Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC) and ACI Worldwide have undertaken a study to explore the acquiring strategies adopted by leading global merchants and payment service providers (PSPs) to determine the operational, financial and other benefits derived from a multi-acquiring strategy and an acquirer-agnostic payments gateway. EDC surveyed merchants and PSPs from across the globe, and insights were supported by in-depth interviews with selected merchants and PSPs.
Summary of key survey findings for merchants:
- The top three reasons why merchants work with more than one acquirer are resilience (21%), to reduce operational costs (18%) and to improve conversion rates (14%).
- 85 percent of merchants that have moved to multiple acquirer relationships have seen an increase in conversion rates, with 23 percent of respondents increasing their conversion rates by more than 10 percent.
- 71 percent of merchants that use a multi-acquiring arrangement are either satisfied or very satisfied with this approach.
- 40 percent of merchant respondents that use a single acquirer wish to swap to a multiple acquiring arrangement in the next 12 months. Reasons given include the desire to gain flexibility and access to APMs (17%), to reduce operational costs (17%) and to build resilience in their acquiring options (15%).
- It is mainly smaller merchants that have single acquiring relationships (30%), primarily due to cost efficiencies or commercial reasons (60%).
Summary of key survey findings for PSPs:
- The top reasons PSPs use multiple acquiring relationships are resilience (24%), to reduce operational costs for merchants (21%) and to improve conversion rates (13%).
- 45 percent of PSPs see flexibility as the primary benefit of being acquirer-agnostic.
- 66 percent of PSPs that use a multi-acquiring arrangement are either satisfied or very satisfied with this approach.
The content of this article does not reflect the official opinion of Edgar, Dunn & Company. The information and views expressed in this publication belong solely to the author(s).
