September 25, 2024 • 20 mins
Ever wondered how small and medium-sized businesses can not just survive but thrive in the complex world of ecommerce? You’re about to find out. Join us as we sit down with Chintan Gandhi and Rob Ward from Worldpay, two industry veterans who share their fascinating career journeys and insights. From Chintan’s move from India to the UK and his deep-rooted experience in payments to Rob’s transition from law to a decade in the payments sector, this episode offers a rich tapestry of personal stories and professional wisdom. Together, they shed light on the dynamic evolution of ecommerce in the UK and how Worldpay’s global expertise can be a game-changer for SMBs looking to make their mark online.
COVID-19 has reshaped many industries, and we plunge into its profound impact on the restaurant sector in the US and the UK. Discover how traditional establishments, including countryside pubs, have pivoted to embrace online and curbside services. The conversation dives into the rise of mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, now dominating over 50% of UK transactions. We delve into the pressing challenges SMB merchants face, such as fraud, security, cash flow, and conversion rates. Learn how Worldpay’s advanced solutions, including cutting-edge fraud detection and strong customer authentication, are paving the way for merchants to navigate these hurdles effectively. Packed with actionable strategies, this episode is an essential listen for anyone looking to master the ever-evolving ecommerce landscape for SMBs in the UK.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Thank you at the heart of great e-commerce
experiences globally, whetheryou are just starting out or
upscaling your business, we'lldiscuss current and future
trends in the UK e-commercelandscape and dive into merchant
pain points and world paysolutions.
Additionally, our experts willtouch on actionable strategies
(00:39):
and tips to help your businessthrive online.
Greg Myers (00:44):
Hi everyone, this is Greg Myers, the host of the
Leaders in Payments podcast.
Today we have two specialguests joining the show Chintan
Gandhi, director of StrategicPlanning and Go-To-Market, and
Rob Ward, product DirectorEcommerce from WorldPay.
So welcome to the show andespecially welcome to this
special collaboration betweenthe Leaders in Pay payments and
WorldPay.
(01:04):
So in this episode, we'll bediscussing the SMB e-commerce
landscape.
So thank you both.
So much for being here today.
Hi Greg, it's great to be here.
Chintan Gandhi (01:14):
Great to be with you, Greg.
Greg Myers (01:16):
So let's go ahead and dive in Chintan.
Let's start with you.
If you don't mind, tell ouraudience a little bit about
yourself, maybe where you grewup, where you went to school,
where you currently live, a fewthings like that and if you can
touch a little on yourprofessional journey as well.
Chintan Gandhi (01:29):
Yeah, sure, I actually grew up and did my
schooling in India and thenmoved to the UK to pursue my
master's MBA.
I currently live inHertfordshire, which is just
outside London.
On the professional front, Iworked in the payment space for
almost 15 years in various rolesacross business strategy,
partnerships, businessdevelopment, product management
(01:50):
and, more recently, I've beenleading on the go-to-market and
commercialization of ourstrategic solutions for WorldPay
.
Greg Myers (01:56):
Okay, great, rob, over to you.
Rob Ward (01:58):
Yes, I grew up in rural England, in a small town
in the countryside, I found myway to university to study
geography.
When I finished there I thoughtabout a career in law.
So I was working for a law firm, did my law diploma and then
found an advert to work inpayment for a merchant.
So I joined that business andmanaged relationships with
acquirers and payment gatewaysand really got into it and
(02:21):
wanted to learn more, wanted toexplore more of that career.
So then I joined Wellpay justover 10 years ago, worked across
operations, technical pre-salesimplementation over those years
and most recently moving intoproduct leadership role on the
SMB commerce side.
So yeah, that's been my timeand recently just finished my
MBA at Cranfield University aswell.
Greg Myers (02:42):
So never ended up going the law direction.
Rob Ward (02:51):
No, I think I felt at the time that it was going to be
a lot of work to be successful.
And I looked at payments and Ithought I think this is going to
be really exciting.
I think there's going to be alot in this.
So I've made the change and I'mreally pleased that I did,
because every day you learnsomething new in this industry,
so it's been really exciting.
Greg Myers (03:03):
Yeah, payments is a great space to be in.
I've been in it close to 20years, so definitely is a
passion of mine.
Chintan, I think most of ouraudience will know who WorldPay
is and what you do, but if youdon't mind, can you tell our
audience in your own words alittle about WorldPay?
Chintan Gandhi (03:19):
Yeah, sure, I'd love to give a quick overview.
Worldpay is actually a globalleader in payments, powering
businesses of all sizes, fromsmall and medium-sized
businesses to large globalenterprises, enabling them to
process payments in a seamless,reliable way, whether it's
payment processing online orin-store, or through mobile,
worldpay sits at the heart ofmany great commerce experiences
(03:42):
that we encounter in ourday-to-day life today.
