Did you know that market researchers predict there will be 352 billion total app downloads by the year 2021? This makes sense when you consider how much time people spend on their smartphones. Businesses of all sizes may be able to take advantage of this by designing their own app or hiring a company to design it for them. This eliminates the middle man and allows customers to access business’ e-commerce stores and content with a simple tap of the screen.
However, given the amount of money a business will need to invest in order to build a quality, responsive app, careful time should be spent considering how to collect payment on physical goods that are sold through the mobile app. It’s, therefore, important to have a credit card processing gateway that works well with the app and protects customer data. In addition to that, it should help the business stay in PCI DSS compliance.
Features Businesses Should Be Looking for in a Payment Gateway
We cannot stress how important PCI DSS compliance is for any payment gateway. Any business that accepts credit card payments need to be PCI DSS certified. Getting certification is a stringent process and could take months to complete. However, it is a mandatory compliance standard and one that will ensure any cardholder data that is transmitted and stored is protected by the highest level of security.
This includes tokenization, which reduces the risk of a cardholder’s data getting in the wrong hands. All data exchanged should be encrypted and critical servers must be monitored at all times. The criteria for PCI DSS compliance changes as new challenges and trends emerge, so it’s important to choose a payment gateway that has the latest certification.
In addition to that, businesses should shop around for payment gateways that can be integrated to their preferred shopping cart and reservation system. Payment gateway providers should be able to customize their technology to match the merchant’s preferences. Any payment gateway solution a business chooses should feature multi-currency credit card check out options and real-time processing among other features.
While we are still in the beginning stages of e-commerce directly of apps, choosing the best payment gateway will be a critical part of the process for businesses looking to get their stake in this lucrative environment.