Keeping your business costs down can start with taking mobile payments

If you ask retailers, “What’s the best reason to accept mobile payments?” there’s a good chance the answer will be, “Because it’s what our customers want.”

Meeting customer expectations tops any “How to succeed in retail” list, but mobile payments offer another benefit: They save your customers money.

There’s no denying the growing use of mobile payments by consumers. Worldpay’s 2021 Global Payments Report forecasts that digital/mobile wallets became the single most popular POS payment method in 2020:

Mobile wallets: 25.7% of all POS paymentsCredit cards: 22.4%Debit cards: 22.3%Cash: 20.5%

By 2024, mobile payments are expected to be used for one-third of all POS payments:

Digital/mobile wallets: 33.4% of all POS paymentsCredit cards: 22.8%Debit cards 22.4%Cash: 12.7%

There’s more than one way for retailers to “cash” in on the surge in mobile payments. The mobility features of modern cloud-based POS systems let businesses operate efficiently at costs far below conventional solutions. Here’s a look at ways that retailers who take mobile payments can reduce their cost of doing business. 

Save money by transitioning to a cashless operation

The fewer cash transactions a retailer handles, the more the business has to benefit from going completely cashless. 

Cashless transactions take less time to complete, which means businesses can process as many as 15% more transactions per hour.Retailers save money by not having to handle cash and transport it to the bank. Customers benefit because stores are able to pass the savings on to them.With no cash on hand, the risk of shrinkage due to theft from inside or outside the business is reduced dramatically.

While going cashless isn’t practical for retailers relying on many small-amount purchases, it complements the ability to take mobile payments. Stores can bring the register to customers in the store, online, or remotely on the street fair or sidewalk sale.

Make mobile payments part of your multichannel strategy

The tendency of customers to use a store’s app while in the physical store indicates the increased mobility of shoppers. Customers expect the same experience visiting a retailer’s website, using its branded application or browsing its store shelves in person.

Mobile payments are the foundation of your multichannel strategy, extending the store’s reach to wherever customers are whenever they shop. The ability to take mobile payments lets businesses integrate their online sales, click-and-collect purchases, and contactless payments. Customers gain a sense of being in control of the transaction, and retailers are able to operate with less overhead.

Automate record-keeping and inventory tracking

Two areas that nearly every retailer can make more efficient are sales tracking and inventory control. A cloud-based POS system lets stores maintain an up-to-the-minute record of all sales occurring online or in person. They can see at a glance which items are running low from any smartphone, tablet or other mobile device. They also make it easy to update catalog items, price changes and promotions based on inventory levels and sales figures.

Having access to current inventory and sales figures 24/7 via a mobile POS app is critical for your small business. They make it faster, simpler and cheaper to ensure that desired products will be available when customers want them. Retailers can adjust on the fly based on trends they can monitor without having to be on the premises. This reduces the cost of operations and makes stores more responsive to their customers.

Reduce credit card fees by using virtual credit card terminals

Tech guru Marc Andreessen’s statement that “software is eating the world” holds true for the retail industry. This is best shown by the rise of virtual credit card terminals that replace their hardware counterparts. Digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are the most common forms of virtual credit cards. Each of which function as apps installed on smartphones and other mobile devices.

Virtual credit cards are safer to use than physical cards because they have encryption and other security features built-in.Merchant fees for virtual credit cards are typically lower than those for standard card transactions because monthly fees are usually waived.Processing virtual credit card payments is as easy as signing into a merchant account and entering the card number and other transaction information.

Everything a business needs to take mobile payments via virtual credit cards is available in a cloud-based POS system. These automatically link the sales data to the store’s accounting, inventory, and other processes.

Go paperless to save beyond the cost of paper and ink

Customers’ preference for digital transactions extends to operations that in the past relied on paper documents. Replacing paper invoices, receipts and business contact information with digital copies allows the vendor to customize the digital documents with the business’s logo, contact details and personalized messages.

Going paperless brings companies closer to their customers and allows them to receive payment faster.All of the business’s records can be consolidated in a single location.Combining all sales records makes it easier to track the company’s performance.

Becoming a fully digital operation enhances customer service and offers efficient operations, managing business processes through a comprehensive, easy-to-use dashboard. Mobile POS puts all the information that employees and managers need neatly and comfortably in their pockets.

The first step in preparing the transition to a completely digital operation is to partner with an experienced POS vendor. talech has the knowledge to identify your company’s pain points and craft a custom solution that meets your needs. Visit the talech site to learn more about the benefits of mobile POS and to sign up for a free demo.