前不久，iPayLinks与诞生于以色列的领先在线交易反欺诈平台Riskified*建立了合作伙伴关系。与此同时，Riskified找到iPayLinks进行了一次访谈，关于中国市场、中国消费者、跨境电商的挑战、以及最近的全球疫情等话题，iPayLinks发表了自己的见解。

以下内容来源自riskified-CNP Fraud: The Challenge Chinese Merchants Need to Overcome

阿里巴巴与京东等中国电商平台巨头的海外扩张，推动形成了中国电子商务的出海热潮。中国的成功及其对全球电子商务商户的吸引力是显而易见的：在快速发展的经济、先进的制造业，以及拥有一群精通技术、具备强大消费能力的新一代的消费者作为后盾的支持下，成就了世界上最大的电子商务市场。

而今，中国品牌充满了信心，并做好了充分的准备将商品直接提供给中国境外的消费者们，以效率、速度、与物超所值来吸引全球的跨境购物者。

iPayLinks正是推动这场革命的企业之一。这家总部设在上海的金融科技公司，为中国电商提供“端到端”的全球支付解决方案，帮助他们在海外顺利扩展市场。

中国商户在中国境外扩展业务时所面临的最大挑战是什么？

iPayLinks：中国商户在中国境外扩展业务时所面临的最大挑战之一，就是碰到“无卡交易”（Card Not Present，简称CNP）欺诈。CNP欺诈在中国本地交易中并不多见，因此很少受到重视。而很多中国商户开始做跨境销售时，便突然被这种新的现象所淹没，他们没有意识到、也没有准备好应对拒付产生的情况。

CNP欺诈在中国之所以不太普遍、其原因之一在于本地独特的支付格局。在中国，绝大多数的本地交易都是通过其他付款方式来进行的。根据数据统计，去年本地在线交易只有16％的消费者使用信用卡，其余的则通过支付宝或微信支付等本地产品。对于在本地销售的中国商户而言，这些支付方式的优势显而易见。他们的利润率要比信用卡来得划算，成功率也更高。

随着商户们向海外扩张，iPayLinks能为商户提供的最大价值之一便是将他们业务本地化——确保当地的业务合作伙伴能够提供便利且符合消费者的购物与付款习惯。我们已在亚洲、澳大利亚、北美、欧洲以及中东等主要市场打造了合作伙伴关系，并建立了本地化业务，这意味着我们与当地的支付文化保持一致，我们的商户可以为C端客户提供最广泛的服务。对于促进跨境销售来说，提供无缝支付渠道是至关重要的。

从商户的角度来看，iPayLinks可处理银行付款并与本地收单行集成、以降低费用并优化其货币的兑换。他们为满足特定的业务需求提供定制化解决方案，因此，具有特定市场销售渠道的商户可通过一次集成的方式、与跨地区的本地收单方建立联系。此外，iPayLinks还会帮助商户遵守当地的法律合规，其最终目的不仅是为商户降低成本、更能让商户得以全力专注在他们最擅长的工作——销售上面。

根据全球疫情蔓延的情况，这对iPayLinks的业务乃至中国整体业务的影响有多大？

iPayLinks：我们现在已经结束隔离期，回到办公室工作了，服务并没受到太多影响。不过，有些商户确实受到了疫情打击，而iPayLinks团队很快地为他们提供了额外的服务与优惠活动，目的是帮助他们降低成本，并保持资金流以渡过这段艰难的时期。

在整场危机中，我们的商户几乎没有陷入恐慌或不知所措。与我们合作的在线旅行社和航空公司也迅速改变了他们的思维方式——他们开始推广不受特定日期限制的未来套餐，在着眼于未来的同时专注于减轻当下的严重现状。这是一个非常有效的做法，因为内地航空旅行已经显示出复苏的迹象，并且这一做法也为市场的后期反弹提供了信心。

iPayLinks从这次疫情中汲取了哪些可以用于应对今后其他市场冲击的经验？

iPayLinks：这次我们最显见的一个收获，就是了解到提前计划部署的重要性：即拥有一个支持远程就业的框架，并提前为突发状况做好财务方面的准备。此外对于商户来说还有一些要点，例如不与一个单一的供应商合作，以避免承受必然的欠缺、确保物流渠道具有足够的延展性等。

不过，最重要的要点之一，还是与充分利用时间有关。对我们来说，这是个绝佳的、审核我们内部流程机会，并找到所需改进之处。在适应新现实的过程中，我们的团队非常有创意，我们希望将其中的一些创新成果套用在面对疫情过后的部署上。

最后，请为全球的跨境商户提供了一些建议！

iPayLinks：想要打入中国市场的外国品牌，必须掌握并提供其他不同的付款方式，主要是电子钱包。这些不仅需要整合到支付渠道中，还需要为此建立一个专属的销售渠道。

而对于希望将业务扩展到海外的中国商户，必须确保了解当地的付款方式，并根据终端客户们所习惯与喜爱的结帐方式提供服务。另外最重要的是——商户需要重视CNP欺诈的存在——对于想在海外销售的中国商户而言，这是一个新的挑战。

