What is Multi Currency payments in ecommerce?

Multi currency payments in ecommerce refer to a flexible payment option where international customers can buy goods and services online using their preferred currency. If an ecommerce brand sells its products worldwide and does not implement multi currency payments the customers will have to pay charges at their end as currency conversion fees. 

When ecommerce websites sell to global buyers in multiple currencies, the international buyers get transparent pricing that does not have any surprises in terms of hidden currency conversion costs etc. This makes the checkout frictionless and reduces instances of abandoned carts. 

What are the benefits of Multi Currency payments in ecommerce?

Cross-border ecommerce has been growing rapidly in the past few years. As per a study, one out of every seven online transactions is done for cross-border payments. With the rise of mobile commerce, brand presence on various social platforms, easy digital payment options and reduced delivery time of global orders, customers are opening up to buying from ecommerce brands selling cross-border.

Multi currency payments are a must-have feature for successful global ecommerce brands. The benefits of multi currency ecommerce are:

• Gain wider acceptance for brand with easy and transparent payments in multiple currencies

• Reduce abandoned checkouts due to sudden additional charges popping up at the payment stage

• Boost conversion rates with the option for payment in local currency of the customer

• Offer personalized multi-currency prices for different countries or buyer groups

• Easily change prices based on currency fluctuations for different currencies

• Handle foreign exchange and taxation seamlessly with multi currency payments and invoices

• Improve relations with your multi-country suppliers of your online marketplace by paying them in their preferred currency

• Collect customer data about preference for different currencies and use it to plan strategic business moves 

What are the challenges of Multi Currency payments in ecommerce?

Though multi currency payments are the best way to engage and convert international customers, implementing many currencies on an ecommerce website has its own set of challenges.  

The key challenges of implementing multi currency ecommerce are:

• Updating and managing currency rate fluctuations on daily/regular basis

• Adding unlimited currencies and managing them for different geographies

• Implementing automatic currency switch based on customer location

• Adding multi currency payment options for different storefronts and directing customers to dedicated stores that processes their preferred currency

• Having the flexibility to override automatic currency conversions with manual updates

• Implementing different rounding off formats for different currencies. For example, $20, Euro 20.35 etc.

• Converting customers’ preferred currency to the actual currency supported by payment gateways at payment level

• Creating multi currency invoices while handling shipping, taxes and restrictions for various countries

What is the future of Multi Currency payments in ecommerce?

Cross border ecommerce comprises 22% of retail ecommerce and the share is growing steadily. Accepting multi currency payments helps ecommerce businesses localize their international offerings. By implementing multi currency ecommerce along with multi lingual content brands can establish a better connect with their international customers. This in turns goes a long way in consolidating their presence in global markets. 

StoreHippo enterprise ecommerce platform comes with an inbuilt multi currency solution for ecommerce that enables brands to overcome all the challenges of implementing multi currency for their business. StoreHippo offers full template support for implementing multi currency and brands don’t need to sue additional apps or plugins to implement multiple currencies. With StoreHippo ecommerce brands can easily implement multi currency payments in all the major currencies used across the globe.