Your article “Amazon/Visa: clash of the titans” (Lex, November 19) sheds light on a fundamental problem that affects the cost base of all retailers, regardless of shape or size. Even if Visa relents and extends an olive branch of lower fees to Amazon, it will only go so far to unravel the knot it has itself tied.
The hard truth is that cards have reached their expiry date in a world of instant payments and borderless commerce. For years, they have been retrofitted into online checkouts, creating an invisible web of hidden costs and unwieldy payment structures.
With the technologies available today, brands and retailers should no longer be held hostage to card networks. New and proven solutions enabled by open banking can move money at a fraction of the cost, more securely using biometrics and more conveniently.
Not treating payments as an afterthought could be a watershed moment for ending outdated and monopolistic infrastructures and deliver significant savings that all modern retailers desperately need.
Roger De’Ath
Head of Ecommerce, TrueLayer
London EC1, UK
Letter: Retailers must be free of payment monopolies
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