Omnichannel Payment Processing: From Omnichannel to Unified Commerce
How Payments Are Changing the Customer Experience
Learn how omnichannel commerce has evolved into unified payments, smart invoicing, ACH, digital wallets, payment links, APIs and connected payment infrastructure.
Presented by Allen Kopelman, CEO — Nationwide Payment Systems-Host of B2B Vault: The Biz2Biz Podcast
AI Overview
Omnichannel payment processing allows businesses to accept payments across connected channels, including eCommerce sites, physical locations, invoices, payment links, virtual terminals, mobile devices, and embedded software. Unified commerce takes this further by connecting payment, sales, accounting, and customer systems within one infrastructure.
A unified payment platform can support:
- Credit and debit cards
- ACH payments
- Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Smart invoicing
- Payment links and text-to-pay
- Recurring billing
- Point-of-sale and online checkout
- Accounting integrations
- APIs and embedded payments
By reducing payment friction and automating tasks such as invoicing, reminders, reconciliation, and recurring billing, businesses can improve the customer experience, streamline operations, and potentially shorten the invoice-to-cash cycle.
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A few years ago, omnichannel commerce was one of the biggest conversations in eCommerce.
Businesses were trying to connect their websites, physical stores, curbside pickup, shipping, customer service, social media, and payment systems into a more seamless experience.
Today, that idea has evolved.
Customers no longer think about "channels." They simply expect to be able to interact with a business, make a purchase, receive an invoice, pay a bill, or contact customer service in whatever way is most convenient.
That means businesses need more than an eCommerce website or a credit card terminal.
They need connected payment infrastructure.
The Original Omnichannel Idea
In an interview with Envision eCommerce, Nationwide Payment Systems CEO and Co-Founder Allen Kopelman discussed why businesses needed to connect their physical and digital operations.
The basic concept was simple:
Customers should be able to shop online, purchase in-store, arrange curbside pickup, have products shipped, and interact with a business across multiple channels without unnecessary friction.
That idea remains important.
But the technology available to businesses has expanded significantly.
Modern commerce now includes:
Credit and debit cards
ACH payments
Digital wallets
Apple Pay and Google Pay
Payment links
QR code payments
Text-to-pay
Email payment requests
Recurring billing
Online invoicing
Subscription payments
eCommerce checkout
Point-of-sale systems
Accounting integrations
APIs and embedded payments
The goal is no longer simply omnichannel commerce.
The goal is unified commerce.
Customers Don't Care About Your Payment Channels
Businesses often think about payments based on systems.
The accounting department sends invoices.
The website accepts payments.
The retail store has a POS system.
The sales team sends payment links.
The customer thinks about it very differently.
They simply want to pay.
That distinction matters.
A customer receiving an invoice should be able to click a link and immediately choose how they want to pay rather than printing a PDF, writing a check, calling the accounting department, or manually entering banking instructions.
An eCommerce customer should not need to create an account and navigate six screens just to complete a purchase.
A customer speaking to a salesperson should be able to receive a secure payment link by text or email.
Every extra step creates friction.
And friction can mean abandoned purchases, delayed invoices, additional administrative work, and slower cash flow.
Payments Are Becoming Part of the Customer Experience
Payment processing used to be treated primarily as a back-office function.
That is changing.
Payments have become part of the customer experience.
A fast checkout feels better than a complicated checkout.
Receiving an invoice with a simple "Pay Now" button feels better than receiving a PDF attachment with instructions to mail a check.
Being able to use Apple Pay or Google Pay is often easier than finding a credit card and typing in the information.
Payment technology therefore affects much more than processing costs.
It can influence:
Conversion rates
Customer satisfaction
Accounts receivable
Cash flow
Employee productivity
Reconciliation
Customer retention
Business owners should evaluate their payment systems with those factors in mind.
B2B Payments Are Going Through the Same Transformation
Consumer payments evolved quickly.
B2B payments have generally moved much slower.
Many companies still rely heavily on:
PDF invoices
Paper checks
Manual ACH instructions
Phone payments
Spreadsheet tracking
Manual reconciliation
That creates significant friction in the invoice-to-cash cycle.
Modern smart invoicing platforms can change that process dramatically.
Instead of emailing a static invoice, businesses can send customers an interactive payment request where they can immediately choose how they want to pay.
Invoices can support cards, ACH and digital wallets while automated reminders help reduce the amount of time employees spend chasing overdue payments.
Businesses can also offer deposits, partial payments, recurring billing, subscriptions and stored payment methods depending on their business model.
The invoice becomes more than a document.
