Web Content / Articles
Marie regularly creates engaging B2B articles for her client Vantiv (now Worldpay), by thoroughly researching and using SEO keywords for the greatest organic search results. Written to the small-to-medium-sized business audience, Marie’s copywriting skills allow her to take technical payments information and turns it into it in highly digestible, snackable content.
Are You Ready to Accept Apple Pay at Your Store?
Questions to ask before taking the big bite.
Is it the next shiny thing? It’s tempting to bite into the sweet promise of Apple Pay®, the mobile wallet that allows customers to store card information on their Apple device and make contactless payments in a few seconds with an iPhone® or iPad®, or even with an Apple Watch®. But is it right for your business? And are you ready?
If you’re a merchant with a brick-and-mortar store, you’ve no doubt experienced myriad changes as of late, especially relating to card payments. You may have lingering questions about Apple Pay: Do you need to invest in new equipment? Is there a big learning curve? Is this going to improve your customers’ experience? Is it worth your time? How do you get started?
In a world where new technology can get in the way of efficiency until you’re in your groove, there’s lots of good news about Apple Pay––starting with the hardware.
Do you already have the equipment to accept Apple Pay?
If you’ve recently upgraded your POS to an EMV-capable system that accepts chip cards, chances are you have the hardware you need to also accept Apple Pay. (It’s called NFC, and we’ll tell you more about it in a minute.)
If you’re not sure, check with your payments processor or merchant account that provided you with the hardware. Apple Pay may be currently activated on your POS, or it may be an acceptance feature that your payments processor can simply turn on for you.
If you don’t need Apple Pay semi-integrated or fully integrated into your POS system upfront, it could be simple and affordable to get started with the payments technology today.
How does Apple Pay work? And is it secure?
For starters, Apple Pay uses a type of radio frequency called near field communication (NFC) to wirelessly communicate with your POS hardware. If your hardware is already NFC-capable, a simple wave or tap of the Apple mobile device near your POS––within about 2 inches––is what it takes for a customer to transfer the information needed to make an NFC payment with Apple Pay.
That’s what makes Apple Pay fast. But what makes it so uniquely juicy for consumers and and merchants alike is the combination of four elements integrated into newer Apple devices.
- NFC––Near field communication allows for secure data transfers via a radio frequency.
- Secure Element––Inside newer Apple devices is the Secure Element (SE) chip, which encrypts and therefore protects credit and debit card data.
- Touch ID––Apple Pay enables more secure payments with fingerprint authorization.
- Apple Wallet––With the help of their banks, cardholders can easily put their card information into the Wallet app, where it’s encrypted with a different, unique number.
Will Apple Pay go mainstream?
Big names are already behind Apple Pay, giving the system some market muscle. Think big retailers such as Walgreen’s and Whole Foods Market; consider major credit card networks such as American Express, Visa, Master Card and Discover; take into account the hundreds of banks and credit card issuers that are already a part of the Apple Pay process
When you put this all together, it seems the new technology is on its way to becoming a part of the everyday digital life.
What to expect with Apple Pay?
Expect lots of new possibilities for your business. It’s possible that you increase store traffic as tech-savvy, younger consumers give your business preference. Apple Pay may be exactly what’s needed to make good experiences exceptional, enticing new customers and increasing customer loyalty.
It’s possible that over time and increased consumer use of Apple Pay, you’ll notice your lines move faster––like twice as fast. A simple wave or tap, rather than an inserted card, cuts payment transaction time substantially.
It’s also possible that your employees will be hesitant to use Apple Pay, unless you encourage them. Teach your employees the simplicity involved in using the technology. Suggest they mention its availability to your customers. In short order, Apple Pay will merge into the flow of your business.
Once you get Apple Pay set up, prominently display the signs––the contactless acceptance sign and Apple Pay logo sign––and customers who already use the technology will be reminded every time they visit.
Who knows? Apple Pay may be just what you need to make your business shine just a bit more than the competition.
The Experience of Omnichannel Explained.
“Omni” means “everywhere.” And the omnichannel retail experience goes everywhere a shopper goes––if that person carries a mobile device, as most people today do. It’s not just multichannel. It’s the experience of seamless shopping via all channels, from smartphone to brick-and-mortar store to desktop. However, with ongoing advancements in technology and business innovation, omnichannel (aka omnicommerce) is developing into so much more.
Today, omnichannel shopping is a customer experience that could include mobile ordering and onsite pickup, mobile wallet payments, digital loyalty programs, inventory checks before shopping at a store, mobile apps, product reviews, product comparisons, online returns, shopping cart “wish lists”––and that’s where omnichannel begins.
Stores everywhere and of every size and type are getting creative to deliver a consistent, integrated, convenient shopping experience. And customers, particularly Millennials, expect to flow seamlessly from one device to another, and from one location to another. They expect to have answers and information at their fingertips, and to have it all without a hitch.
A story of the omnichannel shopping experience.
Layla is shopping for some new running shoes. She checks on her mobile device and, after browsing online reviews, finds that her favorite shoe store carries the three pairs that she likes best. There’s a store across town, but do they carry all of the shoes in Layla’s size? She goes onto the store’s app and sees that, yes, that store does have her size in stock.
