Nuvei: LatAm Beckons to eCommerce Companies ‘Going Local’

For merchants seeking new customers around the globe — to gain top-line momentum through eCommerce — few markets beckon like Latin America.

PYMNTS Intelligence has found, as detailed in the “How the World Does Digital” reports, that Brazil, for example, has among the most digitally engaged consumers in the world, using their devices to do everything from banking to gaming. Other countries, such as Colombia, are also hotbeds of online activity, which in turn means that individuals are willing (and able) to transact with a host of merchants to get what they want, round the clock.

Juan Soto, general manager of LatAm for Nuvei, told PYMNTS there are pitfalls that await merchants who don’t understand how consumers behave, with granular insight into payment preferences and market-by-market differences that demand a careful, calibrated approach to payments. Get it wrong with a cookie cutter approach to eCommerce, he warned, “and you’re not going to be able to succeed in terms of acceptance rates or increased revenues.”

Among the most critical strategies for those trying to sell “from the outside,” said Soto, it’s best to use local acquirers to avoid FX fees, or potential regulatory issues.

Latin America, cautioned Soto, “is more than a region — it’s different countries, with different consumers — different legislation and currencies,” with a host of anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) considerations as well. From Soto’s vantage point managing his company’s efforts in Brazil and Colombia, especially, business have the opportunity to align their payment systems to meet local consumers’ expectations.

Brazil’s a prime example, he said, of a market that’s been able to synthesize the three key elements of a successful and widely accepted payment method, in the form of the instant payment system Pix. The central bank teamed with merchants, consumers and banks (the intermediaries) to create a real-time payments offering that provide seamless interactions between all parties.

Instant payments are ubiquitous in Brazil, and must be top of mind for any merchant entering that market, said Soto. In Colombia, he told PYMNTS, local payment methods and regulations determine success in that country in industries as diverse as digital commerce and payments tied to online gaming, including with digital wallets. Nuvei partnered last year with Visa to offer Visa Direct in Colombia. Visa Direct is a processing capability that enables near real-time fund delivery directly to accounts using card credentials, speeding person-to-person (P2P) payments, funds disbursements, bill pay or cross-border remittances sent directly to debit or prepaid cards.

And for the merchants seeking to meet country-by-country preferences, Soto said, partnering with providers such as Nuvei can streamline go-to-market strategies, bringing enterprises into the local ecosystems without the technical burden or one-to-one banking relationships that may otherwise introduce friction into the process. The company also enables “smart routing” of transactions, which Soto said moves payments so that merchants will see the highest approval rates possible, along with better fraud defenses and lower false declines.

“Each of these countries,” he said, “treats the way money moves around differently — and you need to have someone [like Nuvei] that has already been through the process, and has any certifications and licenses that you may need to acquire in order to process payments within that country.”

In Colombia, Nuvei has local acquiring relationships in place, and with Brazil, the firm acquired its own licensed payment institution.

“We’re going local — and when we go local,” he said, “we have the expertise to ensure you have the smoothest, most effective transitions for payment processing — which gives good authorization rates.”

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