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merchant payments 33
Robert Byrne For payments and non-payments companies, ments solutions and to connect various sys-
new merchant services are attractive areas tems and platforms than it was just five
Jason Hanson
for growth. For payments companies, rev- years ago. Coupled with hardware advances
enues from new merchant services could such as smartphones and tablets, point-of-
double today’s market in traditional mer- service (POS) systems are transitioning from
chant acquiring and transaction processing. payments-only terminals to software solu-
For non-payments players, new services rep- tions that help merchants operate their busi-
resent a major step toward closing the loop ness, such as practice management software
between investments in advertising and loy- for medical providers or order management
alty programs and consumers’ ultimate pur- software for restaurants.
chasing decisions.
These changes will intensify competition
At the same time, cloud computing is lower- and result in accelerating price compression.
ing the barriers to entry for software firms According to forecasts from McKinsey’s U.S.
seeking to provide merchant services. It is Payments Map, total electronic payments
easier today to develop inexpensive pay- volume is expected to grow by about 7 per-
34 McKinsey on Payments May 2014
cent per year over the next five years—driven As a result, overall processing revenues are
largely by continued growth in digital com- expected to grow by 2 to 3 percent annually
merce and increased electronic payments ac- over the next five years (Exhibit 3, page 36).
ceptance at small merchants (Exhibit 1). Low growth in what is essentially a scale
business will necessitate consolidation
Despite growing volumes, increased compe-
tition will accelerate margin compression along the merchant payments value chain
and constrain industry revenue growth. This in order to sustain current market valua-
compression will be felt most keenly in the tions. Firms such as independent sales or-
small (less than $5 million in annual elec- ganizations (ISOs), payments gateways and
tronic transaction volume) and medium-size subscale payments acquirers and processors
($5 million to $100 million in volume) mer- will need to merge to drive efficiency in a
chant segments, where margins are rela- crowded landscape.
tively high today (Exhibit 2, page 36). For
Lessons from the past
larger national merchants, whose margins
are already near their structural floor, in- The evolution of the merchant payments
creased processing efficiency will result in industry over the past three decades (see
margin compression of 2 to 3 percent per sidebar) leads to two important assump-
year—slightly below that of prior periods. tions:
2.3
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9 10.2
1
Greater than $100 million in electronic 0.8 0.8
sales volume 0.6
2
$5 million to $100 million in electronic
1.2 1.3 1.4
sales volume 0.9 1.0 1.1
3 0.6 0.8
Less than $5 million in electronic sales
volume
Source: McKinsey U.S. Payments Map 2008 2012 2013 2014F 2015F 2016F 2017F 2018F
Innovation and disruption in U.S. merchant payments 35
In the 1990s, as more and more small and medium-size merchants began accepting electronic payments, electronic volumes grew 14
percent per year in the U.S. But banks lacked the sales and service capacity to take on a substantial number of small and mid-size
merchants. Business bankers were comfortable focusing on the higher-return credit opportunities available in the economic environment of
the time. As a result, ISOs stepped in to provide much-needed distribution capacity to this growing segment.
The 2000s marked a third major disruption in the U.S. merchant payments value chain. Already common at large merchants, electronic POS
systems became more accessible to mid-market merchants by the early 2000s, thanks to falling PC hardware prices and expanding
computing power. The availability of local processing power, local data storage, networking and graphical user interfaces made it possible to
develop flexible, highly functional POS systems that could be tailored to payments-intensive industries such as retail, food service and
hospitality. Contemporaneously, Internet use became widespread, and online commerce emerged as a new channel for merchants. These
changes led to the entrance of two new sets of participants in the payments value chain: value-added resellers (VARs) and payments
gateways. VARs distributed POS solutions on behalf of POS software companies such as Micros and NCR and enabled the integration of
payments processing with those systems. Payments gateways enabled connectivity between off-line POS software, online commerce Web
sites and payments processors. Essentially, software developers and VARs could integrate with one payments gateway, which could then route
transactions to various processors, eliminating the need for costly, time-consuming integrations with legacy payments processing platforms.
