Ahead of showcasing the company’s all−in-one payment solution at this year’s Retail Technology Show, Payment Expert Madara Antanaviča from Exactly.com explains how e-commerce businesses can improve conversions and reduce acquisition costs while scaling in the UK and beyond.
Retailers are facing ongoing pressure to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. How can Exactly.com’s payment infrastructure help achieve these goals without compromising customer experience?
Let’s take Shein and Temu as bad examples of merchants that have drawn a lot of criticism and even legal action for their controversial e-commerce practices. We believe that it’s important to stay responsible towards the end consumer and take into account that some shoppers are less tech-savvy than others.
With that being said, we also recognise that e-commerce retailers are under immense pressure and dealing with an increasingly competitive market. Acquisition costs have skyrocketed in recent years—in some cases by over 200%. In addition, up to half of UK businesses plan to prioritise AI over hiring new staff due to increasing tax bills.
To maximise revenue and lower acquisition costs, it’s vital to acknowledge that customer experience is closely tied to checkout conversion rates. Research shows that up to 59% of customers would abandon an online shopping cart if their preferred payment method wasn’t available. For that reason, Exactly.com helps online retailers implement all of the local and global payment methods that consumers prefer, including Google Pay, Apple Pay and multiple popular European options.
Do you think some e-commerce merchants underestimate the importance of IT and business support after the initial onboarding stage?
Yes, and this can be problematic if issues appear further down the line, but can also impact time to market and therefore costs. Exactly.com strongly believes that tailored solutions combined with individual IT support and Key Account Managers really can make a huge difference—especially to small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses that are often underserved by payment providers.
How does Exactly.com address the specific challenges faced by omnichannel e-commerce retailers when it comes to their payment systems?
Today’s online businesses must offer a frictionless payment experience across all channels—from websites used by desktop and mobile users, to apps, social media, and even messengers.
The first challenge faced by e-commerce merchants is the need to offer trustworthy, branded and personalised payment experiences. The second is providing a unified experience that not only works across all devices and channels but also offers all of the payment methods customers prefer.
For social media and messengers, payment links offer a smooth, simple solution. If properly implemented, payment links leading to a hosted checkout page will feel like a natural extension of a business’s website. Recognisable branding and security badges offer a greater degree of trust, whilst tokenisation takes care of any security concerns.
All of those things are important because when it comes to mediums like social media, there’s a readiness gap between businesses and consumers. While businesses are willing to allocate resources and invest in social e-commerce, the degree of customer readiness for social media purchases doesn’t always match up.
Once a customer has arrived on a payment page, they should be able to pay via card, e-wallet, direct debit, local bank transfer or indeed any preferred payment payment option. It’s important to remember that major international card brands are not the first choice for all customers, especially in many European countries. Therefore, it’s vital to ensure that popular local payment methods—as well as global options such as Apple Pay and Google Pay— are available at the checkout to reduce friction and boost conversion.
With retail fraud and chargebacks on the rise—especially online—how does exactly.com support retailers in managing risk and ensuring secure transactions?
Chargebacks are a huge problem for online retailers, with up to £128 million lost to so-called “friendly fraud” each year in the UK alone. The key to mitigating chargebacks is to address both dispute prevention and revenue recovery to keep ratios within acceptable ranges and to help merchants recover funds that would otherwise have been lost during the dispute process.
Speaking of fraud, including the “’friendly” type, it’s usually best to uncover any suspicious activity before it’s too late. To that end, Exactly.com uses a multi-layered approach: Customisable anti-fraud tools are backed by human expertise to check suspicious activity. The goal is to detect fraud whilst ensuring legitimate transactions aren’t declined.
How important is it for retailers to offer popular payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Open Banking and other localised options?
Offering a personalised and flexible checkout is paramount for modern e-commerce retailers. However, small to medium businesses are often hesitant to implement the full range of payment methods because they perceive it as complex or expensive. That isn’t necessarily the case, and omitting options like Apple Pay and Google Pay can be a huge mistake, as customers will go elsewhere if they can’t see their preferred or trusted payment methods.
Failing to understand country-specific payment habits is another common error when selling across borders. Many companies incorrectly assume that things like debit cards are just as popular across Europe as they are in the UK. However, if a British company decides to enter the Portuguese market, for example, they may be unaware of the popularity of Multibanco or MB Way.
Exactly.com’s experts are well-versed in a wide variety of local and regional payment methods, as well as Open Banking, which allows businesses to gain access to the majority of UK and European banks via single integration, giving them a hassle-free way to accept cross-border payments.