What really stands out aboutWorldPay is our ability to meet
our customers' business needswhen it comes to payments
processing with the solutionsthat are designed to support
each stage of their growth.
For small and medium-sizedbusinesses especially, worldpay
offers innovative andeasy-to-use, easy-to-implement
(04:02):
payment solutions that reallyhelp them thrive.
But when it comes to the keythings around WorldPay, it's
beyond technology and solutions.
What really makes WorldPayspecial is our global reach and
a diverse team of experts behindthe scenes who bring a wide
variety of perspectives to solvepayment challenges and create
seamless commerce experiencesfor everyone.
Greg Myers (04:24):
Great, let's go ahead and dive into the topic.
Rob this question's for you.
Let's start at a high level,maybe the 50,000-foot level.
How do you define e-commerce?
Especially in the context ofthis series that we're doing
together?
How would you define e-commerce?
Rob Ward (04:40):
Yeah, it's a really good question.
I think, with a lot ofdefinitions and concepts,
particularly in payments, theanswer can be a little bit
elusive.
But I think if you look at thehistory of the development of
e-commerce, particularly in theSMB space, let's go back 30
years and payments was reallykind of a process that just
happened at the end of a verycomplicated flow on a website.
(05:02):
In its infancy it was justpurely about catching card data
and submitting that into apayment gateway or acquirer and
very kind of basic and that'sprobably what you saw as
e-commerce back then.
But I think, certainly in thelast 10 years, what we've seen
emerge there is a whole seriesof different channels where
e-commerce can take place.
It's not just on websites.
It's on payment links thatbusinesses kind of generate and
(05:25):
send out, whether it's for aspecific service that they've
provided, but also then intokind of that emerging trend that
we're seeing where SMBs areincreasingly using the social
media platforms to be the placewhere they engage with their
consumers.
So I think in terms of adefinition, it's all
encompassing of all of that kindof online activity that happens
(05:45):
.
It's not just about taking thepayment, it's about how do you
generate the interest and thedemand for your brand through
marketing activity, through tooptimizing your website checkout
conversion and then through toprocessing those payments as
well.
So it's a whole kind ofecosystem now that's developed
and I think for SMBs now to besuccessful online, it takes a
(06:07):
lot for them to navigate thatspace and they need the right
set of partners to be successful.
Greg Myers (06:12):
Chintan.
Anything you'd like to add tothat, I'll say that the way I
would define.
Chintan Gandhi (06:15):
E-commerce is much more than just buying and
selling online.
It's a connected ecosystemwhere businesses and consumers
can interact seamlessly acrossborders, time zones and devices.
It's the engine that powers thedigital economy, and its impact
is profound on us, not just forbusinesses, but all of us
consumers in the day-to-day life, in terms of how we operate
(06:36):
today.
Greg Myers (06:37):
Sure, chintan, we'll stay with you.
What is the current state ofe-commerce in the UK?
Chintan Gandhi (06:42):
E-commerce in the UK is at an incredibly
dynamic state right now.
Uk has been one of the leadingmarkets for e-commerce.
The pandemic shifted theconsumer behavior overnight and
really accelerated thee-commerce growth in the UK.
People who might have beenhesitant about shopping online
to the businesses who werehesitant on trading online
(07:03):
suddenly had to embrace it, andthat shift has stuck with us
ever since.
Today, e-commerce isn't justabout growing your business.
In fact, it's embedded in theway the UK businesses and
consumers operate every day.
The rise of e-commerce in the UKis really transforming the
industries across differentverticals and how businesses
operate.
It's no longer just about thebrick and mortar stores having
(07:26):
to capture their customer base,growing sales and revenue.
It's about delivering thatend-to-end experiences, both in
terms of in-store and e-commerce.
A lot of businesses are havingto now incorporate AI-driven
recommendations to enhance theircustomer experiences.
I believe in the UK wecurrently are at the forefront
of e-commerce transformation,which is significantly boosting
(07:50):
our economy.
E-commerce is no longer just anadd-on but an integral part of
most of the businesses in termsof how they operate and trade.
Greg Myers (07:57):
Yeah, a quick follow-up to that Curious like
here in the US one of the mainshifts at least that COVID drove
, I think was people buyingcurbside from restaurants and
pickup, and maybe oldergenerations here in the US who
never really bought from arestaurant online or on a mobile
device.
That has become huge today.
(08:19):
You see more people, it seemslike, picking up food at
curbside than you do sometimeseven going in the restaurant.
So, just using restaurants asan example, I mean, do you see
that same thing happening therein the UK?
Chintan Gandhi (08:30):
Yes, absolutely, Especially in the hospitality
and the restaurant sectors,having that presence online
alongside your main store orrestaurant environment.
