Dirk Tolken is Co-Founder and CMO of Semantica Digital, a full-service digital agency focused on building customized WordPress sites and providing ecommerce businesses the marketing they need to succeed. With 20 years of experience under his belt, Dirk knows a thing or two about building ecommerce solutions, and that’s why he uses Peach Payments when it comes to customized payment methods for his custom-built sites.

We caught up with Dirk to find out about the ins and outs of ecommerce, whether it be first timers trying to make their mark on the digital space, or existing businesses looking to scale.

What’s the biggest hurdle for business owners looking to launch into ecommerce?

Education is key. Ecommerce is more than just a million dollar idea. We find that one of the biggest roles we play is educating our customers on the broader scope of an ecommerce business. A lot of entrepreneurs don’t understand how important marketing is, and that it plays as much of a role in an ecommerce business as the online store itself.

Tech and marketing work hand in hand, so there’s plenty of emphasis on scalable technology in our decision-making when we build or refurbish a site. Depending on what you’re selling, a certain degree of customization needs to be built into your online store right from the start, so we try to teach our customers the importance of making the right tech choices for their businesses.

Are your clients looking for either low-code or no-code options?

We’re often approached by DYI ecommerce entrepreneurs who need to push their site’s functionality beyond their know-how and that’s often when they’ve begun to scale up. It’s not unusual to find that they’ve already signed up with Peach and now it’s just a matter of customizing the service for subscriptions. I think that’s largely due to Peach’s onboarding process being so slick. SMEs can get it up and going with no code integration, which saves time for everyone.

What makes Peach Payments work so well for ecommerce businesses?

Because we often find ourselves refurbishing existing sites, we’ve worked with every payment gateway provider in the industry, and Peach’s service level really stands out. Uptime on activation is also a major selling point. Accessibility to Peach’s knowledge base is also a game changer, because it makes it really easy for a lowcode person to find the answers to questions that might arise.

Are new ecommerce businesses price sensitive when choosing an online payment gateway?

It seems intuitive to keep costs as low as possible at all times, but there’s more than just numbers to consider. Customer support has to be considered when partnering with an online payment gateway provider. Business owners need to know that if there are any queries or issues with their site’s online payments, support is easily accessible.

It goes beyond once-off issues. Building a strong and transparent relationship with an online payment gateway provider allows you to maintain a constant dialogue about the problems you’re facing and the possible solutions that are available to you. That’s not something ecommerce business owners think of right away when making a decision, and it’s difficult to put down in numbers.

They also need to consider whether their payment gateway provider can give them the customizable service they need. Subscription based payments versus once-offs, local payments versus international, these are the questions that need to be asked before, ‘how much?’

Why does Semantica prefer to partner with Peach?

Opening up for conversations like this goes a long way. We can connect with all of Peach Payments’ departments so that we can ask really specific questions. We tell our clients that we’ve got a strong relationship with the payment gateway which helps build our trustworthiness as well as Peach’s. That ability to communicate can be hard to find.