For B2B and B2C companies, it may be time to seek out an alternative solution that maximizes growth.
Replatforming in ecommerce (i.e., moving from an existing platform to a new one) is a considerable decision for companies to make, no matter the business model. On one hand, the migration from platform to platform can be a major undertaking and costly in itself. On the other hand, failing to do so can result in stagnated growth, poor customer experience, and lost revenue.
Solving this Catch-22 boils down to: if the failings or shortcomings of your platform outweigh the inconvenience and cost of migrating, it’s a choice you need to make and, in most cases, hastily. According to one report, 76% of B2B ecommerce sellers are actively looking to switch platforms within a year.
Getting More Out of Your MoR
The decision to switch platforms is especially weighty for companies leveraging a Merchant of Record (MoR). A third-party MoR is more than just a payments processor — it’s a 360-degree, fully integrated extension of your business that touches every part of the customer journey. As a result, your company will go as far as your MoR solution goes, which means it may be time to assess your current platform: what’s missing, how it’s achieving short- and long-term growth business goals, and whether or not your customers would welcome a change.
Seeking an alternative merchant of record platform? Cleverbridge is an MoR provider that embraces every aspect of your ecommerce experience — from conversion, to expansion, to customer lifetime value. No matter what kind of B2B or B2C company you operate, we are your top choice for seamless migration and endless growth.
For more about making the switch to Cleverbridge, click here.
The Telltale Signs to Switch MoR Platforms
- Lack of Localization: When ecommerce stores grow, part of that growth can come via market expansion. (More than 70% of the world’s purchasing power now resides outside of the US, in emerging markets like Brazil, China, and India.) While it may seem easy to sell SaaS products overseas, there are several financial and regulatory hurdles in place. From accepting multiple currencies, to varying tax law, to ensuring compliance standards, to regional payment options and preferences (e.g., customers that prefer installments), a far-reaching MoR should be fully equipped for everything that goes into cross-border ecommerce.
- Limited Subscription Features: For B2B SaaS companies in particular, subscription-based sales models present an opportunity for third-party MoRs to provide key services. Customers demand flexibility with their subscription, which can include: self-service options (67% of business buyers prefer it over speaking to a sales rep), free trials/freemium accounts, tiered pricing, usage-based billing, and other customizable features that enhance the customer journey. If you’re not offering customers the flexibility they desire beyond the point of sale, your retention efforts are likely suffering.
- Unreliable Uptime: The infrastructure of your ecommerce platform is its lifeblood — ensuring that operations run smoothly with zero interruption. Partnering with an MoR that frequently deals with outages — especially during highly trafficked periods (e.g., Black Friday) — can cause massive ripple effects on your business, whether it’s losing sales in the moment or losing customers due to a poor user experience. You’ll want to ensure your MoR partner has a proven track record, with the capacity to handle high volume and the tech staff to proactively combat downtime.
- Poor Customer Support: Another key driver for customer lifetime value is best-in-class support. This extends to multiple areas, whether it's tech support (e.g., addressing integration challenges), CS (customer success) support for any business needs, or customer support for end users (e.g., disputes, refunds). For all of the above, responsiveness is key. Are your support teams readily available? Are they quick to respond? In some instances, customers witness a drastic change in service level after becoming a client, throughout the duration of their subscription cycle.
- Delayed Payouts: By handing off your ecommerce responsibilities to a third party merchant of record, you are dependent on them for getting paid on any customer transaction. As a result, any delay, error, or inconsistency involving your payment schedule can cause major headaches for your business. It’s vital to partner with a financially stable and reliable MoR that doesn’t negatively impact your cash flow, but rather, delivers payments consistently on-time.
- Poor Product Roadmap: You can tell a lot by where a technology partner has been, but even more by where they are heading. A sign of a stagnant company is one with an unclear or bleak roadmap, whether that involves upgrading its existing products and services or introducing new, innovative solutions to ecommerce. (It could also be an indicator that your current MoR is experiencing financial issues.) If a prospective partner is continuously improving and enhancing its tech (e.g., investing in AI), it puts your business in the best position to succeed for the future.
- Archaic Analytics: Finally, while most MoR platforms provide reporting & analytics, not all data and insights are created equal. Some may just offer baseline stats (e.g., conversion rate, monthly recurring revenue), but the best solutions dig deeper with more advanced metrics like average expansion value, involuntary vs voluntary churn rate, or even industry benchmarks for important subscription KPIs. The more granular the better, so look for an MoR that provides reporting & analytics tailored to your specific business and revenue aspirations — data that is not just actionable, but predictive.
Bottom Line
It’s clear that a merchant of record platform must meet certain thresholds to remain fiscally viable. What’s less clear is whether the solution is going above and beyond to accommodate the growth your business is ready (or wanting) to achieve.
When seeking a new full-service MoR, it’s crucial the platform is able to grow at the same rate as your business. Whether you want to scale globally, offload tax and compliance, introduce new features at the point of sale (and in-subscription), or provide customers best-in-class support, your third-party MoR should be limitless in its capability, with the added benefit of extensibility — launching new integrations that embrace innovation and evolving customer expectations.
In addition to providing all the services you desire, at Cleverbridge, we’re leaders when it comes to seamless integration, allowing you to go live with your new MoR solution within a matter of days — not weeks or months. From there, we are committed to ensuring your platform runs smoothly, evident by our 100% platform uptime rate achieved in 2024.
Unsure about migrating all of your ecommerce business at once? We can also accommodate a more staggered migration, allowing you to initially route smaller transaction volumes through our platform (while conducting A/B tests) and increase traffic over time — ensuring optimal evaluation and a seamless transition of services.
If you’re looking for an alternative to your current solution, Cleverbridge is an MoR for both B2B and B2C companies that can grow your business well into the future. Click here to start your migration today.
