The Map to the Multi-Currency Feature You Need
A possible approach is to gradually phase into the desired scenario where everything is seamless and tightly integrated. This could be accomplished by starting out with a conversion rate and perhaps a small fee while making sure the end user is made aware of the fact accordingly.
There could be a particular market—or markets—where it makes sense to initiate business with the direct currency purchasing functionality. While strongly encouraged, it's simultaneously time-consuming to validate, test and work with the payment provider to process payments for each different currency.
The final option is to set up some form of representative digital currency. As mentioned above, this could be an actual digital currency that has to be purchased and converted from the local currency beforehand; or it could be bought in a strongly integrated way, by getting purchased behind the scenes in a seamless fashion. Alternatively, instead of an official external digital currency, the payment method could literally be just a token or point system within the application. A pay hub can help in such a scenario.
In other words, each item available for sale in the application isn't represented as a specific currency, but as a token amount instead. The currency conversion would be from the local currency to the specified token amount. The drawback of this approach is how it frequently creates confusion for the end users, hindering their ability to understand what the token amount is actually worth in real money.
Support Multi-Currency on Your eCommerce Platform
This problem can be easily overcome by showing the selected currency amount alongside the token value. The idea of a token system can be really helpful, especially with a diverse pool of users (buyers or sellers) of the platform, who trade in different currencies. A token system can also avoid the substantial logistical overhead of multiple active currencies and attempts to process them through payment providers. The exchange rate or logistical issues surrounding the setup of excessive payment providers can be noticeably reduced by a token system in the payment gateway.
Payment Gateways for eCommerce Stores
The best solution for your eCommerce application depends on a number of factors. During the early phase of initiating international eCommerce, all options are acceptable. As online businesses continue to grow and build an international eCommerce presence, it makes sense to leverage multi-currency for enhanced integrations that literally push the payments directly to the payment provider in each local currency via a B2B payment gateway.
Choosing a payment gateway option from the beginning can result in excessive overhead, so we encourage starting small on your eCommerce platform and then iteratively growing into more complex and streamlined offerings. Clarity is here to help you on that journey, no matter the cross-border eCommerce sales you want to make. Learn more about our payment hub and what it can do for you.