For independent or smaller retailers with limited internal tech teams, how easy is it to integrate Exactly.com’s platform into existing systems or e-commerce platforms?
Exactly.com’s platform effortlessly connects to all major e-commerce platforms. We have ready-to-go plugins for Magento, WooCommerce, Wix, and more, plus hosted payment pages and payment links that offer a truly zero-code solution. For businesses looking for greater customisation options, our powerful API integration offers huge scope for expansion.
However merchants choose to connect to our platform, they gain access to a comprehensive infrastructure for payments and payouts, as well as 150+ alternative payment methods and easy connections to all UK banks using Open Banking—all via a single integration backed by full technical support.
Data and customer insights are critical for personalised retail. How does Exactly.com help retailers extract meaningful insights from payment data without breaching privacy regulations?
I briefly mentioned tokenization. This technology is the key to keeping customer data safe and ensuring regulations are met. The process involves replacing sensitive transaction data with a random, non-sensitive token, adding an extra layer of security that helps to safeguard the customer. Tokenization also provides a faster, smoother checkout experience, as it can be used to save customer card details securely for the purpose of one-click payments.
When it comes to personified retail, Exactly.com’s intuitive dashboard provides data‐rich insights and core metrics that allow business owners to create strategies backed by real numbers. I should again mention our personalised support, including payment experts and key account managers who are invested in helping merchants succeed and expand.
Can you share an example of a retailer who has seen measurable results—such as increased conversion or reduced abandonment rates—after switching to Exactly.com’s solution?
I can think of several examples. The first is a merchant that was using payment links. He believed that by only allowing the links to stay active for 10 minutes, it would create a sense of scarcity and motivate customers to make a purchase. In reality, we knew it didn’t work that way.
Our experts advised the business owner to increase the time window and alleviate some of the pressure from potential customers. The result was a notable boost to conversion and a corresponding increase in revenue.
We also had a positive experience at last year’s retail event. A business owner stopped by our booth and explained that he was unhappy with his current provider. His business was growing but he felt that his payment processing fees were too high.
As a UK trader, we onboarded him very quickly and smoothly, including taking care of any compliance issues. We immediately added Google Pay and Apple Pay to improve his checkout experience and assisted in setting up an EU entity after noting that 50% of traffic was coming from Europe. With local acquiring in place, we managed to cut processing fees by 30-40%, which in turn led to a 27% reduction in overall costs. Sometimes small changes can make a big difference!
Overall, we see the impact of our expertise in driving higher acceptance rates and increasing e-commerce revenues as a result. On average, we can boost acceptance rates by up to 19.3%, and sometimes even higher.
Exactly.com’s team takes a hands-on, proactive approach to improving conversion rates and financial flows. Merchants might not understand the payment preferences and best practices of the markets they plan on expanding into, but our experts do, and they work tirelessly to help e-commerce businesses grow.
You’re exhibiting at the Retail Technology Show this year. What can retailers expect to see from Exactly.com at your stand? Will there be any live demos or product showcases?
Exactly.com connects merchants and consumers, providing businesses with the tools to achieve their goals while ensuring a seamless and customer-centric experience.
We’ll be showcasing our all-in-one payment solution that enables smooth transactions, reduces cart abandonment, and enhances regulatory compliance. From one-click payments and an ever-expanding portfolio of payment methods to full customisation options via our single powerful API, retailers will experience Exactly.com’s full suite of solutions that unlock business growth.
But most of all, Retail Technology Show visitors will also get to meet Exactly.com’s payment experts and experience first-hand our exceptional technical and business support that’s ready to answer any question, at any time.
Looking ahead, how do you see the role of payment platforms evolving in the retail industry over the next 2–3 years, and how is Exactly.com positioning itself to stay ahead of those trends?
Online retail has exploded over the last five years, and there’s no sign of that trend slowing down. The world is becoming increasingly connected and digital, and conducting business across borders is becoming the norm, rather than the exception.
Exactly.com is already changing industry standards in how IT and business support should work to serve e-commerce businesses and drive their revenue and growth. Every merchant is important to us, and over the next few years, we will remain laser-focused on providing a high-quality service that helps online businesses scale without scaling their costs.
As well as expanding our choice of payment methods, Exactly.com’s all-in-one platform will continue to boost conversion and reduce acquisition costs while allowing businesses to build a loyal customer base in the UK and beyond.
