By now, you should be cranking through your holiday checklist. As you’re getting everything set, there’s one thing to make sure you don’t gloss over: upgrading your point of sale (POS) to accept chip cards and mobile payments.
If you’re thinking “I don’t have time to do that before the holidays,” that’s an understandable concern. But upgrading your POS is actually a much quicker (and more affordable) undertaking than you think. You can set up the Square Reader for contactless and chip (which retails for $59) in just minutes, ensuring your business won’t skip a beat as you head into your busy season.
Beyond the fact that it’s easy, here are five more reasons to start accepting mobile payments before the holidays kick into high gear:
1. Mobile Payments catching on with Canadians.
Canadians are no strangers to paying with their phones. According to a 2017 study by Google, one in three Canadian smartphone owners has already paid with something with a smartphone. If you don’t have a mobile payment–enabled terminal, you’re officially behind the times, which isn’t the best seasonal look.
Accept chip cards and Apple Pay everywhere.
Order the Square contactless and chip reader.
2. A new POS could protect you from fraud charges.
Upgrading could prevent you from being saddled with unwanted fraud charges. Fraudulent purchases result in payment disputes, which means money out of the bank for you. Square uses machine learning to look at payments from across our ecosystem ($65 billion in 2017) and adjust our algorithms to account for new trends in fraud. Most payment processors charge you a fee when your customer disputes a payment, but Square doesn’t. We also do the time-consuming, stressful work of dealing with your customer’s bank for you. Which allows you to focus on your next sale during the holidays.
3. You’ll improve your customer experience.
Long checkout lines (which, unfortunately, are commonplace over the holidays) aggravate customers. Provide a speedy and convenient checkout process that aligns with consumers’ behaviours and preferences. A mobile payments POS is an effective way to help prevent this aggravation, thereby improving the customer experience during a crucial time for your business. Mobile wallets like Apple Pay are the fastest and most convenient of all payment methods, which means your customers can get out the door as quickly as possible. The Square Reader for contactless and chip is also one of the faster chip card readers on the market. The transaction speed is just 4.2 seconds, whereas other solutions can take up to 13 seconds.
4. You’ll have the latest in payments security technology.
Chip card and mobile payment transactions are protected by the most sophisticated fraud detection technologies out there. As the holidays hit and your transactions surge, there’s no better time to adopt a payments solution that’s up to date with these security advancements. At Square, we do everything we can to make accepting cards as fast, painless and secure as possible.
5. You could make more money.
Not only are mobile payments the most convenient (and secure) way to pay, it turns out some consumers seek out businesses that accept them. In a recent study we conducted, most respondents who used mobile payments reported a likelihood to seek out stores that accept them. And most also stated that they tend to spend more (and tip more, in fact) when they use mobile wallets to pay. So a new POS could mean a baked-in holiday bonus.
Setting yourself up to accept chip cards and mobile payments is easy and affordable. It keeps your business up to date, makes sure payments are secure, and helps provide a better customer experience. And it could even increase your sales. So hop to it.
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