It's not only just anadditional add-on, as I said
earlier, it's become an integralpart.
Most restaurants these dayswant to operate online.
They want to increase their orgrow their customer outreach to
(08:52):
be able to deliver thatexperience online, over the
phone, through virtual terminals, etc.
It's a crucial part of how theygrow their customer base and
increase revenue.
I think just to add in there, ifI can, I think it's amazing how
entrepreneurial businesses arebeing about the opportunity of
e-commerce the typical flow ofbricks to clicks.
(09:12):
Stores like you've justdescribed, traditional
restaurants even if it's justthe local pub in the countryside
even they're now engaging ine-commerce.
They're making sure that theycan allow people to purchase
food and drink and go and pickit up pre-order it.
There's so many of those thingsthat are happening now and I
think how that's kind ofchanging the market a little bit
(09:34):
is that you're seeing anincreasing amount of
verticalized SaaS softwareproviders who are helping to
solve a lot of those pain points, and so I think, as a payments
solution provider, it's reallyimportant that we play a role in
that ecosystem and have thosepartnerships and connectivity to
really solve those problems.
For SMB merchants and youmentioned mobile wallets the UK
(09:58):
market is increasingly important.
It's over 50% of transactionsnow being checked out using
mobile wallets and that's justan emerging trend.
We see so many of our merchantswanting to take Apple Pay and
Google Pay for their paymentsand that's a really strong
emerging trend, absolutely.
Greg Myers (10:17):
So, rob, let's stick with you.
What would you say are maybethe top three pain points that
merchants have today?
Rob Ward (10:23):
We spend a lot of time thinking about this in
designing our solutions and ourproducts for SMB merchants.
Really try and get into thedetail of what are those pain
points, what are the things thatwe can help make life easier
for SMBs?
And I think the first one itcomes out kind of top of mind in
all of the market research thatwe do is fraud and insecurity.
It's making sure that yourtransactions are secure from
(10:47):
fraudsters, making sure that theintegration that you're using
is secure from anyone who'sgoing to try and hack your
system, etc.
And so I think that really iskind of top of mind for a lot of
merchants.
And, of course, you've got tomake sure that you keep on top
of fraud, because it's bad foryour brand, bad for your
reputation as a business.
If you get hit by that.
(11:07):
That can really do a lot ofdamage to businesses,
particularly when they're alittle bit smaller, I think.
Then, going into the second, Ithink it's then really about
cash flow, access to cash.
It's cost of living crisis,particularly within Europe, has
been keenly felt by businesses.
It's pushed up a lot ofoperating costs for them.
Cash flow is even moreimportant.
(11:29):
So making sure that you've gotnot just a quick assessment
timeline but also the companythat's providing you with that
liquidity is reliable and isconstantly able to make those
assessments too.
So I think that's second, andthen I think third is kind of
that conversion game making surethat once you spend all of that
money trying to drive theactivity towards your website
(11:51):
and then making sure that youmake the most of that, people
can find the products that theywant on your website.
You provide a really easy,convenient way to then check out
and that checkout experiencereally smooth, offers the
payment methods that arerelevant for those shoppers.
So I think for me those are mytop three.
Greg Myers (12:08):
Okay, chintan, anything you'd add?
Chintan Gandhi (12:10):
to that?
Yeah, the only thing I wouldlike to that is the complexity
in payment integration.
What I mean by that is manybusinesses, especially the SMB
businesses, struggle withintegrating their solution to
the payment processing solutionthrough the different platforms
they use today.
They need to adopt to asolution, or they generally seek
to a solution that is easy toset up, scalable and flexible to
(12:32):
handle various payment methodsthat they want to adopt for
their business and thereforethat end consumers.
Greg Myers (12:38):
Okay, great.
So, rob, if you don't mind,will you touch on some of the
solutions that WorldPay has?
That helps maybe address someof those pain points you
mentioned, sure.
Rob Ward (13:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, if we're taking thatfirst one, that top of mind
globally, and it's bringing theinsights of those emerging fraud
trends to SMBs who otherwisewouldn't have access to that
type of data, that type ofinsight, so that's proven to be
a really important tool for ourSMBs on our e-com solution.
And then, secondly, it'sensuring that you're adhering to
(13:31):
the emerging regulations aroundstrong customer authentication.
We've had PST2 in the EU and inthe UK.
There's a lot of then rulesplaced upon merchants to ensure
that they're doing the rightthings when they're processing
transactions.
So our 3DS Flex product it'sbuilt in again into our e-com
solution for SMBs and it helpsmake sure that customers are
authenticated as they'rechecking out on our merchant
(13:53):
websites.
So a combination of those twoare really powerful to help
secure our merchant websites.
