By
Jeff Wakefield, Verifone
Building and growing a small business is both rewarding and
daunting, particularly when pitted against big businesses with larger
footprints, bigger budgets and more assets overall. It’s a classic David versus
Goliath scenario. With regulatory advancements, technological growth and
generational forces constantly changing the landscape, it is a challenge for small-
to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to succeed and better serve their customers
through the checkout experience.
However, thanks to recent payment technology breakthroughs,
merchants have access to the tools they need to not only survive in today’s
business environment, but thrive. For SMBs to succeed in a transforming and
competitive marketplace, Verifone has developed a “Wellness Plan.” Here’s how it
works.
Acceptance
SMBs need to be empowered to accept emerging payment apps
and methods since a growing number of consumers demand the option to use these
features in-store. The awareness and ability to accept all types of payment and
the flexibility to embrace change is critical to merchants’ well-being.
Advertisement
- Approx. 25% of users paid by Samsung Pay &
Apple Pay app during last transaction[i] - 64% plan to use mobile wallet in 2020[ii]
- +50% want to use apps for faster in-store
purchases[iii] - +520 million use Alipay in 30 countries — including
the U.S.[iv]
Relationships
Evidence suggests that there is a correlation between
healthy relationships and merchant life expectancy. Reciprocating with relevant
and easily redeemable offers helps SMBs build and maintain long-lasting
relationships with their customers, and fulfill on the mutual need for
appreciation and understanding.
Exercise
SMBs should be enabled to engage their customers and
conduct transactions throughout the store. This allows them to foster healthy
activities in the customer’s journey and reverse any merchant atrophy — and
even elevate feelings of happiness.
- mPOS deployments saw 24% avg. sales increase in
2017 vs. non-mPOS stores[vii] - Underperforming retailers that deployed mPOS
saw 100% sales increase for 2017[viii] - Consumers will not wait more than 10 minutes to
pay for items[ix] - 80% plan to implement mPOS by 2020[x]
Supplements
Strains of viruses, malware and other infections spread by
cybercriminals’ unsavory behavior are increasingly resistant to payment system
defenses. Total immunity is impossible; however, supplementing PCI compliance
with a strong regimen of end-to-end encryption, tokenization and
secure/semi-integrated architecture can effectively protect merchants from
infection — not to mention embarrassing phone calls to inform customers they
may be infected.
- Card losses have increased 18% every year since
2013[xi] - Cybercriminals have shifted from targeting big
box retailers to SMBs[xii] - 11.8 months — avg. time it takes to recover reputation
following a breach[xiii] - 58% of consumers would avoid recently breached
businesses[xiv] - +50% of U.S. businesses have experienced a
cyberattack[xv]
Focus
Payroll, inventory management, reporting and other tasks
can induce anxiety and distract SMBs; however, groundbreaking payment
technology advancements can support a range of business apps that alleviate
such distractions. With the right tools, SMBs can adopt any number of apps,
which they can use as coping mechanisms — anytime, anywhere — to reduce
distractions and regain focus on what’s most important — growth and
relationships.
Choosing The Right ‘Wellness
Provider’
All these changes may be impossible for small merchants to
make on their own, which is why the merchant service provider is critical to
the wellness journey. That’s not to say that any service provider will do.
Reliable “wellness coaches,” or merchant service providers, must be able to
efficiently manage ongoing complexity and fast-paced change on behalf of
merchants, along with trained staff available 24/7 for monitoring, support, and
triage — if something goes wrong.
So, how can merchants identify a suitable
wellness provider?
One way is to look for the most efficient solutions in
their treatment plans. This can happen through “providers” that have been “clinically
proven” to solve payment complexity for ISOs, acquirers and other industry
stakeholders. Solutions that are future-proof and have strong prescription strength
can enable SMBs to compete like a chain.
To conclude, payment solutions today are powerful business
solution tools that can enable SMBs to create innovative and future-ready
shopping experiences, drive better customer experiences, and accelerate
business growth.
Jeff
Wakefield is the Vice President Sales Enablement and Business Development
responsible for insuring the sales teams are properly trained and prepared to
successfully sell Verifone solutions. He has 30 years of
retail systems experience and 20 years of payment industry experience as a
senior product and marketing executive for retail and payment systems
companies. Wakefield has spoken about payments and payment security at
numerous industry events.
[i] https://www.pymnts.com/mobile-wallet-adoption-statistics/
[iii] https://paymentweek.com/2017-11-20-mobile-payments-apps-proving-retail-customer-experience-linchpin/
[vi] https://www.wantedness.com/
[vii] https://www.stratixcorp.com/contact-stratix-managed-mobility-services/nrf-2018/
[xi] https://www.accenture.com/t20171012T092409Z__w__/us-en/_acnmedia/PDF-62/Accenture-Driving-the-Future-of-Payments-10-Mega-Trends.pdf%20-%20zoom=50; https://thefinancialbrand.com/68528/top-payment-trends-banking-p2p-digital/
[xii] https://krebsonsecurity.com/category/data-breaches/
[xv] https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/09/29/465954.htm