36 McKinsey on Payments May 2014
Exhibit 2 U.S. electronic payments acquiring/processing net revenue margin1 2013-18 CAGR
Increased bps Percent
competition will Durbin impact and unwind2
80
result in accelerated -0.5%
processing margin
70
compression,
especially among -2.1%
60
small and
medium-size
50
merchants
Small -7.6
merchants
40
Medium-size
-2.1% merchants -5.8
30
1
Merchant electronic payments processing Industry -5.1
fees net of network interchange, dues and 20 average
assessments; includes recurring ancillary -3.5%
fees (e.g., annual fees, chargeback fees,
compliance fees).
2
10 Large
Period where Durbin Amendment results in -2.6
an initial increase in processing margins,
merchants
followed by a subsequent unwinding of
gains as merchant contracts expire and 0
excess rents are competed away.
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014F 2015F 2016F 2017F 2018F
Source: McKinsey U.S. Payments Map
2.5
4.6 4.7 4.7 2.0
4.3 4.3 4.3 4.5
3.7
Source: McKinsey U.S. Payments Map 2008 2012 2013 2014F 2015F 2016F 2017F 2018F
Innovation and disruption in U.S. merchant payments 37
duction of the electronic terminal 30 years tionality into other software solutions less
ago. As a result, firms providing merchant- burdensome. As a result, a host of different
facing functions—ISOs, VARs and the cap- business software solutions can provide pay-
tive sales forces of banks and nonbank ments functionality on lower-cost hardware
acquirers—are likely to see significant dis- such as tablets. To retain their dominant po-
ruption. New entrants armed with the lat- sition with merchants, traditional POS
est technologies will challenge existing providers must innovate beyond the POS or
customer relationships. Competition for expand their products’ functionality beyond
growing payments volumes will drive down payments acceptance. Large terminal man-
industry margins further, requiring incum- ufacturers are already acting on this prem-
bent firms to consolidate to defend and ise, as demonstrated by VeriFone’s
grow their businesses. acquisition of Global Bay, a mobile pay-
ments solution provider.
Over the next decade, technology
POS solution providers
will drive evolution in merchant Over the next five years, the vast majority of
payments that will rival the changes merchant payments processing revenue
growth in the U.S.—more than $1.5 billion of
prompted by the introduction of the new revenue—will be acquired through soft-
electronic terminal 30 years ago. ware solutions rather than traditional pay-
ment terminals (see sidebar, page 39).
The implications of tech-driven Transactions via solution providers are ex-
change pected to grow from 24 to 33 percent, ap-
Changes in the payments industry are affect- proximately, of total acquiring/processing
ing all participants in the value chain. Those revenue during this period (Exhibit 4, page
closest to the consumer will experience the 38). In particular, solution providers will be-
greatest impact. come more prevalent in middle-market pay-
ments, with health care and retail expected
Traditional terminal manufacturers
to see the largest increases. Large enterprise
Traditional terminal manufacturers who fail software companies will focus on providing
to adapt to the evolving market may face the
holistic, cloud-based process services to
highest potential negative impact. Histori-
small businesses.
cally, software embedded in the payment
terminal allowed for the secure collection Traditional independent software vendors
and transmission of data onto the network. (ISVs) that provide POS solutions to the re-
The device was “smart,” allowing other soft- tail, restaurant and hospitality industries—
ware interacting with the point of sale to such as Micros and NCR—are building or
avoid handling payments information in a buying new payments-related capabilities in
manner that would subject that software to response to growth expectations. NCR, for
network certification requirements. Today, example, acquired Radiant, their principal
technology—specifically cloud computing— payments gateway, and developed Silver, a
is making the integration of payments func- cloud-based POS solution. Ventures of this
38 McKinsey on Payments May 2014
kind will enable existing POS software com- ISVs will become increasingly relevant part-
panies to grow in two ways: by participating ners for the distribution of payments pro-
directly in payments economics by virtue of cessing. Almost all of this growth will occur
owning the gateway, and by expanding into in the small and medium-sized merchant
smaller merchant segments with lower-cost, segments. Many new, small-business pay-
cloud-delivered solutions. ments solution providers are looking to es-
tablished acquirer-processors or ISO sales
Beyond the traditional POS solution
forces as a potential route to market; the
providers, emerging ISVs and start-ups are
economics of this segment, however, will not
developing POS solutions that integrate pay-
support “payments only” distribution.
