According to the Mordor Intelligence report, the market size of payment infrastructure services in Indonesia has reached Rp204 trillion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17% in the period 2021-2026. This growth is partly due to changes in consumer trends in shopping, where the online payment platform model plays a significant role there. In fact, online payment services are not only reliable in e-commerce, but traditional retailers can also use them as a payment option.
At online merchants, such as e-commerce or social commerce, businesses can take advantage of payment platforms such as payment gateways to be integrated into their systems. While at offline merchants, point of sales applications can be a medium for transactions that are served to buyers. The two payment platforms usually provide quite complete online payment options, ranging from e-money, QRIS (QR payment), to the virtual account method.
Tips for implementing online payments
In order to get optimal benefits from using online payments, business owners need to pay attention to the following things:
Customer Demographics
No "single template" can be applied to all types of businesses because business strategies need to be mixed according to their characteristics. One aspect that influences the characteristics of a business is customer demographics — this has to do with who they are, from what circle, what their habits are, etc.
Even so, when deciding to sell online payment services, businesses must carefully consider whether the demographics of their consumers are ready or suitable to use this payment model.
If so, this can benefit both the customer and the business owner. The online payment provides wider payment options and a simple (cashless) transaction model for customers. And for businesses, online payment services can make recording transactions neater and more automated.
Infrastructure readiness
A merchant must also provide an infrastructure that can accept these transactions to provide online payment services. As explained above, POS and Payment Gateway can be one solution. These infrastructure services are usually sold to business people in the SaaS (Software as a Service) model, meaning that merchants will be charged a subscription fee according to the choice of features and desired capacity.
While in offline retail, in addition to application-based systems, business owners must also prepare other devices such as computers, cellphones, or tables to input transactions. In addition, stable internet connectivity is also a must-have so that the transaction process runs smoothly.
Business governance
The application of online payments is usually included in one of the digital business transformation agendas. The expected goal of the process is holistic digitization. The most ideal practice, this online payment system is also followed by more structured business governance — for example, by digitizing the accounting system for cashflow recording, digitizing logistics records, and providing digital-based customer loyalty services so that it has a more meaningful impact on the user experience itself.
Implementation of online payment for business
To implement an online payment for a business, you can follow these steps. First for online merchants who use their own e-commerce sites to sell products:
- Perform an assessment of the system that has been developed to find out what kind of payment system is suitable to be integrated.
- Deploy the online payment system to the service backend — usually via a custom API provided by the service provider.
- Choose a payment option that is relevant to the user's demographics.
- Perform testing and deployment.
Meanwhile, offline merchants can apply the following steps:
- Make sure merchants are prepared for the three things discussed in the previous chapter: customer demographics, infrastructure readiness, and business governance.
- Choose the right payment service provider partner. Generally, they also provide cashier services packaged in POS.
- Integrate the POS with the recording system owned by the business, so that transaction data with others (such as stock and promotions) can be inlined.
- Do the test.
How Open Finance provides an effective payment solution
Innovation in the fintech field continues to develop, to find best practices in providing better and cheaper services — for business owners and consumers. With the online payment system, even though the existing platform is mature enough and massively used, there are still gaps that can be filled with the next stage of technological innovation.
With Open Finance, online payment platforms can provide more profitable services for business owners and consumers. One of the advantages is to reduce administrative costs that are usually charged to both parties.
Open Finance allows an online payment system to process payments for free. The mechanism utilizes the intra-bank transfer method (behind the scenes) while still providing an easy-to-use interface for transactions by the user through a single dashboard.
Finantier is an Open Finance company in Indonesia that provides alternative solutions for online payments. This service is offered to financial service developers and business people looking for alternative solutions to develop financial infrastructure. The system is run with the Open API mechanism, which currently has regulations and standardization by the relevant authorities.
It is believed that Open Finance has the potential to change the payment infrastructure landscape in Indonesia. By providing services that are more efficient and inclusive. For more information about Open Finance and Finantier products, visit https://finantier.co/