Guest Author: John Marshall, Beyond Business Advocate
Visa’s Back to Business Study found some serious points for reflection for merchants and service providers that discount the contactless trend including:
- 78% of global consumers have adjusted the way they pay because of COVID-19 risks.
- 48% of consumers say they won’t shop at stores that offer only payment methods that require contact with a cashier or a shared surface like a POS terminal.
- 33% of small businesses globally have either banned cash purchases outright or have accepted cash less in the wake of coronavirus.
PIN pads have been in the spotlight as possible common points of contact that can spread the virus, but there are ways to leverage their value instead as a contactless payment solution.
Eliminate all the prompts.
This means the consumer is no longer asked to choose between credit or debit, cash back, or to enter a pin. Debit card transactions are instead processed like a credit card, but at the same regulated debit card rates; meaning that such changes do not typically increase the interchange cost to the merchant.
Eliminating the request for pin entry doesn’t mean that PIN pads are going away any time soon.
In fact, it’s just the opposite. PIN pads allow merchants to offer separate devices for staff use and consumer use—with the convenience of each being on opposite sides of any plexiglass barriers. By securely mounting the PIN pad to the counter, the consumer can insert their card without ever touching the device. Similarly, certain PIN pads also have the capability to read contactless cards and mobile wallets like Apple and Google Pay.
Merchants, physicians, dentists, ophthalmologists, and many other business owners can leverage the advantages of smart PIN pads to support the contactless preferences of their customers—as well as their staff—to eliminate one or more touchpoints while evolving toward a more frictionless payment experience.
Give your customers a safer way to pay with options for contactless transactions, mobile payments, and checkout shields.
About the Author: John Marshall, Beyond Business Advocate
John Marshall is an MBA and seasoned industry professional with expertise spanning payroll, POS, lending, e-commerce, and payment solutions. Marshall was a multi-site restaurant owner for more than 30 years and served as the President of the Princeton Merchant Association for four. Today he is proud to “help merchants with the very services and tools that I was a consumer of for many years” as a Beyond Business Advocate out of New Jersey.
Learn more or contact him at: me.getbeyond.com/johnmarshall
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