Financial art – who would’ve thought it? There’s a lot to be told in history (stating the obvious much?). As a team of innovators, we always find ourselves using the past as a great way to gain retrospective clarity. People often underestimate how much the past can guide our future. We believe in disrupting tomorrow, but how do you know you’ve disrupted something if you can’t compare it to what you saw yesterday. Just call us the Plato of fintech. We jest, of course.
Our Chief Customer Officer, Irene Skrynova, has provided current insight into the world of ecommerce for any merchant trying to disrupt the market. In order to better serve our merchants to bring them closer to the payments of tomorrow, we’ve created a guide on how to make the most of online shopping events. Connecting each of the tips to a renowned piece of art, Unlimit is continuing to bring relevant and useful information in fresh and engaging formats.
Observation: In the 1840s, merchants began trading stocks more widely, with guidebooks about stocks and speculations being published to Wall Street. Popular tips and ticks were adopted by merchants, with an often volatile pathway to profits.
Moving on to the artwork itself, we see a frustrated merchant in Stocks Down pulling out his hair and scrunching up a leaflet called “The Art of Making a Fortune in 2 Hours”. See the flustered look? Yeah. That’s because really, there is no ‘art’ of making a fortune in 2 hours, and as industry experts who work with other commercial experts, we know the value of knowing your market over an explosive and unprepared entry to market. We say this to show you that tailoring your product is underrated.
Take a look into the geographical influence of products and even culturally significant events to better understand what people want to see; and then progress onto studying local payment preferences. While we’d like to guarantee you success within 2 hours, we simply can’t. But we can guarantee that taking a local approach to learning about your target markets will reap a consistent upward trajectory. Things to look into include focusing on social elements such as significant holidays, ways in which people handle their money, how people like to shop, etc. Showing your brand cares about its shoppers will increase brand loyalty from customers.
Known as the Roman goddess of Wealth, and luck, Fortuna derived from fortune. In the work of art above, we see people on Fortuna’s wheel of fortune, clambering to the top. The blindfold on Fortuna’s eyes is symbolic of the element of ‘luck’ associated to wealth. The ancient world and medieval Europe often tied wealth and luck together, so if you had one then you had both. It was believed that riches were accumulated as a result of luck. Well… we know now that wealth can be managed and planned (sorry, Fortuna). Planning is key to success and also partnering with a payment service provider which is scalable to grow alongside your business.
When Unlimit talks about ‘planning ahead’, it’s more than just upcoming events and the right promotional offer (even though they are important too). We also refer to partnering with the right payment provider which has stackable technology and grows with innovations. As a merchant, it’s key to choose a company which truly understands your vision and have the insight into the markets you’re penetrating in order to maximise each event. With so much competition it goes beyond looking forward at the next calendar of events, although that’s important too. Moreover, consider the changes perceived through each generation, because the transition of payment methods moves in tandem with generational shifts. In order for a successful merchant to ensure themselves of revenue growth in a future trajectory, a key element would be to observe the transition in payment methods. I.e., younger generations are more inclined to adapt to mobile wallets and turn to the ease of methods such as Apple/Google pay. Whereas mature generations place heavy precedence on cards which have available funds and are cautious of secure check out processes. Due diligence should be placed on ensuring that the payment provider you partner with is forward thinking and innovative in considering each of these angles, and beyond.
Compared to our earlier Stocks Down, we’re shown a smugly faced man holding onto a paper referencing the sales at the stock exchange bulletin. We see him wearing jewellery and layers of thick material, as he puffs out his chest. Pure ego!
But what does this show us? Well, on the surface level we’re seeing a merchant soaring to success and reaping the rewards of his riches as he successfully grows his stocks. However, the saying goes “you’re nothing without your supporters” – and it’s true! It’s true for any business that success is the dream, but thinking forward, Irene pleads for merchants to invest into celebrating loyal customers. Loyalty schemes such as promotional codes, vouchers, and loyalty points which are redeemable encourage customer return and reduce cart abandonment. 86% of consumers said that a personalised offer plays an important part of their purchasing decisions. Unlimit’s Chief Customer Officer advises that making customers feel their value and are also reaping rewards, not only increases purchase power but builds on brand loyalty. A great opportunity to offer these incentives is post-transaction for offering future discounts, that may be time sensitive. Additionally coming back to our earlier point of truly knowing your customer, celebrating important national events with online discounts and free shipping is an inclusive way of rewarding and retaining customers.
We’re presented with a realistic creation of three Dutch merchants, smoking cigars and wearing luxurious clothes as they overlook a map. Planning world domination perhaps? (just kidding!) The riches on their backs and luxurious garments suggest that they’re not only wealthy merchants but are now seeking to push their success overseas to pastures new.
Irene’s journey in customer success has shown her the importance of global outreach and penetration. She advises that merchants take the approach that you would in your native country – think locally. Understanding local distributors and payment preferences can be time consuming, especially if you want to launch to market with haste. That’s why partnering with a payment service provider is a quick way to speed your business to international markets, with the assurance that they have their feet on the ground at a local level.
Using the knowledge of local markets and leveraging an expert who has their feet on the ground within those communities is a great way for ecommerce businesses to uplift their presence with a clear immersion into the culture and community. This ties in nicely with our point about truly knowing your customer – what are their national celebrations, where do they shop, when do they shop, where do they look to buy, and so much more. But we understand that for both budding and well-established merchants that this investment in time can be a cause for concern. Hence why partnering with the right payment service provider, like Unlimit, enables flexibility in payment methods internationally, so that your business is ready to serve customers, the way they want to be.
Observing this knowledge-thirsty gentleman, we see him reading two books at once whilst also balancing other books between his legs and arms. Whilst we don’t necessarily mean that we want merchants to hit the library to absorb info, because we understand how quickly consumer behaviour and trends evolve in our modern, tech-driven world, there’s still something to be said.
Data will provide opportunity to predict trends, identify opportunities and make the most of market opportunities. Irene and the Unlimit experts place huge emphasis on the need for an ecommerce store to proactively process data, which can be used to enhance customer experience. If your business isn’t set up to provide this, consider partnering with a payment service provider. Unlimit, for example, has a user-friendly interface which sits behind your product whilst giving you insight to customer behaviour and impact the way merchants sell. Interacting internationally will mean juggling different markets and catering to differing shopping events, which can all be supported with factual information from your own ecommerce business. Much like our bookworm, merchants should evaluate which shopping events are of high popularity, and which need a better sense of direction.
Continual data evaluation will not only help prepare you for upcoming trends and changes which you can see taking place, but also engaging with your customers. Transactional data is a great way to further enhance personalisation for consumers. For example, a customer who was to leave a site without a purchase could receive a retargeted advert back to your site. 26% of shoppers will click on a retargeted ad and is proof that we know what we’re talking about!
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