Smart payment solutions provide merchants with affordable and flexible ways to accept digital payments.
Consumer payment behaviors have changed dramatically over the past few years, increasing the necessity for merchants to accommodate them. Smart payment solutions can help merchants of all sizes meet changing consumer expectations.
Cash use declines while sales increase!
The decline of cash payments is a key driving factor for payment solution upgrades. According to the annual payment study, The Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, cash transactions dipped 7 percent from 2019, accounting for only 19 percent of all payments made in 2020. And while cash represented fewer than 2 percent of in-person non-bill payments, credit and debit card transactions represented 65 percent of the payment share.
Furthermore, consumer demand for a frictionless payment experience and the explosion of mobile commerce is propelling smart payment solutions forward from trend to ubiquity. Retail sales via smartphones are expected to increase from 221.2 billion in 2021 to north of 400 billion by 2024.
For North American Bancard Sales Partners, these facts and trends represent an opportunity to provide smart payment solutions that will help your clients meet consumer demands.
What are smart payment solutions?
Smart payments provide consumers with a frictionless checkout experience while allowing them to select their preferred payment methods. They also give merchants access to tools for simplified employee, customer, inventory, and chargeback management,
Smart payment terminals.
Merchants upgrading their digital payments capabilities in-store – maybe from a non-integrated card reader – may find value in a smart payment terminal. These are simple, all-in-one solutions that provide merchants with the ability to accept EMV chip cards or contactless NFC payments while providing additional point of sale (POS) functionality. You can upgrade your merchants to one device with easy-to-use software that gives them inventory management, printing functionality, and more.
Mobile smart terminals.
Smart terminals can provide the tools necessary for faster, more efficient checkout lanes, but there’s no reason for merchants only to use them on a counter. Mobile solutions are available that allow a merchant to use them anywhere in their store – or even outside of it. As you talk with your clients about where they accept payments, listen for opportunities to suggest a smart terminal that can make extra lanes, curbside payments, and line busting easy to set up as needed.
Smartphones and mobile devices.
You can also let your merchants know that nearly any smart device can be a smart terminal. When you provide your clients with a virtual terminal solution, they can use a tablet, smartphone, laptop, or other internet devices as payment terminals. The merchant signs into the virtual terminal, enters payment data, and runs a transaction. This option may be particularly attractive to merchants who don’t have the budget for new payment technology but want easy ways to accept digital payments in-store or over the phone.
What’s driving smart payment solutions?
Enhanced convenience and improved customer experiences are key drivers. However, merchants also see additional benefits. For some merchants, smart payment solutions are the answer they’ve been looking for to finally accept digital payments and reduce the risks associated with accepting and safeguarding cash.
Additionally, smart payment solutions give merchants the ability to collect customer data that they can use to improve customer experiences, intelligently plan promotions, and make smart purchasing and merchandising decisions. Data from smart payment solutions can help merchants understand exactly what their customers want and create personalized experiences that help build loyalty.
How smart Sales Partners can capitalize.
Smart payment terminals can open the door to more sales and stickier relationships with your customers. For example:
- Additional services from your payments partner.
In addition to earning residuals from your merchants’ payment transactions, you can also build a recurring revenue stream from software merchants use on smart payment terminals. In addition to the core solutions, such as North American Bancard’s Payanywhere, you can provide additional solutions they need, such as Gift and Loyalty Programs, employee time clock functionality, and more.
- Infrastructure for mobile devices.
Your clients who plan to use mobile devices will rely on wifi and possibly cellular failover service to ensure they can accept payments securely wherever they use their smart payment devices.
The bottom line is, talk to your customers, listen to their challenges and pain points, and offer a smart payment solution that can help them with much-needed upgrades in the increasingly digital world – and help you grow your portfolio!
