How VARUS increased sales by 150% with online payments from Tranzzo

The payment platform Tranzzo made online payments at the supermarket chain VARUS quick, transparent, and convenient for customers. As a result, the number of orders and the average order size increased. Let's explore the technologies and solutions that contributed to this outcome.

VARUS is a national supermarket chain in Ukraine, part of the "Omega" company in the food retail market. The first store opened in Dnipro in 2003, and currently, there are 104 supermarkets in various cities across Ukraine. VARUS is a market leader and operates in multiple formats, including traditional supermarkets, to-go stores, and the conscious shopping service varus.ua. The collaboration between VARUS and the Tranzzo payment platform began in May 2023.

Tranzzo is an international payment platform operating since 2017, providing online payment solutions for businesses worldwide. The company offers white-label solutions and custom development for accepting payments under the business's brand. With Tranzzo, businesses get all the most popular payment methods in one integration for ccepting payments on the website, mobile app and messengers. Tranzzo processes over 10 million transactions monthly for more than 3000 online services and stores.

Before partnering with Tranzzo, VARUS accepted payments for items in the shopping cart and refunded the "change" to the customer's card after order processing. This process was multi-stage and lacked transparency for the customer.

"In online stores selling food products, there is a particular feature — in 90% of cases, the final payment amount changes. This happens due to the recalculation of the final cost of weighted goods and the replacement of items that have been sold out. To process such orders, you need a solution that allows deducting the correct amount from the customer's card quickly and without unnecessary steps," says VARUS e-commerce director Oleg Spirin.

Tranzzo's primary goal in collaborating with VARUS was to increase the number of online orders by enhancing the customer payment experience. To achieve this, the retailer and the payment platform, in partnership with Visa, implemented a series of solutions, making the payment page convenient and understandable, adding the option to link a card for automatic payment after order collection. VARUS customers also received a 5% discount when paying with a Visa card. Thanks to Tranzzo's technologies, payments became faster, and conversion rates increased.

How Tranzzo and Visa improved VARUS customer payment experience

To ensure that the customer has a positive payment experience, each stage must be intuitive and raise trust. Tranzzo, in partnership with Visa, made this process as fast, convenient, and simple as possible for VARUS customers.

Tranzzo introduced two payment methods for VARUS customers. In the first method, the customer attaches the card to their account in the online store, and the funds are automatically charged. This way, neither the customer nor the store need to worry about timely payment for the collected order. The second method involves the customer receiving a payment link in a messenger or SMS, navigating to VARUS's payment page, and paying for the order in a convenient way. The link payment works in cases where the customer has not attached a card for automatic deductions or if the payment did not go through for some reason.

Automatic deductions on the store's website are provided by the Visa Token Service (VTS) technology. Tranzzo has long used it to automate payments, including one-click payments. This solution simplifies the process for the customer — no confirmation code is required for payment. The actual card data is replaced by a 16-digit code — a token that works only for one seller and cannot be used for fraudulent activities. Another feature of the VTS is that the token works even after the card is reissued, eliminating the need to enter new card details for payment.

A payment page in the store's distinctive style increases customer trust and reduces the risk of incomplete payments by up to 10%. Customers follow the payment link, and they fully understand that it was sent by VARUS. The Tranzzo team added the retailer's logo, brand colors, the option to pay with a card, and with Google Pay and Apple Pay wallets. The security of payments with Tranzzo is ensured by compliance with the international PCI DSS standard. Tranzzo annually undergoes audits, confirming that the platform's infrastructure protects payment data at the highest level.

When a VARUS customer paid for their online purchase with a Visa card, 5% less from the order's total was automatically charged. This information was displayed on the payment page, allowing the customer to immediately understand the payment amount, the amount saved, and why the total changed.

"Tranzzo provided automatic discount calculation from a technical standpoint. When the payment reached our system, it analyzed a specific set of parameters, 'saw' the Visa card, and deducted 5% from the order amount. The bank that issued the card received information about the payment with the discount. The difference in the amount for the seller was compensated by Visa", explains Tranzzo CEO Margarita Ochigava.

To ensure that the payment process is fast and beneficial for the seller, Tranzzo uses smart routing technology. The system analyzes over 30 payment parameters and selects the optimal path for transaction processing. This increases conversion by an average of 30% and saves up to 20% on acquiring commissions.

"If one bank issued the card, it would process the payment the fastest. For this operation, more lenient anti-fraud rules will apply. Up to 2% of payments may be rejected by banks due to strict fraud protection checks. We always strive for 100% successful payments for businesses," says Tranzzo CEO Margarita Ochigava.

The more information known about the card, the easier it is to direct transaction processing along the most advantageous route. A service called BIN lookup helps Tranzzo collect and analyze data, providing information about the card based on the Bank Identification Number (BIN). Those are the first 6-10 digits of the card number. Using BIN lookup, the payment platform determines parameters that help optimize routing, such as the bank's name, card type, country, and currency.

To process payments both fast and efficiently, Tranzzo collaborates with more than 10 Ukrainian banks. If one of them rejects a payment for some reason, the system automatically selects an alternative and directs the transaction to another acquirer. This technology is called cascading. It solves the problem of refusal from the bank's side. The selection of alternative acquirers for payment processing continues until the payment is successful.

"An important advantage of cascading is that finding and selecting the optimal route takes a few seconds. Therefore, the wait for the buyer will be insignificant – they won't notice any changes in the payment process," emphasizes Margarita.

Cascading and routing help ensure a payment conversion of up to 95%. For the buyer, the payment process takes seconds and requires no extra actions. This creates a positive payment experience and increases the likelihood of repeat purchases.

All payment statistics that were processed through the Tranzzo platform are displayed in the seller's personal cabinet — the merchant portal. In it, necessary business indicators can be analyzed — tracking payment conversion, learning about customer payment preferences, reasons for rejected payments, and ways to resolve them.

Based on payment data, businesses need to reconcile, correctly account for balances, and record information in their accounting systems. For this purpose, Tranzzo sends a register to each seller. This document displays information about each transaction for a certain period: the amount, commission size, recipient data, and more. To simplify payment accounting for VARUS, Tranzzo created a non-standard register for the retailer. It contains the specific data needed for the network's convenient and easy internal accounting.

The Tranzzo support team remains in constant communication with VARUS, regularly reviewing payment analytics and network statistics, preparing reports based on this data, and addressing any issues that arise during payment acceptance.

Six months after starting the collaboration with Tranzzo, VARUS noted that the average order value increased by 19%, and the number of payments on the supermarket's website grew by 150%. The more transparent payment process and the Visa promotion became additional incentives for customers to make more purchases.

"We were looking for a reliable, technological, and proactive partner. We chose Tranzzo for its quality technical support, a wide range of integrations with banks, an accessible back-office admin panel, and clear technical documentation. As a result, we received excellent customer service and an increase in the number of orders," summed up Oleg Spirin.