Benefits of utilising Dynamic Currency Conversion
The amount of international visitors to Ireland is growing each year. As a result, Irish businesses are accepting more and more non-domestic Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards. Ireland is not alone in experiencing increases in international travel. In order to improve the customer experience and make the process of making card payments as convenient and easy as possible, many merchant businesses choose to implement a service called Dynamic Currency Conversion. Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) is a financial service that gives card holders the option to pay in their home country’s currency while abroad. At the point of sale, customers can see the exact amount they will be charged in their own currency and exchange rate that is applied rather than paying in foreign currency and waiting several days before their card issuing bank applies an exchange rate fee.
Both customers and businesses benefit from using DCC. Customers are provided with the transparency of how much they are charged. They are able to see the margin and exchange rate amounts applied and know exactly how much they spend while travelling abroad. Also, customers can be sure that only the most competitive rates will be applied.
Merchants benefit from DCC as well, as it can become a new source of revenue by taking a rebate percentage from their DCC provider. It also helps by increasing customer satisfaction by providing a better service for international customers.
Even though DCC providers share their revenue with merchants, it is difficult for merchants to evaluate whether the rebate rate they are getting is competitive or not. It is important that merchants are in a position to benchmark their rebate against the market to ensure that they are maximising their income share. Larger merchants such as hotel chains, retail stores and department stores, actively monitor their DCC conversion rate to maximise DCC eligible transactions. However, benchmarking their share of DCC revenue can prove challenging for merchants.
