If you’re an online merchant, finding the best credit card processing solution is paramount to launching and sustaining your business and online presence; a solution that enables flexibility, international visitors and recognizes currencies outside your borders.
We’re less than a month away from the crazy season, where online shopping reaches new highs (we’re certain it will again this year) with Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, Hanukkah Dec. 2-10 and of course Christmas.
However, we feel there are two opportunities – Singles Day on Sunday, Nov. 11 and Boxing Day Wednesday, December 26 – that US merchants may be missing, two shopping days which pose lucrative opportunities.
- Perhaps their credit card processing solution has limits on which currencies or in which countries their solution allows them to operate.
- They simply aren’t aware of these opportunities, but should be.
What is Singles Day?
It’s nothing to do with single people seeking partners. Or baseball or dollar bills.
What it is, is the single biggest commerce day in the world, started in 2009 by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba: a 24-hour shopping spree on 11/11 (named as such for the use of ones). While Black Friday and Cyber Monday get all the headlines here in North America, Singles Day typically drives more sales than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.
While it began in China behind Alibaba, an increasing number of online merchants are trying to capitalize worldwide, and why shouldn’t they? In 2016, Alibaba generated $17.8 billion in sales (175,000 orders per second in the first hour), and $25.3 billion in 2017.
To add perspective, Black Friday 2017 in the US grossed $5 billion. Singles Day is an opportunity of which merchants need to take advantage. Without the best credit card processing solution for your business, it is a missed opportunity.
What is Boxing Day?
Some cultures see Boxing Day as the day in which people trade working roles. Some see it as simply, ‘The Day After Christmas,’ or a second Christmas Day, which, in several countries, is a holiday. Others (like me) look forward to a full set of English Premiership football matches.
Recognized in commonwealth countries (The UK, Canada and Australia), Dec. 26 has morphed into a major shopping occasion for which online and storefront merchants use to rid themselves of their holiday inventory through massive sales. Boxing Day enables merchants for many opportunities:
- Those consumers, who may celebrate a ‘second Christmas’ or late Christmas with loved ones, who take advantage of mega-deals some merchants offer.
- In several countries, Boxing Day is a national holiday, which draws consumers who remain in ‘shopping mode’ to the storefronts.
- Millions of consumers use Boxing Day to return and exchange items. This presents an opportunity for merchants to offer additional deals while they have the customer.
A reminder: Learn from last year’s holiday experience
Going into the 2018 holiday shopping madness, we implore our network of merchants to revisit last year’s successes and failures:
- What products were charged back? Why? When?
- Maintain a log of orders that were declined and review them from year to year.
- If you rely on AI or machine reasoning to determine legitimate sales from those fraudulent, adjust your settings accordingly.
The best credit card processing – what is needed
Through its many partnerships with acquiring banking partners on five continents, Instabill offers international and offshore merchant accounts which give merchants the resources to accept transactions from consumers all over the world. In deciding from where to draw customers, merchants can pinpoint which currencies they prefer to accept.
In offering the best credit card processing solutions, Instabill merchant account managers prefer to have a conversation to find out more about your business, your history and your needs. We’re up for chatting Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. through 6 p.m., US eastern time.
