Litle & Co. Shares Seven Payment Processing Laws for Merchants Working to Protect and Extend Revenue

Lowell, Mass., February 11, 2009 – According to Litle & Co., a leading provider of strategic payment processing solutions for card-not-present merchants, payment processing is an often overlooked source of revenue creation and marketing intelligence, two of the most important concerns for merchants facing the current economic conditions. By looking at payments and processing as an opportunity to improve operations, merchants can increase their revenue by reducing declined authorizations, offering the right mix of payment options and focusing attention on their most profitable customers.

“Current economic conditions underscore just how much each of us, as consumers and as commerce leaders, should be working to create the greatest value from each precious transaction,” said Jason Pavona vice president, product management, Litle & Co. “As you manage your relationships with consumers through lifecycles, you should do the same with your payments. Taking this approach to payments has the potential to be the single greatest driver of increased revenue recognition for merchants facing the most daunting retail forecasts in recent memory.”

Law #1 - Don’t Concede to Commodity
Merchants scrutinize decisions about order management, fulfillment and customer service based on the ease with which they fit into their operations, show positive ROI across shorter-cycles and limit the additional infrastructure needs upon the organization. All payment processing decisions should be looked at in the same manner. Looking through the “lowest-cost” lens leads, in part, to minimized expectations that a processor can add value to the business. Choosing a “low cost” solution without understanding the value returned by all options is a luxury most merchants cannot afford in any part of their business.  

Law #2 - One Size Does Not Fit All
Merchants today have more choice than ever when it comes to managing payments and choosing the platforms through which they run. Simply put, when selecting a payment processor and platform, “better for you” is more important than “most popular.” What the merchant sells, how it sells its products or services and the medium through which most of the payments are received should always dictate how a merchant processes those payments.   

Law #3 – Don’t Get Tied Up in a Bundle
“Interchange”, “assessment”, “downgrades” -- terms associated with payments transactions are abundant and confusing. If the cost of processing meets the bottom line need, it’s easy to think the specifics aren’t important. They are, and they should be to the processor as well. Merchants should be sure to monitor and audit where their money is going, which will help establish processing benchmarks as well as reduce or eliminate unwarranted processing charges.  

Law #4 – All Payments Are Not Created Equal
Merchants should choose platforms that reduce declined authorizations, improve re-authorization success rates, lower the percentage of refunds, and help facilitate easy adoption of competitive service differentiators, such as alternative and international payments, which expose products and services to new consumer audiences and new revenue opportunities as a result.

Law #5 – Don’t Ignore Alternative Payments
The current economic conditions are fueling consumer adoption of alternative payments. By offering an alternative payment method such as PayPal, whose 70 million active accounts produced nearly $16 billion in total transaction volume in Q4 2008, merchants can take advantage of those accounts which contain almost $3 billion in stored value that is spent every two weeks.

Law #6 - Find a Friend
In a competitive market for payment management services, it’s increasingly clear that a processor’s ability to understand the fundamentals of the merchant’s business can add value to its business. A merchant needs a true partner with deep experience in his or her business to make the most of the opportunities available in today’s business environment.

Law #7 – Watch out for Connection Overload
Rapid advances in retail platforms over the last decade have left many retail systems at the point of overload. A payment engine should be a major component in streamlining operations as they relate to all other business cycles in a merchant’s operation. The single point of failure for many retailers is that there are too many points of failure. By choosing a processing platform that connects directly with networks, merchants can dramatically minimize these points of failure.

“These seven laws can all be reduced to one golden rule of payment processing: the more holistically merchants look at the value of payments, the more value-oriented, and less commodity-driven, their decisions will be,” said Pavona. “A processor should be an advocate in the complex world of payments. Their approach should be consultative and they should be working in the long-term growth interests of the merchant’s business.”


About Litle & Co. (www.litle.com)
Litle & Co. is a leading payment management and processing platform for merchants who sell goods and services directly to consumers. Providing transaction processing and consultative merchant services for card-not-present and alternative payments, the Litle & Co. payments platform is engineered specifically to meet the needs of companies in Direct Response (DRTV, radio, print), Internet and Multichannel Retail (including catalogs), and Online Services. Founded in 2001, and based in Lowell, Massachusetts, Litle & Co.'s growth has been acknowledged by a No.1 Inc. 500 ranking (2006) and a No.8 Entrepreneur Hot 100 ranking (2008). For more information or to contact us, visit www.litle.com.

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Media Contacts:
John Stevens
Litle & Co.
978-275-6620
jstevens@litle.com