I think then you know, touchingon kind of the second one
around cash flow, there we prideourselves on making sure that
we settle on time to ourmerchants and we offer a T plus
one settlement for our SMBe-commerce merchants and we
focus a lot on making sure thatwe're calculating those
(14:16):
settlements right, that thatsettlement is sent on time to
merchants so they receive thefunds that they're owed and they
can operate as a business.
I think kind of getting intothat fourth one around checkout
conversion, but also the ease ofintegration that Shintan
mentioned as well.
Our integration point for SMBsfor e-commerce is using our
hosted payment pages and ourhosted payment pages.
There's a really kind of simpleAPI for SMBs to integrate into
(14:40):
we offer plugin connectivity onthat as well platform of choice
that they're using.
They can easily integrate thosehosted payment pages into that
and then it makes it reallysmooth then in terms of the
checkout journey.
So try and make sure that thosepages simple as possible, easy
and intuitive to understand.
Merchants can also fullycustomize those pages as well.
(15:00):
So that really helps people whohave spent a lot of time and
effort building their brand out.
The last thing that they wantto do is go from their website,
have a hosted payment page in aniframe or in a page redirect
and for then that to be in thebrand of the payments company.
So it's really important thatthey have the opportunity to
customize that to look and feel,because it isn't just really
(15:23):
large enterprises that are nowspending money and time and
effort on their brandIncreasingly.
You see that in the SMB spaceas well.
So it's really important forthe merchants to be able to do
that.
Greg Myers (15:38):
Great Chintan over to you.
This is sort of a two-partquestion.
Can you speak to the future ofe-commerce for small businesses
in the UK?
That's sort of part one thefuture of e-commerce and then a
little at least what you canshare about WorldPay's strategy.
Chintan Gandhi (15:47):
Yeah, sure, Looking at the future of
e-commerce for SMBs in the UK,the way I see it, is a few key
trends that are shaping up thelandscape.
First, multi-channel andomni-channel experience that
would be essential.
We look at small and mediumbusinesses.
It's really important for themto ensure customers can move
effortlessly between online,in-store and offline
(16:10):
interactions with their business, offering a convenience and
flexibility at every step.
Second, personalization isgoing to be a game changer.
By leveraging customer insightsand a data-driven approach,
businesses can create tailoredexperiences that build customer
loyalty and drive more sales.
And third, I think, is the AIand digital transformation that
(16:35):
will play a pivotal role andit's a must-have for any
business.
Moving forward From automatingprocesses to enhancing customer
experiences, AI will helpbusinesses improve efficiency
and innovate in ways that keepthem competitive in an
ever-increasing digital world.
And as for WorldPay strategy,we are committed to developing
(16:57):
innovative payment solutionsenabling businesses of all sizes
to grow and, especially withe-commerce, we want to deliver
an experience that truly goesbeyond payments for both our
customers and partners.
Greg Myers (17:10):
Rob anything you want to add to that.
Rob Ward (17:12):
Yeah, I mean, I think the really interesting trends
that I think we're going to seegrow a lot more in the future is
the social commerce side of thethings.
It's SMBs leveraging the socialmedia platforms, like I
mentioned earlier, and I thinkthere's so much still to do
there in terms of producingsolutions that really work well
within that ecosystem, andthat's a really exciting trend
(17:34):
that we need to get our headsaround and make sure that we've
got the right set of solutionsto support that emerging trend.
I think in terms of strategy tosupport that, today we support
our customers no matter whatchannel they're coming in from
whether it's store, whether it'se-com, whether it's virtual
terminal and so we're going tofocus on making sure that we're
supporting customers whicheverchannel that they want to pay
(17:56):
through.
Greg Myers (17:57):
Chintan, Rob and for the listeners out there, this
is sort of episode one of fiveepisodes in this series where
we're going to be doing, infuture episodes, a deeper dive
on a lot of those things that wetalked about today.
So this is kind of setting thestage for the rest of the series
.
Before we close out the showtoday, just wanted to see if
Chintan, you or Rob haveanything else you'd like to add
(18:17):
before we wrap up.
Chintan Gandhi (18:19):
Yes, greg.
I would like to conclude bysaying that, in this rapidly
changing e-commerce landscape,the ability for businesses to
learn and adopt is crucial.
We here at WorldPay arecommitted to developing payment
solutions that help businessesnavigate these challenges,
ensuring they thrive in thisever-evolving market.
Rob Ward (18:38):
I think just to add to that in the UK, particularly
the SMBs biggest employer, theymake up the biggest share of the
economy and so actually beingable to support them when you
think about the crunch they'vehad through the rising costs in
recent years that they've had toovercome.
You look beyond the data andyou meet them.
You meet the people who arestarting businesses with funding
(19:02):
from family and friends andthere's a lot at risk for them.
When you look at the businesseshanded down from generation to
generation and are enteringe-commerce for the first time,
it's a real privilege to beworking for them, incredibly
motivating to be focused onproducing solutions for them.