*Riskified是一家来自以色列的在线交易反欺诈平台，成立于2012年，先后获得过Pitango Venture Capital、Qumra Capital、Genesis Partners等机构的上亿美元融资。Riskified使用强大的AI机器学习算法与用户行为分析，为Trip.com、Wish、Prada等全球知名企业提供在线交易监控与反欺诈服务。

The Golden Age of China’s eCommerce export boom has been ushered mostly via popular marketplaces like Ali Express and JD. China’s success, and its appeal for global eCommerce merchants is a no-brainer: it’s the largest eCommerce market in the world, backed by a rapidly growing economy, a state-of-the-art manufacturing sector, and a new generation of tech-savvy consumers with significant spending power.

But now, Chinese brands are confident and ready to offer their goods directly to consumers outside of China, wooing cross-border shoppers with value for money, efficiency and speed.

One company helping fuel this revolution is iPayLinks, a fintech firm based in Shanghai, offering Chinese eCommerce merchants an end-to-end global payments solution to help them expand and succeed in overseas markets. Riskified and iPayLinks have recently formed a partnership, utilising Riskified’s advanced machine learning technology combined with iPayLinks global financial capabilities, to ensure that Chinese eCommerce merchants maximise sales and prevent payment fraud to safely expand overseas.

We had a chance to speak with iPayLinks team, about the Chinese market, Chinese consumers, cross-border challenges, and the recent Coronavirus pandemic.

According to iPayLinks, one of the biggest challenges Chinese merchants face as they expand their business outside of China is Card Not Present fraud. “CNP fraud doesn’t really exist in local Chinese transactions, so it has never been an issue. And when Chinese merchants start selling cross-border, they’re suddenly inundated with a new phenomenon they’re unaware of, and unprepared to handle, in the form of chargebacks.”

One of the reasons CNP fraud is less prevalent in China, is the unique local payments landscape. The vast majority of local transactions in China are made via alternative payment methods. According to iPayLinks, only 16% of local online transactions last year in China were made using credit cards, with the rest conducted via products like Ali Pay or WeChat Pay. “For Chinese merchants selling locally, the advantages of alternative payment methods are clear. They’re easier on the margins than credit cards, and success rates are higher.”

And that ties in to one of the biggest values iPayLinks’ offers their merchants as they expand abroad: localization, and ensuring that local business partners facilitate local shopping and payment habits. “We’ve forged partnerships and established local presence in key markets, across Asia, Australia, North America, Europe and the Middle East, which means we are in tune with local payment culture, and our merchants can offer their end customers the widest range of familiar services” iPayLinks told us, adding that “a seamless payment funnel is critical for acing cross-border sales.”

And from a merchant perspective, iPayLinks handles banking payments and integrates with local acquirers to lower fees and optimize currency exchange.They offer customized solutions to match specific business needs, so shops with market-specific sales channels can connect with local acquirers across regions using a single integration. iPayLinks also helps comply with local regulations, with the ultimate goal of reducing costs and allowing merchants to focus strictly on what they do best: selling.

We asked iPayLinks about the Coronavirus pandemic, and how it impacted iPayLinks’ business, and business in China in general. “We’re back in the office now and our service has not been overtly affected.” However, some of their merchants did take a hit from the pandemic, and iPayLinks team were quick to offer additional services and promotions. The goal was to help their partners reduce costs and maintain capital flows to get through these trying times.

“Throughout the entire ordeal, none of our merchants panicked or froze, OTAs and Airlines that we work with shifted their mindset - mitigating the present, while thinking forward and promoting future packages that were not confined by specific dates.” And that makes sense, with domestic air travel showing signs of recovery and providing confidence for an eventual rebound.

We asked iPayLinks what lessons were learned as a result of the pandemic, to help prepare for any future disruptions. They told us that “one of the obvious takeaways is the importance of planning ahead and being prepared: having a framework that supports remote employment, being prepared financially for enduring events.” iPayLinks also addressed some technical takeaways, like never partnering with one single supplier, to ensure that logistics channels are malleable enough to withstand inevitable shortcomings. But one of the most important takeaways related to making good use of time. “For us, it was a perfect opportunity to audit our internal processes, and to find areas for improvement. Our team was extremely creative in adjusting to a new reality, and we wanted to tap into some of that creativeness and to leverage it not only for COVID-19 matters, but also thinking ahead to the day after.”

iPayLinks concluded with some tips for merchants. “Foreign brands that want to penetrate the Chinese market will have to master and offer alternative payment methods, mainly eWallets. these need to be integral to the payment funnel, but also a sales channel on their own.” As for Chinese merchants looking to expand their offering overseas, iPayLinks had this to say: “Make sure you know the local payment landscape, and deliver a checkout that is in tune with what the end customers expect, appreciate and like. But most of all, merchants need to be aware of CNP fraud - this is a new challenge for Chinese merchants who want to sell overseas.”