Headquartered in London, ECOMMPAY, an online payment company, was incepted with a vision to make money movement in one click. To be more specific, ECOMMPAY is a bespoke, FCA-licensed international payment service provider. It has six offices worldwide employing over 700 payment professionals, including 350+ IT specialists.
Driving it all is its own Payment Gateway which enables an omnichannel payment process that combines acquisition, 100+ alternative payment methods, payouts, and technological innovation in a single, seamless integration.
As the Executive Director of ECOMMPAY, UK and Western Europe, Paul Marcantonio is responsible for the creation of the company in the UK, not to mention the evangelisation of the brand and its products and services in Europe and the UK.
In an interview with Insights Success, Paul talks about how ECOMMPAY is helping organisations to achieve their business goals, tailoring every solution in its payments arsenal to create a bespoke financial and technical solution.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
How did ECOMMPAY come into existence? What was the idea behind its genesis?
As it often happens, we built it because we needed it. A series of personal stories inspired the founders to come up with the idea for ECOMMPAY. Some of our friends ran their own businesses and had difficulty entering new markets. They found that it was challenging to find suitable payment partners and monitor local regulations.
So, we came up with this tailored payment solution that enables companies to launch in emerging markets worldwide and achieve high transaction approval rates. We provide payments, yes, and we also offer consulting and support. We also understood we need to offer an alternative to traditional payment methods such as just credit and debit cards. We haven’t abandoned cards, though; in fact, we’re now a principal member of Visa and Mastercard.
Kindly elaborate on your company’s unique products or services.
We’re aiming for a truly global reach, making online payments and mass payouts happen all around the world. This means we provide customised products for different regions and different industries, including the mobility industry (ride hailing, car-scooter sharing etc), online education, e-retail, and others.
The global reach also means we have offices across the world with locals who actually know the markets. This allows us to customise our solutions for growing your business in different regions and countries. We provide a combination of local payment methods, local expertise, and technologies tailored for each country. All the payment scenarios are localised, from the payment page and right up to the underlying technologies. This, in turn, means more sales and higher conversion rates.
What makes your company stand out from the rest of its competition?
We are all-in-one payment platform for various industries.
We understand there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, so we offer a tailor-made product for each company. Some things, however, always remain the same. We offer online payments and payouts on a global scale, coupled with proprietary risk control systems. We have also made it simple to follow and analyse all your transactions with our client dashboard.
We employ over 700 people in our office, including 350+ IT specialists who develop tailor-made payment solutions for our customers for every payment scenario. Moreover, we have dedicated account managers for every client.
We combine acquiring and 100+ alternative payment methods worldwide. We provide Open Banking, payments via messengers, e-wallets, and other platforms. This makes sure the end customers can pay with the payment method that they trust.
We are Visa and Mastercard principal members.
ECOMMPAY became the first PSP to integrate with the new PayPal commerce platform. This is an example of how we are striving to be the first.
And, last but not least, we firmly believe that all the technologies need a human touch. So, provide exceptional customer service and human to human support. Our merchants can rely on us when facing any challenge or reaching any business goal where payment solutions are needed.
What kind of challenges has your company faced in its initial days of establishment and what are the struggles it is going through now?
COVID-19 forced us to rethink our strategic priorities. For example, before the lockdown we listed travel and hospitality among our priorities. We still have some new clients from those industries, but it’s fair to say the transaction flow is weak.
On the other hand, we saw huge increases in other industries, such as online education, online retail, mobility (taxi apps, ride hailing, car-sharing), delivery services, and video gaming.
So, all in all, we actually see that transaction volumes are growing. Of course, that’s a very good thing, but it does come with its own challenges. Most importantly, we must ensure our payment infrastructure is stable enough to handle the growth. So, we have several data centres and monitoring systems that check the transaction flow. Our technical support monitors transactions in real time and offers post-monitoring to maintain smooth operations, even in the event of an unforeseen accident.
We also were forced to postpone the launch of our payment solution for business expansion into Asia: Gate2Asia. The product was successfully launched in summer. Our results showed me that businesses are interested in these opportunities. It is especially relevant now, when some Asian countries seem to be weathering the COVID-19 crisis better than Europe.
Brexit is another issue. Headquartered in London, ECOMMPAY is regulated by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Before Brexit, that was enough to provide payment solutions in the EU. Now, we have had to receive additional licences for that.
What technological updates have been adopted by your company to enhance its operations?
We have just launched a payment solution designed for the mobility industry. It is now a burgeoning sector as more people than ever are looking for a safer and more private way of getting around. We’re also working with e-learning businesses and online educators. As a result of the pandemic, they see an increase in online students. This also means an increase in payments to process, so we help then deal with this by using automated online payments.
We have just launched our Open Banking solution for the UK and EU markets. This gives our merchants a new payment infrastructure. End customers can make payments without credit or debit cards. Chargeback risks due to fraud or an inability to capture funds are eliminated. As the process does not require intermediaries, the payment process is efficient. It can also be customised by region, currency, and other localised requirements. While banks usually have full control over the services customers need such as loans or transfers, Open Banking brings these decisions under a single administration.
What does the future hold for your company in terms of growth?
The next 12 months will be an exciting period, with many new product-launches and partnerships lined up.
We want to become the go-to payment solution for companies in the mobility sector, most notably car and scooter sharing, taxis and ride-hailing. We will rapidly scale our Gate2Asia product and global Open Banking solution covering all major e-commerce markets.
We’re also excited about the launch of the ECOMMTALKS Academy; a series of exclusive interviews with C-level experts devoted to the future of fintech and business growth.
We are embarking on an exciting marketing campaign in the UK to reach new potential customers in key growth sectors, so watch this space!
Paul Marcantonio | Executive Director | ECOMMPAY