ments. For example, PayPal is integrating
payments processing with value-added busi- The adoption of cloud-delivered POS solu-
ness intelligence services while leveraging tions is a long-term threat to VARs’ business
existing POS hardware. Others, like Square models, given that these solutions often offer
and Intuit, are reinventing the POS process lower up-front installation costs, subscrip-
with tablet-based systems that offer access tion pricing and remote servicing. In the
to payments processing solutions with low near term, VARs will remain relevant for
up-front costs. middle-market merchants in payments-
1.5
(11%) 2.3
(16%) Online 9.4 Card not present (CNP) Retail e-commerce
business-to- transactions excluding Online travel &
customer telesales and other entertainment
e-commerce direct marketing
transactions Online payment of
consumer services
8.3
(65%) 7.3 Traditional -2.5 Transactions that Terminals connecting
(51%) originate at terminals directly to
or merchant data processors
centers and route Direct marketing and
1
directly to the telesales
POS solution providers include ISVs,
payments processor
VARs/dealers and gateways that do not
serve e-commerce.
Source: McKinsey U.S. Payments Map;
expert interviews 2013 2018F
Innovation and disruption in U.S. merchant payments 39
intensive industries who lack national mer- Historically, gateways have served as an
chants’ IT staff but whose needs are too important link between POS software or
complex for the packaged payments solu- e-commerce Web sites and payments net-
tions available today. However, the general works; by eliminating the need to inte-
trend toward cloud-based delivery of pay- grate with multiple processors, they save
ments functionality will slowly erode VARs’ software developers and VARs time and
revenue streams from installations, servicing money. Today, payments processors are in-
and upgrades. vesting heavily in making their platforms
easier to integrate with software solutions.
Over 500 payments gateway companies At the same time, software companies with
enable connectivity and provide other a strong payments focus are building in-
value-added services for U.S. merchants. house gateway functionality (e.g., Micros)
• ISVs write business solution software that may or may not include a payments solution (e.g., Micros, Oracle). The software can be distributed
and serviced through a direct sales force, by VARs or, if cloud-based, remotely. Historically, only ISVs that focused on POS solutions for
payments-intensive industries (e.g., retail, restaurants) sought to integrate payments functionality into their solution, but as software moves
to cloud-based platforms, the integration of payments functionality becomes easier for software companies with less payments expertise.
• VARs (sometimes called “dealer networks”) install POS software and/or hardware solutions at the merchant site and often provide ongoing
services for the merchant (e.g., regional Micros dealers). VARs do not write the software but instead serve as an independent distribution
channel and servicing arm for software companies and existing POS solutions. Payments acquirers/processors often encourage VARs to
“pitch” processing services in return for one-time or recurring revenue.
• Gateway providers connect merchants to multiple processors and protect credit card information (e.g., Merchant Link, Authorize.net).
Gateways have enjoyed strong growth since the emergence of online commerce. A key driver of their rise was the point-to-point
communication protocols typically required by legacy payments processing platforms. Since software companies did not want to limit their
product to communication with one payments processor, gateways emerged as front-end aggregators that enabled communication between
multiple software solutions and payments platforms.
While innovative, Square’s moves in the micro-merchant segment are far from disruptive for incumbents. In fact, assuming continued volume
growth in the 30 to 40 percent range, Square is on track to achieve 20 percent market share in the micro-merchant segment by 2018—less
than 1 percent of total U.S. electronic payments volume.
The ability of Square and other emerging ISVs to take real market share from incumbent players in the middle and large merchant segments
over the next few years will likely foreshadow the intensity of disruption in merchant payments.
40 McKinsey on Payments May 2014
their returns. In particular, they will seek to may need to rethink what it means to part-
transform small business banking by moving ner with others—today’s competitor could
to remote coverage, expanding the breadth be tomorrow’s partner. Finally, companies
of products offered and increasing non- seeking success in the evolving environ-
credit revenues. Banks may also renew their ment should strengthen their strategic
interest in merchant payments services. planning and mergers and acquisitions
skills so that they can quickly react in what
*** is likely to be a dynamic environment over
To succeed in this rapidly changing market, the next several years.
payments players must examine the impact
Jason Hanson is an associate principal in the
of these trends on their business and make Chicago office, and Robert Byrne is a principal in
clear decisions about where and how they the San Francisco office.
will compete along the value chain. They