It becomes a payment experience.
Payment Choice Can Improve Cash Flow
One of the easiest ways to encourage customers to pay faster is simply making payment easier.
Consider a customer receiving two invoices.
Invoice A
The customer receives a PDF.
Instructions say:
"Please mail a check or contact accounting for ACH instructions."
The customer puts the invoice aside.
Invoice B
The customer receives a text or email.
They click Pay Now.
They can select:
ACH
Credit card
Debit card
Apple Pay
Google Pay
They complete the payment immediately.
Which business is more likely to get paid faster?
Convenience matters.
Businesses spend enormous amounts of time analyzing pricing while sometimes overlooking the value of reducing the time between sending an invoice and receiving the money.
The Future Is Connected Payment Infrastructure
Another major change occurring in payments is the movement toward connected platforms.
Businesses historically used different vendors for:
POS
eCommerce
Virtual terminals
Invoicing
Recurring billing
Payment links
Accounting
Reporting
The result can be a collection of systems that do not communicate properly.
Modern payment platforms increasingly combine these capabilities.
APIs and webhooks also allow software developers to integrate payments directly into applications instead of forcing customers into separate payment environments.
This is particularly important for SaaS companies, technology platforms, marketplaces and businesses developing proprietary software.
Payments should fit the company's workflow rather than forcing the company to redesign its operations around a payment processor.
AI Will Make Payment Operations More Intelligent
The next stage of commerce will increasingly involve artificial intelligence and automation.
AI can help businesses analyze payment and customer behavior, identify unusual transactions, automate communications, improve fraud detection and determine which customers may require additional follow-up.
Within accounts receivable, automation can help businesses determine:
Which invoices are overdue
Which customers historically pay late
When reminders should be sent
Which payment methods customers prefer
Where payment friction is occurring
The goal should not be replacing customer relationships.
The goal should be removing repetitive administrative work so employees can spend more time helping customers and growing the business.
Customer Service Still Matters
One prediction from the original omnichannel discussion remains especially relevant.
Technology cannot replace customer service.
Businesses sometimes invest heavily in automation while making it increasingly difficult for customers to reach a real person.
That creates another type of friction.
Customers should have access to convenient digital tools, but when something goes wrong, someone should be available to help.
That philosophy applies to payment processing as well.
A sophisticated payment platform does little good when the business cannot reach someone when transactions stop processing, funds are delayed, a chargeback occurs, or an integration has a problem.
Technology and service should work together.
Businesses Should Own Their Payment Strategy
Perhaps the biggest change happening in payments is that businesses are beginning to recognize payments as part of their overall technology strategy.
The question should no longer simply be:
"What rate am I paying?"
Business owners should also ask:
Does my payment system integrate with my software?
Can customers pay using their preferred method?
Can we accept ACH and cards?
Can customers use digital wallets?
Can we send secure payment links?
Can we automate recurring billing?
Can our invoicing system automate payment reminders?
Does the system integrate with our accounting software?
Can our developers access an API?
Can the platform grow with our business?
What happens when we need support?
The cheapest transaction rate does not necessarily create the best payment infrastructure.
Businesses need to evaluate the entire payment ecosystem.
From Omnichannel to Unified Commerce
Omnichannel commerce started with a simple idea:
Let customers interact with a business wherever they want.
Unified commerce takes that idea further.
The website, point of sale, invoices, accounting system, customer communications and payment infrastructure should work together.
For businesses, that can mean fewer disconnected systems and less manual work.
For customers, it means something even simpler:
Buying and paying should be easy.
That principle has not changed.
The technology available to accomplish it has.
How Nationwide Payment Systems Helps
Nationwide Payment Systems works with businesses to build payment solutions around how they actually operate rather than forcing every company into the same payment model.
Through the NPSONE platform and connected payment technologies, businesses can accept payments through multiple channels, including online payments, virtual terminal transactions, payment links, smart invoicing, ACH, credit and debit cards, recurring billing, digital wallets and API integrations.
Businesses can also integrate payment technology into accounting platforms, eCommerce environments and custom software applications.
Whether a company processes payments online, in person, through invoices, or across multiple locations and systems, the objective is the same:
Make payments easier for customers and easier for the business to manage.
Ready to Modernize Your Payment Infrastructure?
If your company is still juggling disconnected payment systems, PDF invoices, manual payment collection, or outdated processing technology, Nationwide Payment Systems can review your current setup and identify opportunities to simplify your payment workflow.
Schedule a payment technology review or NPSONE demo with Nationwide Payment Systems.
