Rebranded Processor BlueSnap Targets Growing Online Payments Demand

Plimus Inc., an e-commerce services provider, attracted more than 5,000 customers in 145 countries without much marketing. That user base hints at the growing demand for processing technology that equips merchants with payments mechanisms on their e-commerce websites.

Now, the Fremont, Calif.-based company is looking to capitalize on that growing demand and further its reach with a rebranding campaign and new executive team focused on providing digital goods vendors an e-commerce infrastructure and payments platform.

After Boston-based private equity firm Great Hill Partners acquired Plimus in 2011, it changed the company’s name to BlueSnap. But it’s just now beginning to emphasize the rebranding effort with a “relaunch” of the company that newly appointed CEO Ralph Dangelmaier believes will help BlueSnap focus on greater distribution of its technology and services.

“The new brand is really about introducing ourselves to the world,” he says. “We’re finally unleashing the secret.”

Most of BlueSnap’s merchant users sell digital goods, including digital music and books. Its platform includes a “Buy Now” button that allows customers to pay with a variety of methods, including credit, debit, PayPal and mobile wallets.

“Using a single dynamic ‘buying’ platform, BlueSnap helps businesses grow faster and optimize their customers’ experience through flexible approach to e-commerce and billing, global payment processing and fraud prevention,” Dangelmaier says. The “platform gives merchants all the tools they need to convert shoppers to buyers and ultimately drive their business.”

Competing in this space is e-commerce website developer and hosting platform Digital River, founded in 1994 and based in Minnetonka, Minn. In 2011, PayPal was able to provide payment processing in Brazil and Mexico through a partnership with Digital River. In April 2012, Digital River integrated Acculynk’s PaySecure into its platform, providing an online PIN-debit payment method.

Several other companies are taking advantage of a more globalized payments landscape. Payment service provider Adyen allows its merchants to accept more than 100 payment methods based on consumer preferences that vary from country to country. And Payelp Global partnered with Safety Pay, allowing consumers with a bank account to make online purchases in their local currency.

But BlueSnap differs in the size of the customers, targeting merchants with annual revenue between $1 million to $200 million, says Dangelmaier. Digital River handles large, highly customizable needs of the enterprise market, and PayPal meets the needs of smaller merchants, he says.

While technology is part of the company’s DNA, BlueSnap’s primary focus is relaunching the company and getting more merchants to use its platform.