital solution is powered by API technology, implementation into existing retail systems is just as seamless and easy as the experience it helps enable for customers. Whether a retailer is using Shopify, Adobe Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Woo Commerce, or any other platform in order to help power their online store, Clik2pay’s integration allows for a simple plug-in and very little technical investment required on the part of the merchant. It’s a feature of the technology and solution that Bradley says is a differentiator for the company, and one that many businesses, particularly those of the small- and medium-sized variety, are finding either levels the playing field with their competitors, or outright provides them with a leg up.

“Retailers can be up and running, using Clik2pay and offering their customers the payments options their craving, in no time at all,” he says. “And, because implementation is so painless and easy, there’s no time wasted or attention drawn away from operating the business and servicing the customer. There’s no reason why debit can’t be the most used method of payment online. It just hasn’t been available until now. From that perspective, think of all of the ecommerce sales that retailers have simply walked away from because they haven’t been providing the right breadth of payment options to their customers. Clik2pay can really help bolster a retailers’ online sales.”

Reducing merchants’ costs

What’s more, by using Clik2pay, merchants everywhere will significantly reduce their costs as well. Bradley points to the $10 billion a year, or thereabouts, that merchants across the country pay every year in credit card fees as one of the biggest barriers to their growth and success. By removing a portion of that financial burden helps to also loosen the strain felt by those operating within the industry as a result of inflated costs.

“Clik2pay helps retailers become much more competitive immediately by helping to reduce payment fees by nearly 50 per cent,” he says. “Those are costs that can then, once eliminated, be reallocated to help the business grow. It can be invested in technology, staff, merchandise, or anything else that might enhance the store’s operations and the service that it provides to customers. It can be a really powerful tool to lower costs while attracting and retaining more online customers than could be imagined.”

Facilitating growth

A simple solution that integrates easily, it seems the opportunities that arise from leveraging Clik2pay’s service are innumerable. It’s something that’s recognized by Bradley. He sees, too, the incredible potential that this presents to he and his team with respect to the company’s success. However, he says that Clik2pay will remain focused on its goal – to make real-time payments easy for businesses and their customers.

“The retail industry in Canada has been facing a number of different challenges over the course of the past two-and-a-half years or so. We’d like to alleviate some of the pressure that’s been building up on merchants’ shoulders, unburdening them of unnecessary credit card fees and helping them open up their business to a whole new category of customers. And, in doing so, we hope to also enable further growth of the industry and facilitate the profitability of merchants in every province and territory across the country.”

For more information about Clik2pay and how it can help retailers reduce the cost associated with online ecommerce transactions, visithttps://clik2pay.com/