Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
By Kevin Woodward
n
Global payment gateway provider Adyen processed more than $14 billion in global payments in 2013, a 40% increase from $10 billion in 2012, the company recently announced.
n
In North America, Adyen’s transaction value growth rate was 1,800% in 2013, an increase attributed in part to the small base of merchants it started the year with, says Kamran Zaki, president of Adyen North America. Globally, Adyen has more than 3,500 merchants, such as online dating site Zoosk Inc. and international e-commerce cross-border services company i-parcel LLC. Adyen began U.S. operations in 2010.
n
Mobile transactions in particular are growing for the Amsterdam-based company, and taking a larger share of overall transactions. Mobile payments accounted for 19.5% of all transactions in 2013, an 85% increase from 10.5% in 2012, Adyen says. That includes transactions made via smart phones and tablets, Zaki says. He expects mobile payments to continue to grow, especially as more merchants make online commerce as available on mobile devices as it is on their traditional Web sites, he says.
n
“The lines between mobile and e-commerce and physical payments are blurring,” Zaki says. This creates a challenge for merchants, which typically have treated the three ways that customers make purchases as distinct entities. “Their challenge is integrating all of the data and the payment information behind the scenes,” he says.
n
Zaki says Adyen is working on services that will help merchants meet this challenge. It works with companies like Revel Systems, which makes a tablet-based point-of-sale terminal, and is working on deals with other POS system makers to integrate Adyen payment processing into their systems.
n
Adyen’s strategy to address this convergent need among merchants makes sense, says Todd Ablowitz, president of Centennial, Colo.-based Double Diamond Group. “They have a good structure that allows them to grow quickly,” Ablowitz says. “That seems to be showing up in their numbers.” The opportunity for Adyen, and other payment service providers, will continue to grow globally, Ablowitz says.
n
In 2013, Adyen also relocated its North America operations from Boston to San Francisco, a move Zaki says will enable the company to tap into the pool of technology professionals there. “We want to differentiate ourselves by bringing in people from the payments industry, but also people from the merchant side,” he says.
