Unlocking Growth: How Integrated Payment Plugins Simplify eCommerce Operations

For eCommerce merchants, the future is bright as 85% of global consumers shop online—but scaling your eCommerce business, regardless of industry, offers new challenges. Juggling revenue, efficiency, and cost-reduction requires the right infrastructure. And that includes your payments system.  

Over the past two decades, online payments have changed dramatically. From evolving technology to new regulations and security considerations, merchants must carefully consider payment partners. All too often, it appears easier to stick with legacy systems. This approach causes businesses to leave serious money on the table—and limits the potential for growth. 

In this article, we’ll cover some of the challenges related to scaling your eCommerce business and how integrated plugins can help you overcome these roadblocks and boost your business.

How Your Payment System Affects Revenue Growth 

Your revenue can be linked directly to your payment system. The easiest example of this link is cart abandonment, which averages at 70.19%. Common reasons for cart abandonment are high extra costs (shipping, fees, etc), not trusting the website with credit card information, being forced to create an account, and a complicated checkout process. 

We can see that on a basic level it’s difficult to scale your business without a streamlined payment experience. Too much friction encourages consumers to drop off and seek out another merchant. 

But cart abandonment isn’t the only challenge. There are many accounting issues, too, that stem from a poorly implemented payment system. 

Consider manual reconciliation for payments and purchase orders. Without an automated solution, accounting professionals must review and match these items by hand, which wastes time, exposes the process to errors, and can create other problems, such as duplicates or replicated effort.  

But even with a payment solution, there can be issues. Outdated technology or payment systems with little support can become a security risk—putting your business and your customers at risk. Older or smaller systems also cannot easily adapt to changes in payment infrastructure.  

Finally, legacy payment systems also lack payment processing fee optimization. As a result, you are paying more for less.  

But you can use payments to foster healthy cash flow. And it all starts with integrated plugin solutions.

First: What Are eCommerce Plugins?  

Your eCommerce plugin is the surface payment system. Most merchants use one of the top three plugins: 

• WooCommerce is one of the most popular plugins, powering 31% of the top one million eCommerce WordPress based sites worldwide. Many consumers consider this option perfect for balancing affordability with customization. This solution is free, although there are many paid plugins.

• Adobe Commerce and Magento Opensource offers an integrated solution with other Adobe products. While it serves both B2C and B2B industries, Adobe Commerce offers a self-service B2B portal functionality, as well as both cloud and cloud-as-a-service options. Pricing for this option is customized. 

• BigCommerce also offers B2C and B2B commerce options, shop localization, and a suite of eCommerce features. Pricing plans and custom plans are available depending on revenue.

These major eCommerce plugins have their own set of payment integrations that optimize their features. Integrated or embedded payment plugins available from Fortis, streamline these systems and offer an additional layer of customization for merchants.  

5 Benefits of Integrated Plugins 

Embedded payment plugins improve the functionality of your underlying eCommerce platform, whether it’s WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Adobe Commerce. For example, the right integrated plugin can help with: 

1. Frictionless Transactions: These solutions reduce cart abandonment by streamlining and simplifying the checkout process. 

2. Lower Processing Costs: Optimized payment solutions help merchants reduce payment processing fees, and depending on the state, introduce convenience fees and similar charges to offset costs. These savings can make a significant difference as you grow your business and make more sales. 

3. Seamless ERP and POS Integration: An integrated plugin can automate reconciliation. This both accelerates financial reporting and makes it more accurate. All without extra effort from your team, making it easier to scale. 

4. Scalability: A best-in-class solution will include several features such as automation, industry customization, and simplified processes to make your payments strategy scalable.

5. Enhanced Security and Compliance: Furthermore, a sound integrated plugin will provide PCI-compliant transactions with robust fraud protection, which boosts customer trust and secures credit card data.

A Payment System That Works for You 

Your payment system can either be just another expense, a source of lost business —or a revenue driver. The right integrated payment solution provides eCommerce businesses with the ability to scale—without sacrificing customization or exacting more time from the accounting team. Automation, enhanced reporting, ironclad security, and lower processing costs make it possible to not only reduce costs but identify and drive sales.  

But what is the right partner for your business? 

The payment system with all these features, plus an award-winning API and extensive customer support, should be in the running. 

As a leader in the payment space, Fortis has provided eCommerce businesses across industries with the payment system they need to grow. Its straightforward integration and available plugins  enables businesses to jumpstart their payment strategy. From accepting multiple payment methods to reconciliation automation, ERP integrations, secure transactions, and an omnichannel payment experience—Fortis has it all. 

Book a demo with our team of payment professionals today and discover how Fortis can take your eCommerce business to the next level.