The days of the physical loyalty card are long gone. People’s shopping habits have evolved, from selecting from an array of cards in a wallet or purse, to now tapping their watch or phone to a terminal and in a matter of seconds a transaction is made. Today’s consumer is so accustomed to quick and easy mobile payments.

Merchants are doing a good job at keeping up when it comes to payment preferences, but many are overlooking the benefits that virtual loyalty schemes can provide. Physical loyalty cards are cumbersome when you have everything else on one device, so they often end up left at home. This leaves customers missing out on great deals, and merchants losing a prime opportunity to reinforce brand loyalty and collect vital customer data.

Furthermore, 75% of shoppers have confirmed they would engage with such schemes if they were available on their smartphone – a huge margin retailers are missing out on if they don’t have an appropriate system. However, there is technology available to make this happen quickly and easily.

With online shopping and deliveries making the retail experience more convenient, consumers are becoming increasingly happy to shop cross-border. Essentially, there are less barriers to them doing so, and being able to spread their search across countries means that they have a wider range of options when it comes to their purchases.

This is good news for retailers, because it means that their customer base is no longer restricted to one area. They may find that customers are more frequently ordering overseas, meaning that their products are reaching more people and creating a demand across the globe.

However, while cross-border purchases can present a whole host of opportunities for retailers, many don’t know how to cash in on these as they don’t have the right systems in place to process payments from far and wide. What’s more, cross-border payments can present a lot of new costs and overheads which can make businesses unsure if cross-border payments are an opportunity worth pursuing.

So, here are a few ways to make sure you’re making the most of cross-border opportunities.

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