The ideal shopping experience, according to Nigel Lee, senior vice-president of Asia Pacific, Ingenico, is one where “you wouldn’t realise that you’re making payments”. In this scenario, the tedious process of making a payment is shortened or even eliminated. A buyer can go in and out of a store with an item, and payment is made automatically and contactless.
Today’s retail industry is working towards giving consumers the seamless experience that Lee envisions. He points out that businesses are increasingly digitalising and improving their payment methods. “In today’s world, a simple and reliable payments solution is key to meeting the expectations of digital-savvy consumers. Payments are becoming more complex, yet fluid,” says Lee. This is where Ingenico comes in.
Ingenico is a payments and commerce company that started as a provider of point-of-sale (POS) payment terminals to now a point-of-commerce (POC), offering complete payments software and as-a-service related solutions to enable banks, acquirers, software providers and merchants.
Ingenico has a history of 42 years in the payments industry, providing POS devices for various methods of payments, from traditional cards to digital payments at merchant outlets. As a global market leader, the company has an active presence in 37 countries and over 40 million terminals deployed worldwide, providing payment solutions for SMEs, retail, transportation, hospitality, vending or self-service and energy industries.
While Ingenico was founded in France, Lee points out that the Asia Pacific (APAC) is currently its fastest-growing region. Some of Ingenico APAC’s most prominent clients and strategic partners are established banks in the Pacific, India and Indonesia; an infocomm technology equipment and services corporation in Japan; a known electronic payment service provider in Singapore; and acquirers and fintech in the region.
As for its presence in Singapore, consumers may not even realise they have made payments on Ingenico’s POS terminals, although it is a leader in this market. Lee sees Ingenico as part of the nation’s “invisible history” in payments and is now continuing its journey to enable omnichannel in-store commerce with software solutions.
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On this shift, Lee notes that several factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic and improving economies in Asia, have contributed to consumers’ changing payment behaviour in this region, even more so than in Europe and the US. The e-commerce boom has raised the adoption of digital payments in Asia, which is still primarily a cash economy. As digital payments skyrocketed and markets opened up, consumers expect to bring their online experiences in-store. Merchants are more than eager to offer convenient and frictionless payment methods to their customers. Regulators are pushing for a cashless or cash-lite society for various reasons, from innovation to security and even hygiene, when contactless payments became a safe way to pay during the pandemic. And these influencing factors are here to stay.
“Most people now have a mechanism to pay online. This was especially needed during the pandemic. But now, as economies are opening up, more physical merchants have to incorporate these new payments and accept them to stay relevant.” says Lee. He adds that while online commerce represents a high volume of transactions in the market, similar traction is also experienced in-store.
Powering the new world of commerce
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Ingenico recognised the transition gap in the market and the need for a robust infrastructure to accept different methods of payments in-store and payments-linked services to not only delight the customers but also help merchants run their businesses efficiently. “That complexity has forced the industry to move away from just payments to more complex components-associated software,” says Lee.
Ingenico is pivoting its strategy towards software-as-a-service to provide its clients with a complete suite of innovative payments and commerce solutions while leveraging its global footprint and network and maintaining the current POS business that gave the company its stellar reputation.
The market is now moving into a complex and untapped space for merchants, banks and acquirers, and they are finding it challenging to navigate through this landscape. Hence, the company’s move from the point of sales to the point of commerce. Ingenico’s mission is to pave the way and lead them towards this new world of the payments and commerce ecosystem.
A payments ecosystem enabler
Lee explains that this “ecosystem” of complex payments is much more than just between a merchant and a payment system. Instead, multiple stakeholders with different activities are involved. For example, the rise of fintech and software providers has brought an explosion of diverse solutions for the in-store payment experience, making it a much more complicated space to navigate for merchants, banks, and acquirers. Ingenico’s mission is to simplify this by facilitating those applications into a single platform for banks and acquirers to deploy the best solution for their merchants.
“We are no longer in a linear and transactional approach, and to go beyond the strong complexity of this ecosystem, we need to think of collaboration and partnership engagement, [be it] one or several partners. Ingenico plays the strategic role of enabler in this equation with its history and global network of clients and partners,” says Lee. He adds that the company is utilising its extensive global installed base, R&D capabilities, and talent to innovate its range of products and services.
Ingenico is accelerating the transition with a combination of software and cloud-based services through its latest POS range of Android OS-based platform (AXIUM), PaymentsPlatform-as-a-Service (PPaaS) and Terminal-as-a-Service (TaaS) offerings.
Android is key, and AXIUM is a platform that runs the payment terminal’s operating system. This platform, according to Lee, is built and improved from Ingenico’s 42 years of experience in payments and commerce. “AXIUM becomes the base for everything that we can do on Android. There are complex mechanisms behind the payment system. In the world of payments and commerce, trust and security are paramount and a major part of our core values. Our long history, expertise and experience in this space is the foundation for building AXIUM and Android today and in the future.” explains Lee.
PPaaS, on the other hand, is a platform that allows Ingenico’s clients, like banks and acquirers, to manage payments, commerce services, and terminal management remotely and sits on the back of the AXIUM terminal. “Think of PPaaS as a highway on which different software pieces could run. But we probably will not have to build that software, as PPaaS can incorporate other platforms from independent software providers and third-party builders. And this is where partnership is critical to our business,” says Lee. PPaaS leverages cloud technology, making software development and application deployment much easier for its technology partners.
Ingenico’s vision is for PPaaS to be a universal platform that works not only on its payment terminals but also on any terminal in the market. Lee says: “If we can have the PPaaS available on any terminal, then banks and acquirers can easily choose the best applications solution for merchants or retailers. It makes life easier for everyone and simplifies the entire industry.”
While it is common for retail and F&B stores to have three or more payment devices from different banks or service providers to run their businesses, AXIUM and PPaaS can help simplify their operations. This combination also makes merchants more sustainable and eco-friendlier, requiring fewer terminals at their counters. “[It means] eliminating the production of several devices that contain plastic and controversial materials [and replacing those with] one single device that can consolidate everything,” explains Lee.
Ingenico aims to reinforce its position as the most trusted partner in the payments ecosystem for its clients and partners. Lee emphasises that with partnerships, they will shape the new world of payments together and power the next generation of commerce. “We have a long history behind us, but we also have a big and exciting journey ahead,” says Lee.