So I think we've got a reallyexciting future ahead.
Greg Myers (19:20):
Well, thank you both for your time today.
I know that your time is veryvaluable.
I really appreciate you beinghere and again, thank you so
much for being on the show today.
Thanks, greg.
Thanks, greg, and to all yourlisteners out there, I thank you
for your time as well, anduntil the next story.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Thank you for tuning in today to this special series
on e-commerce brought to you byWorldPay.
To learn more about WorldPayand their e-commerce solutions,
please visit wwwworldpaycom.
Slash en-gb.
Slash worldpay dash e-commerce.
Thank you at the heart of great e-commerce
experiences globally, whetheryou are just starting out or
upscaling your business, we'lldiscuss current and future
trends in the UK e-commercelandscape and dive into merchant
pain points and world paysolutions.
Additionally, our experts willtouch on actionable strategies
(00:39):
and tips to help your businessthrive online.
Greg Myers (00:44):
Hi everyone, this is Greg Myers, the host of the
Leaders in Payments podcast.
Today we have two specialguests joining the show Chintan
Gandhi, director of StrategicPlanning and Go-To-Market, and
Rob Ward, product DirectorEcommerce from WorldPay.
So welcome to the show andespecially welcome to this
special collaboration betweenthe Leaders in Pay payments and
WorldPay.
(01:04):
So in this episode, we'll bediscussing the SMB e-commerce
landscape.
So thank you both.
So much for being here today.
Hi Greg, it's great to be here.
Chintan Gandhi (01:14):
Great to be with you, Greg.
Greg Myers (01:16):
So let's go ahead and dive in Chintan.
Let's start with you.
If you don't mind, tell ouraudience a little bit about
yourself, maybe where you grewup, where you went to school,
where you currently live, a fewthings like that and if you can
touch a little on yourprofessional journey as well.
Chintan Gandhi (01:29):
Yeah, sure, I actually grew up and did my
schooling in India and thenmoved to the UK to pursue my
master's MBA.
I currently live inHertfordshire, which is just
outside London.
On the professional front, Iworked in the payment space for
almost 15 years in various rolesacross business strategy,
partnerships, businessdevelopment, product management
(01:50):
and, more recently, I've beenleading on the go-to-market and
commercialization of ourstrategic solutions for WorldPay
.
Greg Myers (01:56):
Okay, great, rob, over to you.
Rob Ward (01:58):
Yes, I grew up in rural England, in a small town
in the countryside, I found myway to university to study
geography.
When I finished there I thoughtabout a career in law.
So I was working for a law firm, did my law diploma and then
found an advert to work inpayment for a merchant.
So I joined that business andmanaged relationships with
acquirers and payment gatewaysand really got into it and
(02:21):
wanted to learn more, wanted toexplore more of that career.
So then I joined Wellpay justover 10 years ago, worked across
operations, technical pre-salesimplementation over those years
and most recently moving intoproduct leadership role on the
SMB commerce side.
So yeah, that's been my timeand recently just finished my
MBA at Cranfield University aswell.
Greg Myers (02:42):
So never ended up going the law direction.
Rob Ward (02:51):
No, I think I felt at the time that it was going to be
a lot of work to be successful.
And I looked at payments and Ithought I think this is going to
be really exciting.
I think there's going to be alot in this.
So I've made the change and I'mreally pleased that I did,
because every day you learnsomething new in this industry,
so it's been really exciting.
Greg Myers (03:03):
Yeah, payments is a great space to be in.
I've been in it close to 20years, so definitely is a
passion of mine.
Chintan, I think most of ouraudience will know who WorldPay
is and what you do, but if youdon't mind, can you tell our
audience in your own words alittle about WorldPay?
Chintan Gandhi (03:19):
Yeah, sure, I'd love to give a quick overview.
Worldpay is actually a globalleader in payments, powering
businesses of all sizes, fromsmall and medium-sized
businesses to large globalenterprises, enabling them to
process payments in a seamless,reliable way, whether it's
payment processing online orin-store, or through mobile,
worldpay sits at the heart ofmany great commerce experiences
(03:42):
that we encounter in ourday-to-day life today.
What really stands out aboutWorldPay is our ability to meet
our customers' business needswhen it comes to payments
processing with the solutionsthat are designed to support
each stage of their growth.
For small and medium-sizedbusinesses especially, worldpay
offers innovative andeasy-to-use, easy-to-implement
(04:02):
payment solutions that reallyhelp them thrive.
But when it comes to the keythings around WorldPay, it's
beyond technology and solutions.
What really makes WorldPayspecial is our global reach and
a diverse team of experts behindthe scenes who bring a wide
variety of perspectives to solvepayment challenges and create
seamless commerce experiencesfor everyone.
