PR93562

PARIS, Dec. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

Seamlessly combining payments solutions and third-party services, PPaaS

empowers acquirers and Independent Software Vendors to enable merchants to

create compelling commerce and payment options for their customers, bringing

instore what has up to now only been possible online

Ingenico, a Worldline brand [Euronext: WLN], announces the full commercial

launch of PPaaS, its Payments Platform as a Service solution to its clients and

partners. Built on a completely new cloud-based technology stack, PPaaS is a

key component in the evolution of the Point of Sale (POS) into an ecosystem

enabler.

PPaaS is a suite of payment and commerce services that combines proprietary

solutions for managing terminals with third-party applications and alternative

payment methods such as Alipay. The cloud-based platform is developer-focused

and device agnostic, meaning it can work with any payment terminal, beyond the

35 million Ingenico POS around the world. Acquirers, Payment Service Providers

and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can choose, integrate and manage the

services their merchants need for instore payments. The platform's design makes

this a far quicker and easier proposition than any current technologies

available. In a world where customer segmentation is increasingly reflected in

how customers pay for what they buy, agility in incorporating these services is

a key differentiator in the payments value chain.

Although online payment orchestration[1] has developed extensively for online

retailing in recent years, instore orchestration and the ability to create

seamless, omnichannel commerce solutions for customers has yet to fully

materialize. PPaaS, with its unrivalled ability to connect to instore POS

terminals, will enable this and change the way we pay. PPaaS also goes further,

integrating with retailers' online commerce and payments services to enable a

true omnichannel customer experience and turn the payment experience from a

point of transaction to a point of interaction.

For example, with PPaaS as part of the payment transaction, a customer can pay

using a combination of a gift card and a local wallet; earn loyalty points on

the transaction without showing their loyalty card and be prompted at the

terminal to purchase product insurance before finalizing their transaction.

Then, depending on the merchant's and payment scheme's terms and conditions,

they could return the goods they bought from home for a full refund onto each

of the payment methods used without having to return to the store.

Giulio Montemagno, SVP and Managing Director PPaaS at Ingenico, a Worldline

brand explains: "Much of the recent innovation in payments has been focused on

online payments and the instore experience hasn't changed much over the years.

With PPaaS, our clients can finally enable their merchants to make payment a

real point of interaction with their customers, and the ecosystem of

third-party service partners can easily bring their services to a wider

audience. As we engage with clients and solution providers, we realise that the

use cases for PPaaS are very significant as our customers envisage using it to

facilitate a whole range of new services and payment methods to their

merchants. We have started working on those use cases with clients already -

including using PPaaS to enable APMs and a loyalty programme in Asia as well as

in enabling vertical-specific services for an acquirer in Europe - and we are

looking forward to seeing their new offerings using PPaaS live in action."

Concrete use cases

-Alternative Payment Methods (APMs)

There are over 900 alternative payment methods around the world catering to

different markets and segments but very few of these are accepted for instore

payments. APMs such as Alipay increase revenues for merchants by enabling and

enhancing demand from specific demographics. PPaaS facilitates APMs for

retailers without the need for complex development and software updates.

-Loyalty & Omnichannel commerce

PPaaS provides the missing piece in the omnichannel payments puzzle and creates

new possibilities in customer loyalty. The payment card can become the

customer's unique identifier in a fully secure and compliant environment,

expanding the ability to interact with the customer at critical moments in

their purchasing journey.

-Enhanced reporting and data analytics

An important, and much requested, feature of PPaaS is its ability to provide

significantly enhanced reporting and data analytics in a fully compliant and

secure environment. This is because PPaaS consolidates information from the

terminal and uses this to provide the insights and data merchants need to

manage their business.

-Smart routing

Thanks to PPaaS' connections to acquirers, the solution can optimise acceptance

rates and costs by routing transactions to specific acquiring platforms based

on pre-defined rules.

Supporting the complete payments ecosystem

In a payments environment where 34% of merchants say they would change their

provider if they don't get access to easy to use and quick to set up services

from their acquirer, and 80% are prepared to pay 20-30% higher rates for better

payments performance provided it measurably improves business,[2] the market

for providing such services is vast.

For this reason, PPaaS addresses a variety of actors in the payments ecosystem:

banks and dedicated acquirers, PSPs, payment gateways and ISVs. It creates

many-to-many connectivity, generating a network effect that benefits all

parties as it continues to grow.

Adapting to customer needs – constantly

As an 'as-a-Service' offering, the PPaaS platform will evolve constantly,

adding new features and onboarding new partners as part of a continuous

dialogue with existing and future clients.

[1] The ability to enhance the payment journey easily to deliver specific use

cases within the payment journey

[2] The 2020 McKinsey Global Payments Report, P. 36

Ibid, P. 14 and CGI Global Payments Research, P. 11 (80% of customers will pay

for value added services)

About Worldline

Worldline [Euronext: WLN] is the European leader in the payments and

transactional services industry and #4 player worldwide. With its global reach

and its commitment to innovation, Worldline is the technology partner of choice

for merchants, banks and third-party acquirers as well as public transport

operators, government agencies and industrial companies in all sectors. Powered

by over 20,000 employees in more than 50 countries, Worldline provides its

clients with sustainable, trusted and secure solutions across the payment value

chain, fostering their business growth wherever they are. Services offered by

Worldline in the areas of Merchant Services; Terminals, Solutions & Services;

Financial Services and Mobility & e-Transactional Services include domestic and

cross-border commercial acquiring, both in-store and online, highly-secure

payment transaction processing, a broad portfolio of payment terminals as well

as e-ticketing and digital services in the industrial environment. In 2020

Worldline generated a proforma revenue of 4.8 billion euros. worldline.com

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SOURCE: Ingenico International (S) Pte Ltd