Domestic and Preferred Card Schemes
The most commonly known are Visa, Mastercard, Diners and American Express. There are two fees that you should be aware of when considering offering credit card. Your bank will charge you a Merchant Service Fee (or MSF), typically a percentage of the transaction value – anywhere from 1 – 6%, (but likely to be around 4% for a startup business in a low risk business category), and your gateway will charge you a per transaction fee as well
Alternative Payment Methods
Payment Gateways – these connect all participants in a transaction together, i.e the merchant (you), the issuing bank (the bank that issued the card to your customer), the acquiring bank (your bank that issued you with a Merchant Account) and the credit card schemes.
The common Payment Gateways in New Zealand are DPS Payment Express, Paystation, Flo2cash and IP Payments. There are also new entrants such as Swipe that provide a complete service so you don’t need a separate relationship with a bank – i.e you get one fee per transaction that incorporates the MSF and gateway fee. Confusing, I know! The main New Zealand banks often have a branded Gateway offering e.g. BNZ Buyline or ANZ eGate. Often the banks’ offering is simply while labelled from one of the Payment Gateway providers, meaning the bank uses their system but put their branding on it.
Mobile Appetite
51% of smartphone users have used their smartphone to locate stores, 31% to compare prices.
8% of New Zealand Internet users aged between 15 and 65 have purchased physical goods online during the last 12 months via a smartphone, whereas 18% have purchased via a tablet.
Total spend value: NZD 2.8 billion.
Mobile Operating Systems – Android is the preferred mobile operating system in New Zealand at 64%.