Business has gone through a revolution in the last few years. From blockchain, and FinTech to AI and cryptocurrencies the world of international commerce is moving faster than ever. But, all of these emerging technologies focus around one powerful concept: E-commerce.

The business of the future is done from a mobile device or a computer. It happens at home and on the go. The shop is open 24 hours a day and customers are demanding more from their platforms than ever before. Welcome to the new world of buying and selling online.

Leading the Way with E-commerce

In 2017 alone, E-commerce was responsible for around $2.3 trillion in sales. The market is expected to hit $4.9 trillion by 2021. That represents an expected growth of 175% over the next 3 years alone. The digital marketplace is growing and the future belongs to the businesses that can stay ahead of the curve.

Meeting the Customer on Their Terms

One of the biggest changes in buying and selling online is the customer’s access to information. Whether you’re a merchant selling your products globally or locally, your customers can find you with a couple of clicks. They have access to information more than ever before. While this makes for a more knowledgeable customer, it can also become a barrier between finding and buying.

Savvy E-commerce platforms integrate tools that allow customers to access information as a part of the buying process. According to Statista, 76 percent of buyers conduct research more frequently than not and 17 percent of buyers always read reviews before hitting that buy button. This is an important part of the new way that customers find and buy the products they love.

Buying on the Go or at Home 24/7

Conducting research isn’t the only change that merchants need to understand. New customers also prefer to make their purchases from their mobile phones or tablets. A whopping 72 percent of E-commerce sales will take place on a mobile device by 2021. This is important for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, purchases can be made at home or on the go. Now, unlike any time in history, you can order that pair of running shoes while standing in line to pick up a pizza. Sales can happen at any moment. This brings us to our next point: shops can stay open 24 hours a day. Even though the physical shoe store is closed, that online order can still be processed, any time, anywhere.

This is an exciting time for E-commerce merchants that are prepared for the next generation of customers.

Mobile is taking an increasingly bigger share slice of the growing E-commerce market.

Wider Reach. More Customers. Better Business.

Years ago, main street stores could only benefit from the customers in their neighbourhood. Back then it was all about location, location, location. The size of the market was determined by how busy the main street was. But the internet has changed everything. Now, even small alley stores can sell worldwide.

On top of that, independent sellers don’t even have to worry about the hassle of setting up a traditional business. With online storefronts like Shopify, Amazon, or eBay anyone can start selling with just a couple of clicks. These low-cost platforms mean that everyone has a chance at becoming a global business.

We are witnessing the rise of a new wave of not only customers, but merchants. Both of these groups need reliable payment platforms to connect and grow.

Difficult Business of Doing Business

While E-commerce has changed rapidly, it seems that online payments have stayed relatively stationary. Most sales are processed through traditional methods like debit and credit cards. While this has been a decent medium of exchange for many years, new technologies are offering new options from additional payment systems.

High fees are an obstacle for businesses in the system as it is now. Currently, merchants are subject to high fees of between 3 and 6 percent. Of course, this is usually distributed across several players, and often it goes unnoticed by consumers. For a business which is conducting thousands of sales a day, 3 to 6 percent adds up to a considerable cost of doing business.

This has been a dirty secret of online payment processing for a while and many companies aren’t willing to publish the cost of their services. Moreover, platforms don’t do anything to help small business owners. In fact, they often charge higher fees to new merchants with lower transaction volumes.

The Problem with Chargebacks

Chargebacks have become a rising difficulty for growing online businesses both big and small. A chargeback is a return of funds to the customer’s bank account or line of credit. They can happen for many different reasons, but all chargebacks are a blow to a merchant’s bottom line. Furthermore, a significant number of these interactions have proven to be fraudulent. This means that scammers are getting away with products and harming both merchants and customers. In 30 percent of cases chargeback purchases have been made with a stolen card. If a customer reports their card stolen then funds must be returned and the merchant has to consume the cost. This is a no-win situation.

Friendly fraud is the most common chargeback, and one of the hardest to tackle.

In addition to being costly, chargebacks can damage the most important asset a business has: their reputation. More to the point, an excessive number of chargebacks can lead to closed merchant accounts which effectively kills the business. The power to destroy the reputation or the bottom line of a merchant should not be in the hands of fraudsters.

Traditional Payments Mean Slow Business

The final example of difficulties with traditional E-commerce platforms that we’d like to mention is one of the most important. Business can now move at the click of a button, but money does not operate at the same speed. Traditional payment methods are slow. They also work only during banking hours which means that payments can take several days to clear. This is compounded even more by international sales. So, while E-commerce is global and instant, payments are not.

The Rise of Crypto as Payment Currency

So, what is the solution? How do payment platforms rise to the demand of international E-commerce? Fortunately, the answer has come in the form of cryptocurrencies. You may have heard of cryptocurrency assets like Bitcoin before, but because they are an emerging technology there is some mystery surrounding them. Virtual assets are powerful financial tools which can transfer wealth immediately and immutably. They are decentralized so customers and merchants can transfer wealth between one another without having to go through banks.