Greg Myers (04:24):
Great, let's go ahead and dive into the topic.
Rob this question's for you.
Let's start at a high level,maybe the 50,000-foot level.
How do you define e-commerce?
Especially in the context ofthis series that we're doing
together?
How would you define e-commerce?
Rob Ward (04:40):
Yeah, it's a really good question.
I think, with a lot ofdefinitions and concepts,
particularly in payments, theanswer can be a little bit
elusive.
But I think if you look at thehistory of the development of
e-commerce, particularly in theSMB space, let's go back 30
years and payments was reallykind of a process that just
happened at the end of a verycomplicated flow on a website.
(05:02):
In its infancy it was justpurely about catching card data
and submitting that into apayment gateway or acquirer and
very kind of basic and that'sprobably what you saw as
e-commerce back then.
But I think, certainly in thelast 10 years, what we've seen
emerge there is a whole seriesof different channels where
e-commerce can take place.
It's not just on websites.
It's on payment links thatbusinesses kind of generate and
(05:25):
send out, whether it's for aspecific service that they've
provided, but also then intokind of that emerging trend that
we're seeing where SMBs areincreasingly using the social
media platforms to be the placewhere they engage with their
consumers.
So I think in terms of adefinition, it's all
encompassing of all of that kindof online activity that happens
(05:45):
.
It's not just about taking thepayment, it's about how do you
generate the interest and thedemand for your brand through
marketing activity, through tooptimizing your website checkout
conversion and then through toprocessing those payments as
well.
So it's a whole kind ofecosystem now that's developed
and I think for SMBs now to besuccessful online, it takes a
(06:07):
lot for them to navigate thatspace and they need the right
set of partners to be successful.
Greg Myers (06:12):
Chintan.
Anything you'd like to add tothat, I'll say that the way I
would define.
Chintan Gandhi (06:15):
E-commerce is much more than just buying and
selling online.
It's a connected ecosystemwhere businesses and consumers
can interact seamlessly acrossborders, time zones and devices.
It's the engine that powers thedigital economy, and its impact
is profound on us, not just forbusinesses, but all of us
consumers in the day-to-day life, in terms of how we operate
(06:36):
today.
Greg Myers (06:37):
Sure, chintan, we'll stay with you.
What is the current state ofe-commerce in the UK?
Chintan Gandhi (06:42):
E-commerce in the UK is at an incredibly
dynamic state right now.
Uk has been one of the leadingmarkets for e-commerce.
The pandemic shifted theconsumer behavior overnight and
really accelerated thee-commerce growth in the UK.
People who might have beenhesitant about shopping online
to the businesses who werehesitant on trading online
(07:03):
suddenly had to embrace it, andthat shift has stuck with us
ever since.
Today, e-commerce isn't justabout growing your business.
In fact, it's embedded in theway the UK businesses and
consumers operate every day.
The rise of e-commerce in the UKis really transforming the
industries across differentverticals and how businesses
operate.
It's no longer just about thebrick and mortar stores having
(07:26):
to capture their customer base,growing sales and revenue.
It's about delivering thatend-to-end experiences, both in
terms of in-store and e-commerce.
A lot of businesses are havingto now incorporate AI-driven
recommendations to enhance theircustomer experiences.
I believe in the UK wecurrently are at the forefront
of e-commerce transformation,which is significantly boosting
(07:50):
our economy.
E-commerce is no longer just anadd-on but an integral part of
most of the businesses in termsof how they operate and trade.
Greg Myers (07:57):
Yeah, a quick follow-up to that Curious like
here in the US one of the mainshifts at least that COVID drove
, I think was people buyingcurbside from restaurants and
pickup, and maybe oldergenerations here in the US who
never really bought from arestaurant online or on a mobile
device.
That has become huge today.
(08:19):
You see more people, it seemslike, picking up food at
curbside than you do sometimeseven going in the restaurant.
So, just using restaurants asan example, I mean, do you see
that same thing happening therein the UK?
Chintan Gandhi (08:30):
Yes, absolutely, Especially in the hospitality
and the restaurant sectors,having that presence online
alongside your main store orrestaurant environment.
It's not only just anadditional add-on, as I said
earlier, it's become an integralpart.
Most restaurants these dayswant to operate online.
They want to increase their orgrow their customer outreach to
(08:52):
be able to deliver thatexperience online, over the
phone, through virtual terminals, etc.
It's a crucial part of how theygrow their customer base and
increase revenue.
I think just to add in there, ifI can, I think it's amazing how
entrepreneurial businesses arebeing about the opportunity of
e-commerce the typical flow ofbricks to clicks.
(09:12):
Stores like you've justdescribed, traditional
restaurants even if it's justthe local pub in the countryside
even they're now engaging ine-commerce.
