18
Future of Retail — Payments Innovation
issue 02
We retailers are typically working in our own silos to address a range of payments-related challenges. A cross- industry knowledge-sharing forum would be a far more effective way to engineer solutions for some of the challenges we face.
STRENGTH IN COMMUNITY The conversation at dinners proved something I had long suspected: we retailers are working in silos to address a range of payments-related challenges when, in truth, we all believe that cross-industry knowledge-sharing and collaboration would be a far more effective way to engineer solutions for some of the challenges we face. This was the watershed moment and
discussions shifted toward the EPA bringing together a PayTech-focused retailer community to learn, share and collaborate. Juan Andrade, payments manager at Secret
Escapes, attended one of the dinners. He told me: “Retailers have a clear requirement for a platform that brings together payments expertise from across the retail industry – a demand that is not currently being met. “As part of our recent global expansion,
we’ve faced challenges that could’ve been avoided and ultimately slowed us down. These are not problems of our own making, they are fundamental challenges faced by retailers of all shapes and sizes, across sectors. “For example, with our continual focus on
conversion and recent expansion in Asia, we’ve noticed a surprising amount of ambiguity around issuer processes that has had a direct impact on our profit potential. A clearer communication channel between banks and retailers is all that’s needed to drive much- needed change on both fronts. The retailer- issuer dynamic leaves a lot to be desired.”
LISTEN TO REQUIREMENTS, THE RESULTS WILL FOLLOW The EPA and I are now collaborating with retailers to develop the Retail PayTech Forum,
supported by Compass Plus, which will meet the requirement to bring together a PayTech- focused retailer community. Retailers told us that the Forum should deliver: • Education on relevant topics; e.g. new technologies, new regulations, new products
• Knowledge sharing on current and anticipated issues
• Retailer-led collaborative opportunities; e.g. establishing a standard for PayTech companies to conform to when developing APIs or SDKs
As the Forum’s Retailer Ambassador, it’s my job to ensure it remains a retailer-focused initiative and continues to be relevant, build credibility and gain traction. I’ve seen a number of initiatives fail because they are developed and launched without gathering any insight from the intended audience. You’ve then got a tough job convincing anyone to attend and no-one sees any real value. The only way the Forum will work is through
collaborating with retailers on content and structure. So in July this year, we questioned retailers about the topics and challenges they expect the Forum to address. Our analysis revealed a set of key responses, common across most retailers, plus a long tail of individual responses, which supports the insight gleaned at our round table dinners. In addition, we asked retailers who they want
to see speaking at Forum events. Originally we thought Forum content would be delivered exclusively by retailers. However, retailers are keen to hear from PayTech companies, provided there is specific relevance to a topic or challenge voiced by retailers. This positions
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