We have seen that adoption of new contactless payment technology remains a challenge for many small businesses in the U.S., and now the speed and current restrictions under which they need to pivot has only exacerbated these challenges.
As restrictions begin to lift and more consumers start to move around and engage with local businesses, now is the best time for SMBs to adapt before the major influx of traffic that will come when businesses are allowed to fully reopen.
Consumers continue to willingly support businesses who respond to their biggest concerns and needs in regard to health, safety and security, while satisfying their desires for a quick, easy payments experience. That also means that beyond delivering a contactless payment experience, businesses need to consider the impact of reducing wait times and time spent at checkout for in-store experiences.
SMBs who strategically integrate the right solutions are seeing unprecedented growth as they reach more customers in their preferred payment methods within a frictionless payments ecosystem. Merchants are presented with greater opportunities as they delve into new markets online and to-go, allowing them to find alternate ways they can continue running their business and stay open. It’s why we continue to see new service avenues, from restaurants offering meal kits to go, to curbside pick-up options.
However, another challenge faced by SMBs is the time and cost involved in adding the right capabilities to their existing model that allows customers to support local businesses as they demand safe ways to shop online and reduce (if not eliminate) payment options that require them to make physical contact with a payment device. While there are a wide variety of solutions, now more than ever SMBs simply do not have the funds or resources to invest and onboard multiple vendors or develop their own customized software tools to address these growing needs.
The good news is many features businesses need to enable a touch-free payments experience already exist, as many point of sale solutions already have the contactless capabilities needed to make a rapid transition. In some cases all that is required is a simple call to their payments provider for a software update or to activate the functions on existing card readers.
For those with older readers, they can request a swap for newer versions that already have integrated NFC functionalities that will allow them to immediately start safely accepting a tap from a card, a phone, or any tap-to-pay enabled device from the customer.