They're making sure that theycan allow people to purchase
food and drink and go and pickit up pre-order it.
There's so many of those thingsthat are happening now and I
think how that's kind ofchanging the market a little bit
(09:34):
is that you're seeing anincreasing amount of
verticalized SaaS softwareproviders who are helping to
solve a lot of those pain points, and so I think, as a payments
solution provider, it's reallyimportant that we play a role in
that ecosystem and have thosepartnerships and connectivity to
really solve those problems.
For SMB merchants and youmentioned mobile wallets the UK
(09:58):
market is increasingly important.
It's over 50% of transactionsnow being checked out using
mobile wallets and that's justan emerging trend.
We see so many of our merchantswanting to take Apple Pay and
Google Pay for their paymentsand that's a really strong
emerging trend, absolutely.
Greg Myers (10:17):
So, rob, let's stick with you.
What would you say are maybethe top three pain points that
merchants have today?
Rob Ward (10:23):
We spend a lot of time thinking about this in
designing our solutions and ourproducts for SMB merchants.
Really try and get into thedetail of what are those pain
points, what are the things thatwe can help make life easier
for SMBs?
And I think the first one itcomes out kind of top of mind in
all of the market research thatwe do is fraud and insecurity.
It's making sure that yourtransactions are secure from
(10:47):
fraudsters, making sure that theintegration that you're using
is secure from anyone who'sgoing to try and hack your
system, etc.
And so I think that really iskind of top of mind for a lot of
merchants.
And, of course, you've got tomake sure that you keep on top
of fraud, because it's bad foryour brand, bad for your
reputation as a business.
If you get hit by that.
(11:07):
That can really do a lot ofdamage to businesses,
particularly when they're alittle bit smaller, I think.
Then, going into the second, Ithink it's then really about
cash flow, access to cash.
It's cost of living crisis,particularly within Europe, has
been keenly felt by businesses.
It's pushed up a lot ofoperating costs for them.
Cash flow is even moreimportant.
(11:29):
So making sure that you've gotnot just a quick assessment
timeline but also the companythat's providing you with that
liquidity is reliable and isconstantly able to make those
assessments too.
So I think that's second, andthen I think third is kind of
that conversion game making surethat once you spend all of that
money trying to drive theactivity towards your website
(11:51):
and then making sure that youmake the most of that, people
can find the products that theywant on your website.
You provide a really easy,convenient way to then check out
and that checkout experiencereally smooth, offers the
payment methods that arerelevant for those shoppers.
So I think for me those are mytop three.
Greg Myers (12:08):
Okay, chintan, anything you'd add?
Chintan Gandhi (12:10):
to that?
Yeah, the only thing I wouldlike to that is the complexity
in payment integration.
What I mean by that is manybusinesses, especially the SMB
businesses, struggle withintegrating their solution to
the payment processing solutionthrough the different platforms
they use today.
They need to adopt to asolution, or they generally seek
to a solution that is easy toset up, scalable and flexible to
(12:32):
handle various payment methodsthat they want to adopt for
their business and thereforethat end consumers.
Greg Myers (12:38):
Okay, great.
So, rob, if you don't mind,will you touch on some of the
solutions that WorldPay has?
That helps maybe address someof those pain points you
mentioned, sure.
Rob Ward (13:09):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, if we're taking thatfirst one, that top of mind
globally, and it's bringing theinsights of those emerging fraud
trends to SMBs who otherwisewouldn't have access to that
type of data, that type ofinsight, so that's proven to be
a really important tool for ourSMBs on our e-com solution.
And then, secondly, it'sensuring that you're adhering to
(13:31):
the emerging regulations aroundstrong customer authentication.
We've had PST2 in the EU and inthe UK.
There's a lot of then rulesplaced upon merchants to ensure
that they're doing the rightthings when they're processing
transactions.
So our 3DS Flex product it'sbuilt in again into our e-com
solution for SMBs and it helpsmake sure that customers are
authenticated as they'rechecking out on our merchant
(13:53):
websites.
So a combination of those twoare really powerful to help
secure our merchant websites.
I think then you know, touchingon kind of the second one
around cash flow, there we prideourselves on making sure that
we settle on time to ourmerchants and we offer a T plus
one settlement for our SMBe-commerce merchants and we
focus a lot on making sure thatwe're calculating those
(14:16):
settlements right, that thatsettlement is sent on time to
merchants so they receive thefunds that they're owed and they
can operate as a business.
I think kind of getting intothat fourth one around checkout
conversion, but also the ease ofintegration that Shintan
mentioned as well.
Our integration point for SMBsfor e-commerce is using our
hosted payment pages and ourhosted payment pages.
There's a really kind of simpleAPI for SMBs to integrate into
(14:40):
we offer plugin connectivity onthat as well platform of choice
that they're using.
