Overcoming The Challenges Of Cross-Border Commerce

What could a partnership between a major issuer like MasterCard and a cross-border comments player like FiftyOne offer to the average consumer?

Mario Shiliashki, senior vice president of emerging payments for MasterCard, put it best.

“In many ways, we open the world to these retailers for multinational shoppers.”

PYMNTS.com spoke with Shiliashki to discuss how both merchants and consumers stand to benefit, how cross-border commerce is changing the way we buy and the structure behind the MasterCard and FiftyOne agreement.

“The way the partnership is structured is that [MasterCard] utilizes our marketing and distribution channels to the consumers in those 14 markets, and make the offers and the merchants and brands available to those consumers who then shop online utilizing the FiftyOne service on the merchant’s website.”

Some of the perks offered through the partnership? Percent-off offers, flat-rate shipping fees, free shipping, free returns and more. Shiliashki pointed out MasterCard is already heavily involved in the cross-border commerce field, and that it’s an area of significant growth for the payments giant.

“Certainly a lot of it already happens, and it happens very well,” Shiliashki said. “Our latest figures show that through October, our cross-border trade volumes grew 17 percent year-over year. Generally, our cross-border trade is a high growth driver, for a lot of our metrics, and especially in eCommerce.”

Still, by partnering with a company such  as FiftyOne, which, as Shiliashki points out, specializes in cross-border fulfillment, merchants and consumers alike are provided with new and lucrative opportunities.

“A big bonus is the fact that we connect them to all these willing buyers around the world that they don’t necessarily have the ability, the channels, or the marketing reach to connect with directly,” Shiliashki explained. “We have established relationships with these consumers, we know them well, and our issuers know them even better, and are able to reach out them in ways that a retailer in the U.S. cannot.”

To hear more Shiliashki on MasterCard’s promotion with Fifty One and the challenges involved in cross-border commerce, listen to the full podcast below.

*If you have trouble with the audio player above, click here.

Mario Shiliashki

Senior Vice President of Emerging Payments, MasterCard

Mario Shiliashki is senior vice president & group head, U.S. Emerging Payments Lead, responsible for U.S.-based development and commercialization of payment product platforms, including e-Commerce, Mobile, Chip, P2P, Transit, PayPass, inControl and Bill Payment.

He was previously general manager of PayPal in Southeast Asia and India. In this role, Mr. Shiliashki built and led the business development, sales, marketing and product development teams in Singapore and India. Under his leadership, PayPal developed key partnerships across the region and launched products in key new target markets, including Japan, Malaysia and India.ӬӬMr. Shiliashki began his career at PayPal as head of European Financial Planning and Analysis in London. He was then promoted to director of PayPal International and eBay North America Financial Planning and Analysis in California.

Prior to PayPal, Mr. Shiliashki was a Consultant at Bain & Company in London and a Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York.ӬӬMr. Shiliashki holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Economics, summa cum laude, from Bryant University.