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OPENTECHNOLOGYAT THE COREOF GLOBALPAYMENTS160 GLOBAL REACHConvenient access to local acquirers andalternative payment methods in 160 countries50%BUSINESS GROWTHPlanet Payment won 50% more clientsafter partnering with ACI WorldwideA CASE STUDY OF

OPEN TECHNOLOGY AT THE CORE OF GLOBAL PAYMENTSCASE STUDY: PLANET PAYMENT1 CASEPlanet Payment is a leading provider of internationalpayment, transaction, and multi-currency processingservices. Founded in 1999, headquartered in theU.S., and focused on multi-national retail, hotel, andrestaurant merchants, Planet Payment achievedsignificant success and growth over 16 years. It currentlyworks with 71 global financial institutions in 22 countriesand its services are used by at least 118,000 activemerchant locations.Despite this longstanding success, Planet Paymentbegan to experience difficulty recruiting new clients.Planet recognized its gateway, once cutting-edge,lacked some of the competencies many of today’s globalmerchants need, such as far-reaching global processingcapabilities, flexibility through open technology, andcutting-edge tools to increase conversion rates. Thus,Planet Payment decided that to reach the next level itneeded to upgrade its payment gateway technology.THE CLIENT – FACTS & FIGURES1999Company foundedHEADQUARTERSLong Beach, New YorkOPERATIONS22 countries in North andSouth America, Europe, Asia,the Middle East, and Africa.PRIMARY SECTORSHotels, retailers, restaurants,and eCommerce.2 CHALLENGEPlanet Payment’s payment gateway performed its corecompetencies—payment processing, recurring billing,and its foreign exchange component, multi-currencypricing (MCP)—with flying colors. Yet the gatewaywas static and unable to add new capabilities, manyof which had become vital for success in a market thatincreasingly expected truly global solutions. Thesemissing technological pieces began having a negativeimpact upon Planet Payment’s sales pitches, despiteits compelling commercial offering. In particular,Planet found five areas where it rapidly needed atechnological upgrade: like-for-like settlement inall currencies, the ability to offer global alternativepayment methods, the tech to take an innovativeChina UnionPay solution global, mobile capabilities,and a way to handle merchants’ PCI compliance whilemaintaining high conversion rates.of their businesses. Hence, Planet’s MCP solution, whichallows merchants to price in more than 100 currencies,is valued by most clients. Despite being a strong MCPsolution it had one drawback: it could only settle inlike-for-like in USD and CAD, not any of its other 100plus currencies. Merchants want like-for-like settlement,sometimes referred to as in-country domestic processing,because it offers convenience and cost savings.Convenience because global merchants can settle in anycurrency they want: that of where they sell, where they arebased, or in a commonly traded currency such as USD orEUR. Merchants save costs through like-for-like by takingadvantage of lower interchange fees in particular regions.Planet Payment needed global like-for-like settlement tocomplete its MCP solution.LIKE-FOR-LIKE SETTLEMENTAlternative payment methods (APMs) are an essentialpart of global eCommerce. Already accounting for morethan 40% of eCommerce transactions in 2012, APMs areexpected to reach nearly 60% by 2017.GLOBAL ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT METHODSPlanet Payment clients are typically large multi-nationalmerchants and cross-border selling is an important facet 2

OPEN TECHNOLOGY AT THE CORE OF GLOBAL PAYMENTSCASE STUDY: PLANET PAYMENTGlobal merchants, even those that primarily sell in thecard-reliant North American market, need a robustAPM offering to meet diversifying shopper preferences.Planet Payment specialized in cards and needed asignificant APM upgrade to remain competitive.onto mobile devices, offer mobile SDKs (softwaredevelopment kits), and enable in-app payments.PCI-COMPLIANT PAYMENT FORMPCI compliance—the adherence to data securitystandards set by the Payment Card Industry SecurityStandards Council—is a prerequisite for anyone ineCommerce. Planet Payment gave merchants two optionsfor PCI compliance: handle it themselves or outsourcecompliance to a Planet Payment-hosted payment form.The former is not ideal because PCI compliance isarduous, requiring sophisticated data storage, intrusiveaudits, and other challenges. Self PCI-compliance is notcost-effective for most merchants. The latter optionshifted most of the PCI burden to Planet Payment butit redirected shoppers to an external, Planet Paymenthosted payment page. Such a redirect triggers alarm bellsfor shoppers wary of online fraud, harming merchantconversion rates and bottom lines. Planet Paymentneeded a solution that handled PCI compliance whileintegrating within merchants’ web shops.THE TECHNOLOGY TO TAKE A CHINA UNIONPAYSOLUTION GLOBALChina UnionPay (CUP) is the fastest growing cardscheme in the world. It has issued more cards thanany other scheme, 4.2 billion globally, and is third intransaction number and volume, trailing only Visa andMasterCard. CUP is a merchant’s doorway to China,by most accounts the largest eCommerce market inthe world. Planet Payment offers a complete end-toend solution for CUP acceptance, including gateway,processing, acquiring, and settlement services. NorthAmerican merchants, through Planet, can accept CUPthrough a single contract and service provider. Severalacquirers, gateways, banks, and PSPs outside NorthAmerica showed interest in this unique and powerfulCUP solution yet Planet lacked the technology tooffer it globally.THE NEXT LEVELPlanet Payment needed a payment gateway thatenabled it to reach the next level by providing clientsand prospects with cutting-edge payment technologyfor every aspect of today’s global eCommerce.This gateway needed to advance Planet Payment’stechnological offering without infringing upon Planet’scompelling business and commercial advantages.MOBILE SOLUTIONSMobile payments were more science fiction than realitywhen Planet first developed its payment gateway. Fastforward to today and mobile solutions are integral toeCommerce. Planet looked at its gateway and knew itneeded the capability to render eCommerce sites3 SOLUTIONPlanet Payment thoroughly researched the market andconsidered all the payment gateway providers beforechoosing the ACI UP eCommerce Payments solution,featuring the PAY.ON payment gateway. Planet selectedACI Worldwide primarily because its gateway featuredthe global technology that met or exceeded all ofPlanet’s outstanding needs: An extensive global payment network of more than300 alternative payment methods and acquirers in over160 countries and 180 currencies. A mobile solutionthat includes SDKs, the ability to render web shops onmobile devices, and in-app capabilities. COPYandPAY,an embeddable, PCI-compliant payment form.3

