Stripe is launching its no-code Stripe Adaptive Pricing in Canada, alongside several other countries. The product will enable international customers to pay directly in their local currencies, intending to make global selling easier for Canadian businesses. The Tech Factor digs deeper into the development.
Global payments giant Stripe has just launched its no-code Stripe Adaptive Pricing in Canada, alongside about 25 other countries globally. Some of the other countries & regions included in the launch are US, EU, UK, India, UAE, Japan, Australia and Singapore. Business from these countries can use Stripe Adaptive Pricing to let their customers in more than 150 countries pay using local currencies. The company has built Stripe Adaptive Pricing in a no-code form for businesses. Accordingly, users can enable Stripe adaptive pricing from their dashboards, without needing engineering chops.
As per Stripe, checkout conversion continues to be a massive roadblock for online ecommerce businesses. The company mentioned that the average ecommerce conversion rates in ecommerce stores were around 2.5% to 3% only. Further, it highlighted that according to Statista, overall ecommerce conversion rate in Canada were even lower at just 1.9% in 2023. Against this backdrop, the launch of Stripe Adaptive Pricing intends to reduce the friction for international customers in making a purchase online.
In an interaction with The Tech Factor, Matthew Burlak, Head of GTM at Stripe Canada, added:
“Growing revenue beyond their borders is crucial to many Canadian businesses, as is growing conversion rates. After initially testing how effective local currency presentment is, we observed an average 17.8% uplift in cross-border revenue for businesses and checkout conversion increase by 8%, making a product like Adaptive Pricing key for growth.”
Matthew Burlak, Head of GTM, Stripe Canada
Stripe Adaptive Pricing claims improved conversion rates
The company shared more details about how the product works. Stripe Adaptive Pricing automatically calculates how much the customer would pay in their local currency, and also handles currency conversion. It analyzes the local currency from the customer’s IP address (location).
Stripe utilizes a 24-hour guaranteed exchange rate to calculate local pricing in real-time. The company told The Tech Factor that it offers real time (hourly) rates at the time of online checkout, which is typically only available for in-person payments. Subsequently, payment options that need to be paid with local currency are opened on the ecommerce store. However, if the exchange rate fluctuates over 2% in that time, it uses the updated exchange rate. Even the refunds are enabled in local currencies. The company further added that it ensures that all supported currencies are in accordance with the law.
In terms of the positive impact of the Stripe Adaptive Pricing on conversion rates, the company said that it initially tested the product in UK, US, EU and Canada. It claimed that the product led to an average 17.8% uplift in cross-border revenue for businesses. It added that when given the option, 90% of customers chose to check out using their local currency. The company said that the customers can see exactly how much they will be charged without having to exit the checkout process. As a result, it added that Stripe Adaptive Pricing boosts checkout conversion and ensures smooth shopping experiences.
Stripe’s been gradually increasing Canada presence
Stripe has been gradually increasing its Canadian presence after beginning operations in the country back in 2012. In 2021, the company opened its first office in Canada in Toronto. Simultaneously, it had launched four products in the country then targeted at Canadian businesses, including Stripe Tax. Opening of Stripe’s Canada office was met with a lot of enthusiasm in Canada, with Vic Fedeli, the then Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, expressing his optimism for the company having chosen Ontario as its Canadian base.
In January 2023, Stripe emerged as a key payments partner for Amazon in the US, Europe, and Canada. As a result, it started handling a sizable amount of the payment volume for Amazon Prime, Audible, Kindle, and Amazon Pay. Then in April 2023, Affirm and Stripe made buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) available to all eligible Stripe users in Canada. And recently in March of this year, the company began enabling shops in Canada that use Amazon’s Just Walk Out service to process payments using Stripe.