They can easily integrate thosehosted payment pages into that
and then it makes it reallysmooth then in terms of the
checkout journey.
So try and make sure that thosepages simple as possible, easy
and intuitive to understand.
Merchants can also fullycustomize those pages as well.
(15:00):
So that really helps people whohave spent a lot of time and
effort building their brand out.
The last thing that they wantto do is go from their website,
have a hosted payment page in aniframe or in a page redirect
and for then that to be in thebrand of the payments company.
So it's really important thatthey have the opportunity to
customize that to look and feel,because it isn't just really
(15:23):
large enterprises that are nowspending money and time and
effort on their brandIncreasingly.
You see that in the SMB spaceas well.
So it's really important forthe merchants to be able to do
that.
Greg Myers (15:38):
Great Chintan over to you.
This is sort of a two-partquestion.
Can you speak to the future ofe-commerce for small businesses
in the UK?
That's sort of part one thefuture of e-commerce and then a
little at least what you canshare about WorldPay's strategy.
Chintan Gandhi (15:47):
Yeah, sure, Looking at the future of
e-commerce for SMBs in the UK,the way I see it, is a few key
trends that are shaping up thelandscape.
First, multi-channel andomni-channel experience that
would be essential.
We look at small and mediumbusinesses.
It's really important for themto ensure customers can move
effortlessly between online,in-store and offline
(16:10):
interactions with their business, offering a convenience and
flexibility at every step.
Second, personalization isgoing to be a game changer.
By leveraging customer insightsand a data-driven approach,
businesses can create tailoredexperiences that build customer
loyalty and drive more sales.
And third, I think, is the AIand digital transformation that
(16:35):
will play a pivotal role andit's a must-have for any
business.
Moving forward From automatingprocesses to enhancing customer
experiences, AI will helpbusinesses improve efficiency
and innovate in ways that keepthem competitive in an
ever-increasing digital world.
And as for WorldPay strategy,we are committed to developing
(16:57):
innovative payment solutionsenabling businesses of all sizes
to grow and, especially withe-commerce, we want to deliver
an experience that truly goesbeyond payments for both our
customers and partners.
Greg Myers (17:10):
Rob anything you want to add to that.
Rob Ward (17:12):
Yeah, I mean, I think the really interesting trends
that I think we're going to seegrow a lot more in the future is
the social commerce side of thethings.
It's SMBs leveraging the socialmedia platforms, like I
mentioned earlier, and I thinkthere's so much still to do
there in terms of producingsolutions that really work well
within that ecosystem, andthat's a really exciting trend
(17:34):
that we need to get our headsaround and make sure that we've
got the right set of solutionsto support that emerging trend.
I think in terms of strategy tosupport that, today we support
our customers no matter whatchannel they're coming in from
whether it's store, whether it'se-com, whether it's virtual
terminal and so we're going tofocus on making sure that we're
supporting customers whicheverchannel that they want to pay
(17:56):
through.
Greg Myers (17:57):
Chintan, Rob and for the listeners out there, this
is sort of episode one of fiveepisodes in this series where
we're going to be doing, infuture episodes, a deeper dive
on a lot of those things that wetalked about today.
So this is kind of setting thestage for the rest of the series
.
Before we close out the showtoday, just wanted to see if
Chintan, you or Rob haveanything else you'd like to add
(18:17):
before we wrap up.
Chintan Gandhi (18:19):
Yes, greg.
I would like to conclude bysaying that, in this rapidly
changing e-commerce landscape,the ability for businesses to
learn and adopt is crucial.
We here at WorldPay arecommitted to developing payment
solutions that help businessesnavigate these challenges,
ensuring they thrive in thisever-evolving market.
Rob Ward (18:38):
I think just to add to that in the UK, particularly
the SMBs biggest employer, theymake up the biggest share of the
economy and so actually beingable to support them when you
think about the crunch they'vehad through the rising costs in
recent years that they've had toovercome.
You look beyond the data andyou meet them.
You meet the people who arestarting businesses with funding
(19:02):
from family and friends andthere's a lot at risk for them.
When you look at the businesseshanded down from generation to
generation and are enteringe-commerce for the first time,
it's a real privilege to beworking for them, incredibly
motivating to be focused onproducing solutions for them.
So I think we've got a reallyexciting future ahead.
Greg Myers (19:20):
Well, thank you both for your time today.
I know that your time is veryvaluable.
I really appreciate you beinghere and again, thank you so
much for being on the show today.
Thanks, greg.
Thanks, greg, and to all yourlisteners out there, I thank you
for your time as well, anduntil the next story.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Thank you for tuning in today to this special series
on e-commerce brought to you byWorldPay.
To learn more about WorldPayand their e-commerce solutions,
please visit wwwworldpaycom.
Slash en-gb.
Slash worldpay dash e-commerce.
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