OPEN TECHNOLOGY AT THE CORE OF GLOBAL PAYMENTSCASE STUDY: PLANET PAYMENT4 RESULTThe ACI UP eCommerce Payments solution allowedPlanet Payment to upgrade its technologicalcapabilities, offer additional services to existing clients,and win clients it could not before.INTERNATIONAL EXPANSIONFOR CHINA UNIONPAYThe ACI global payment network delivers more thanjust APM’s and acquirers, Planet Payment presented theopportunity to take its cutting-edge China UnionPaysolution global. Each of the 300 acquirers in the networkare potential partners and through the network Planetadded UnionPay settlement in EUR, GBP, RMB, andHKD (in addition to the already offered USD and CAD).Planet’s innovative China UnionPay solution is even morepowerful and available globally.GLOBAL LIKE-FOR-LIKESETTLEMENTThrough the PAY.ON payment gateway, PlanetPayment has the missing piece for its MCP solution:extensive like-for-like settlement. Planet’s clients,no matter where they are based, can now settlein the 100 currencies it offers, giving them theflexibility to conveniently sell nearly anywhere inthe world. In addition, Planet can now utilize localacquirers worldwide to offer lower cross-borderfees and interchange rates, strengthening Planet’scompetitiveness. Planet’s FX solution was alreadyrobust, now, through access to the ACI global paymentnetwork, it is a market leader with no discernable flaws.MARKETING-LEADINGMOBILE SOLUTIONSPlanet’s mobile offering transformed into one competitivewith the most advanced payment providers. Paul Levinesaid, “Historically, we often lost merchant opportunitiesthat required robust mobile application support but thatis no longer the case. From opportunities with smallermerchants to supporting one of the largest globalautomotive companies, the ACI mobile SDK has met orexceeded both our and our clients’ needs.” This mobilesolution—including mobile SDKs, mobile point of sale, theability to render web shops on mobile devices, and in-apppayments—delivers a comprehensive mobile solution forglobal merchants.GLOBAL ALTERNATIVEPAYMENT METHODSPlanet Payment needed access to a global paymentnetwork and ACI delivered the most powerful in theindustry: more than 300 acquirers and alternativepayment methods in over 160 countries. And thenetwork is constantly growing. Now, Planet Paymenthas the technology to offer merchants nearly anyalternative payment method in the world. Accordingto Paul Levine, President of Planet Payment Solutions,“Supporting our merchants’ alternative payment needsas they expanded into new markets was a roadblockfor Planet Payment. Often, it was too difficult to justifythe first integration to a local payment method. Now wecan negotiate a commercial arrangement with a localpayment provider and enable technical connectivity withthe flip of a switch, allowing us to give better paymentsupport to our merchants.” Connecting to the ACI globalpayment network helped Planet quickly transform into aglobal APM leader. EMBEDDEDPCI-COMPLIANCEACI’s payment form, COPYandPAY, which Planet Paymentrebranded PIPE, handles PCI compliance and embedswithin a web shop. COPYandPAY thus addresses a majormerchant pain point, PCI compliance, while avoidingthe offsite redirects that worry shoppers and lowerconversion rates. Merchants outsource data security toPlanet Payment and ACI while still hosting paymentswithin their web shops. COPYandPAY is easier to workwith than Planet’s previous payment form. It is available in10 coding languages and integration takes only minutes.4