Nura Eston March 17, 2021 As a business owner, you never want to miss out on any potential sales. By expanding the ways your customers can purchase your products or services, your business will have a greater chance to succeed.
As consumers use less cash, new forms of payment are emerging. A thriving business uses a combination of different payment channels to increase sales revenue. This guide has information about each payment type and how it can help grow your business.
Debit and Credit
These days, it’s rare that people leave home without at least one credit or debit card on hand. If you’re a cash-only business, you’re missing out on sales. Want to see your business grow? Start accepting debit and credit. You’ll strengthen existing relationships and attract new customers.
Accepting debit and credit is simple with a traditional point-of-sale terminal. These are equipped with chip & PIN for fraud prevention. They are also able to accept tap-and-go or contactless payments for quick purchases.
In the wake of COVID-19, many customers will continue to look for safer ways to shop at their favourite retailers. This means that options such as curbside pickup, click-and-collect and contactless payment will likely grow in popularity, and for businesses, accepting debit and credit payments will continue to be essential.
Mobile Payments
Canadians love their phones. In 2018, in fact, 88% of Canadians owned a smart phone, and for younger Canadians—those aged 15-24—the number is even higher, 98%. It’s not surprising, then, that shoppers today are integrated, interactive, mobile and responsive. Waiting has become a thing of the past, and with mobile apps for retailers such as Starbucks, Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s seeing wide adoption, paying for purchases using a cell phone has become normal for many Canadians.
Given all this, it’s also not surprising that mobile and contactless payments now make up one third of all POS transactions in Canada. Mobile wallet usage (Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay) is still growing, but in 2019, one-third of debit card purchases were made using a mobile device. And because credit cards often offer rewards, even more consumers use their phones to make credit card purchases.
With mobile payments, you can sell to customers anywhere. If they’re in your store, lineups become a thing of the past. Even if you’re on the go, with mobile payments, you can still do business. Giving your staff the ability to take payments on the spot eliminates friction. With mobile payments, you can strike while the sale is hot, retaining purchases that might otherwise be missed.
Mobile payments also give customers a better experience from beginning to end. Your staff have more chances to engage with customers, and they can provide more information about products even while closing the sale. This leads to greater trust, which in turn encourages customer loyalty and repeat sales.
eCommerce
During COVID-19, when stores in many parts of the country were forced to close for in-person shopping, eCommerce represented a lifeline for many businesses. But eCommerce is more than just having a website—businesses also need an online store that offers a welcoming virtual shopping experience. Once that’s in place, customers can shop at your store whenever and however is most convenient for them.
Even before COVID-19 moved most shopping online, many Canadians turned to eCommerce to save time, hunt for the best deals and get goods delivered, all without leaving the comfort of home. Now, we’ve become accustomed to shopping for everything—from groceries to furniture, even cars—online, and with lingering concerns about the safety of in-store shopping, this isn’t likely to change in the future. For most businesses, eCommerce will be here to stay.
Recurring Billing
Imagine providing an ongoing service to your customers, with no need to process their payments every time. Recurring billing is not a new method of payment, but it is becoming more popular. It’s especially important for businesses that rely on recurring revenue streams: fitness facilities, insurance companies and SaaS companies can use recurring billing to increase their sales, improve their operational efficiency and give their customers a better payment experience.
With recurring billing, your customers can purchase and sign up for your subscription or membership in one easy step. A fast and simple checkout process helps increase your sales—and your customers will love you for it.
Automating your scheduled and recurring payments can also reduce the pains of manual billing. You’ll spend less time manually processing transactions each billing cycle. Just add your customer’s preferred credit card and pick a plan. And because recurring products such as subscriptions and memberships run on a predictable schedule, you can set up recurring payments that let customers automatically renew and make payments. This is a great way to optimize your revenue, and it will increase your sales by opening your business up to more potential customers.
Recurring billing can even help your business recover lost revenue by reducing credit card declines. Recurring billing notifies you when a customer’s card is about to expire, so you have enough time to reach out and correct their payment information.
The Future of Payments
To build your business, it’s essential to offer the forms of payments that customers want to use. Look for payment types that make the purchase experience safer, more convenient and more enjoyable for your customers. Accepting new payments is the first step to stronger customer relationships and accelerated business growth.
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