In its simplest form, a cryptocurrency is a digital asset that is kept on a shared ledger called a blockchain. The blockchain cannot be altered which means that funds and goods can be transferred trustfully. This reduces the possibility of fraud, increases transparency, and settles near instantly. Cryptocurrency payments have the potential to create a more globalized and borderless economy, as well as fighting financial inequality by bringing financial services to people without access to a bank. We see all of these a big win for everyone in E-commerce. Many of the world’s biggest businesses agree.

Major Retailers Dive into Crypto

It’s not surprising to see that both consumers and merchants are turning to cryptocurrency payments, as a faster, cheaper and more efficient payment solution. We have already seen major online merchants begin onboarding crypto payments.

Overstock.com, Expedia, Etsy and Microsoft all accept digital currencies for their goods and services. Yet, most major businesses that accept crypto still have to go through a third party to settle their payments.

The Next Evolution in Payments

While it might not seem so, online payments have gone through a massive evolution over the last many years. Innovation has always come from the advancing needs of retailers and customers. PayPal emerged as a necessity to once eBay became popular. Remember, people used to mail physical checks when eBay was in its infancy. This is the ground floor for cryptocurrencies as a global payment system. But along with being on the cutting edge comes the responsibility of getting over key hurdles which are preventing mass adoption.

UTRUST has built a whole payment ecosystem to solve all these needs at the same time.

Volatility

One of the biggest barriers to adoption of cryptocurrency is gaining and maintaining stable purchasing power. Customers don’t want to purchase something with their Bitcoin only for the value to spike the next day. Conversely, they wouldn’t want to have the price of Bitcoin crater while their payment was transferring and then be unable to afford their purchase. A virtual asset can only work if there is an agreed upon value at the time of sale. UTRUST locks the price value at the time of purchase to protect customers from the crypto market volatility.

Speed

Mass adoption is on its way, and along with that comes slowing confirmation times. Because a blockchain is a ledger which is kept by the entire network, every transaction needs to be confirmed by every actor on it. Some very smart engineers are currently working on this issue in the form of the Bitcoin Lightening Network and “sharding”. At the moment, however, more use can sometimes mean slow transactions. This is why UTRUST has created an “off-chain” platform which allows us to perform near-instant transactions.

Lack of buyer protection

Traditional E-commerce platforms do very little to protect consumers. UTRUST makes this a priority. If there is a dispute, customers can open a claim and receive support in getting a refund. This is the first time that a buyer protection system has been paired with a decentralized system like cryptocurrencies. In the past, customers were at the will of merchants to complete their transactions. This helps guard against fraudulent chargebacks and assists with honest customers attempting to recoup their losses.

Complicated to onboard

One of the biggest problems facing both merchants and customers is the difficulty of onboarding virtual assets, even though it’s a good deal for everyone involved. In simplest terms, customers don’t know where to buy or spend crypto. Merchants, on the other hand, have a problem accepting crypto without going through a costly third party. UTRUST looks to solve both of these needs at the same time by making virtual assets easy to onboard and easy to use.

Changing the Crypto Payments Paradigm

UTRUST’s mission is to revolutionize the payments landscape by allowing merchants to empower simple, instant and cheap cryptocurrency transactions.

Our solution removes the risk of price volatility and allows merchants to settle directly into their bank account, in the currency of their choice.

We are the first global crypto-to-cash payment platform with a buyer protection mechanism, which combines the power of several blockchain networks into one ecosystem only. We believe that by making crypto payments as easy as traditional payments we can bring virtual assets into the mainstream.

UTRUST for Merchants

The integration for sellers is seamless and cost-free. Our public API’s allow merchants to offer their customers to pay in crypto, fast and safely. We collaborate with some of the biggest E-commerce platforms in the world including Gambio and Jumpseller.

UTRUST is positioning itself to be the flagship processing platform for crypto payments. As more people begin using digital assets, they will need outlets to spend them on and payment system they can trust. Meanwhile, merchants anywhere can onboard crypto payments, save of processing costs and receive fiat currencies in their bank account — business as usual.

Want to stay ahead of the curve and join the cutting edge online stores offering crypto payments to their customers?

REGISTER YOUR BUSINESS

UTRUST for buyers

On the buyer side, purchases can be made by customers all over the world using only their smartphone. They can instantly pay for goods and services with their favourite crypto assets on the UTRUST platform. We’re working to onboard all major digital currencies so buyers can use their favourite currencies used to make purchases from anywhere at any time.

We also reduce all pain points between finding and buying by making customer purchases as easy as the single swipe of a QR code.

Ready to experience digital payments as easy, fast and safe as they should be?

PAY WITH CRYPTOCURRENCIES

Conclusion

Online payments may have started by mailing a physical check from buyer to seller, but merchants and customers have evolved at a rapid rate. We believe in keeping up with them in every way possible.

At UTRUST, our mission is to bridge the gap between businesses and the growing crypto community. By bringing merchants and customers together into one powerful crypto payments ecosystem governed by trust, we can help the world make the leap into mass adoption and bring virtual assets to E-commerce.

Want to know more? Watch this interview with BloxLive.tv here.