… Payment Service Provider (PSP) Computop works with Joules to expand online and telephone order payment options…

London, United Kingdom – 26 February 2014 - Computop, a leading payment service provider (PSP), has announced it is working with Joules to extend its payment capabilities and widen the choice of payment methods available to customers both home and abroad. In addition to processing all card payments globally, the partnership will also expand the payment options open to Joules’ customers within Germany. This will enable customers from within Germany to choose from a wide range of local options, including Electronic Direct Debit, Open Invoice, Automated Bank to Bank Transfers via giropay and PayPal.

This is a key development for the British clothing brand as, whilst credit cards are already the predominant payment choice in the UK, the preference amongst German consumers for direct debits and invoices has historically limited the success of some UK retailers when moving into this major market. In fact, a recent survey[1] by Market Research firm Forsa shows that ‘Payment on Account’ is the most commonly used payment method for online shopping in Germany. Not less than 58% of the online customers order online and pay afterwards via invoice. Credit card usage lags behind (34% use MasterCard, VISA or American Express).

 “On deciding that we wanted to expand our payment footprint internationally,” commented James Davey, Director of E-commerce, at Joules, “we began a journey of discovery, speaking to a number of payment service providers about the options open to us. We chose Computop’s Paygate 5.0 solution because it enables Joules to dramatically expand the payment options available for our overseas customers and in particular, for markets like Germany, where alternatives to cards are preferred by consumers.

“In addition we are using Computop’s tokenization functionality which is helping to simplify the buying process for retuning customers, and Computop’s fraud protection tools, which we expect will dramatically reduce overseas fraud.” concluded Davey.

Ralf Gladis, CEO at Computop explained, “There have been significant developments in the German payments market recently that has made payment on account a more attractive option for international retailers. A number of Open Invoice companies like BillPay and Klarna will now guarantee payment on behalf of the consumer, subject to a credit check, and mitigate the risk of default for the merchant.”

He continued, “This has encouraged British retailers to consider Germany - and its 41 million online shoppers - as a key strategic market for expansion.”

As a part of the hybris Extend Programme, Computop has developed an integral, fully supported and certified plug-in for the hybris eCommerce platform, hybris Commerce Suite. This powerful tool set allows Computop to develop different platforms for different markets and is key for Joules’ international expansion plans due to its customizability.

The service will also provide a fraud prevention module, which verifies the IP address of the computer against the origin of the credit card. Computop will identify if the internet connection is via satellite or through an anonymous proxy server in order to warn Joules or decline high risk transactions.

[1]Survey by market research firm Forsa on Germany’s consumer payment preferences