Through the ages, cash, from ancient coins to modern banknotes, was the only way to pay bills. Of course, don’t count natural exchange and different forms of barter now. Credit cards appeared after World War II and gained a favourable market share. It seemed that cash and cards’ joint reign would last forever. However, with mobile commerce development and global economic growth, local payment methods challenge these two traditional payment methods. For instance, they take half or more of all e-commerce in some regions.

Local payment methods (LPM) are payment solutions preferred in one particular country or region. For businesses seeking to expand across borders, it’s crucial to consider using LPM in their customer interactions. It will allow companies to increase their clientele and, consequently, their earnings.

Reasons of local payment methods popularity

It’s interesting and helpful to comprehend the causes of LPM’s growing significance, even though global corporations like Visa and Mastercard have far more resources than they do. Among such reasons are:

• LPM companies know better their national market and potential local customers, their psychology and preferences;
• the patriotism of people who prefer to support local businesses;
• despite their scale, transnational companies can’t focus on every regional division that influences the quality of their services;
• as a rule, local payment methods are part of mobile commerce, which is developing intensively.

Why do businesses should pay more attention to local payment methods?

We can confidently say that two traditional payment ways turn into three. Now, companies can increase their profits by offering customers the newest payment options. The availability of three variants of how a client can pay compared to one boosts the number of successful deals by 30%. Besides this, implementing local payment methods in business transactions shows customers how this particular company respects their payment habits. It boosts clientele’s boosts clientele’s loyalty and retention.

For sure, the tendency of growing LPM influence in the transaction ecosystem will only increase. It can’t be ignored, although restructuring the payment system takes time and resources for businesses. Customers most definitely prefer local payment methods for making transactions, especially in countries with underdeveloped banking systems. So, for companies aiming to grow internationally, it’s more beneficial to consider local customers’ payment interests in the long run.