Roundtable in London’s West-End sees leading eCommerce players discuss the vital role payment processing plays in online success 

London, 20th October 2010 – Chase Paymentech Europe Limited, a leading merchant acquirer and payment processor, was joined recently by representatives from some of the UK’s largest online merchants to discuss how the payment landscape is changing across Europe. The roundtable attendees debated future trends and methods to secure new revenue streams including expansion into new markets.

The event, held at Gordon Ramsay’s Claridges restaurant in the heart of London’s West End, was chaired by Shane Fitzpatrick, President and Managing Director of Chase Paymentech Europe Limited. A guest speaker at the event was Salman Rasool, Finance Director at lowcostholidays.com, one of the UK’s top providers of hotels and packaged holidays. Rasool presented on taking advantage of the online market, which is forecast to deliver sales of as much as £21.3bn by 2011.*     

In addition to discussing the opportunities that the online retail channel provides, the group debated how to operate in a highly competitive market and how to introduce new currency options to support merchants’ expansion objectives. Another topic addressed how to improve the service provided to customers while staying competitive and complying with the latest regulations.

“The event was a huge success. I was particularly pleased that we had such a positive discussion covering some of the most critical issues facing merchants today. E-commerce remains the most profitable channel for merchants but the market needs to understand that trading online, especially internationally, comes with a number of challenges that need to be overcome,” said Fitzpatrick.

“In high volume transaction sectors like the leisure industry, deploying the right payments solution is critical. Inefficient payment systems can cause downtime, reduce shopping cart conversion rates and prevent consumers from paying in their chosen currency.  If not addressed appropriately, any one of these factors can make the difference between winning or losing customers. Our requirements included a single payment system enabled in multiple markets, across a range of currencies, provided by a partner who could help us identify cost savings”, concluded Salman Rasool, Finance Director at lowcostholidays.com.

Chase Paymentech’s unique combination of outstanding service and innovative solutions offers solid benefits to companies both large and small. By choosing to work with Chase Paymentech, merchants can transact in over 130 different currencies and settle in 12, with added benefits including fraud screening for card not present transactions.  By switching to a single source provider, merchants can also realise benefits attributed to trading in multiple countries without the need for multiple acquirers.