Layla drives to the store, tries on the shoes, and selects two pairs for purchase. She remembers she has a loyalty coupon from the store saved in the app. Layla pulls it up, and the cashier waves the code near the POS, automatically discounting her shoes. Then Layla uses her phone to access her mobile wallet, and, with another wave near the store’s POS, she pays for her shoes and receives additional loyalty rewards.
Once Layla gets the shoes home, she decides she’d like to return a pair. Rather than drive all the way across town to the store, Layla goes to her desktop and visits the online store, prints out a free return label and drops off her package at the nearby post office. Layla then taps on the shoe store’s mobile app and reviews them for their seamless, easy buying experience––five stars!
5 things a small business can do to elevate the omnichannel experience.
For the sake of discussion, let’s assume you have a brick-and-mortar location, as well as an online store. If yours is small business, you may not have your inventory available for your customers to view, and you may not have your own mobile app.
But, there are a number of things small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can incorporate into the browsing and buying experience that will keep customers coming back. Here are five:
- Mobile site optimization – Online shopping continues to take over the market share of purchases, and mobile purchases are growing rapidly. So, if you haven’t already, it’s time to optimize how your customers experience your website on a mobile device. Customers expect the desktop and mobile experiences to be the same or similar. Then, integrate those with the store experience, and you’re on your way to omnichannel retailing.
- Mobile buy, onsite pick up – A customer may be sitting at a coffee shop when they buy an item from your online store, and they may want that item immediately. If you can have the item ready for that customer when he or she arrives, then top it off with curbside delivery, you may have just won a customer for life.
- Easy returns – Customers are more likely to buy online if free delivery and free returns are a part of the deal. They also want returns to be easy, and they want options. If customers can choose to print a return shipping label or return at the store with ease, you’ve just given them the benefit of choice and convenience. And who doesn’t want that?
- Digital wallet payments – If you have a newer EMV chip card POS, you likely have near field communication (NFC) also built into your device. NFC allows you to accept payments from digital wallets, such as Apple Pay®, Google Android Pay™, Samsung Pay® and others. A simple wave of a smartphone near your POS device is about all it takes for your customers to make a purchase with a digital wallet. In addition, Apple Pay can also be used with a simple click on the new MacBook Pro®. In-store or online, accepting digital wallet payments makes life easy for everybody––your business included.
- Digital loyalty program – Keep customers returning to your website and your store with loyalty rewards. Long gone are those dog-eared punch cards, though. Customers expect to be rewarded through an app, by email, by text or on your website. With every purchase, you may offer them points toward an eventual discount. But get innovative. There are all kinds of rewards you can give customers to entice them to your store––even in real time. If you know a customer is nearby through the location of his or her mobile device, you can send that person a reward coupon for stopping in to your store right now.
Whether you call it omnichannel retailing or omnicommerce, the basic point to keep in mind is that your store goes everywhere your customer goes. The goal is to connect all of your customers’ touch points with your business in order to provide an exceptional shopping experience.
How the omnichannel shopping experience might work.
Customer browses by mobile device – comparison shops, reviews products, checks inventory, chats online
Customer visits store – experiences products in person, develops relationship with sales team
Customer pays with digital wallet – waves a smartphone near the store’s POS device and a purchase is made
Customer buys numerous items – experiences products at home, possibly decides to return product
Customer returns product with ease – prints return label online, drops package off at post office
The Recipe for Smooth Internet Credit Card Processing.
Generally speaking, it’s easy for a small business to set up online credit card processing. But that’s akin to saying it’s easy to bake a cake. How elaborate will that cake be? How many layers? What flavors and frostings? How many are you serving? And how smooth will the process be from ingredients to a finished, decorated work of culinary art?
It all depends on the recipe, of course.
So how can you smoothly get from start-to-finish, up-and-running, with your internet credit card processing? We’ve got a recipe to follow that’ll help you as a business owner create a delightful online experience for yourself––and your customers.
List of Ingredients:
- Business Plan
Start here, and then get all your other ingredients into the mix. Take the time to figure out what you want your business to be today and to become next week, next year and five years out.
If you want to start small and stay small, consider an e-commerce building platform such as Shopify. It can get you up and started with ecommerce in a day. Shopify offers built-in apps, easy payment gateways and processors, and allows you to accept credit cards without any underwriting necessary. This is your single-layer, basic chocolate cake recipe––but a good recipe that’ll make your website visitors happy and make your e-commerce business life easy.
If you want a 3-layered cake with fancier frosting, so to speak, you’ll need a larger, more versatile payments processing expert. In other words, you want to hire a baker that has all the best ingredients and the know-how to bake your unique cake, especially if you plan on serving lots of customers.
- Designated Merchant Account
Smaller business might opt for a payments aggregator such as PayPal or Stripe, both of which are available on Shopify. The downfall, your options are seriously limited and fees are non-negotiable.
A more complex business would opt for a “designated” merchant account, which allows for an individualized approach, versatile payment options, negotiable fees and customer support. It may also include payment processing and a payment gateway built in to the account. Seek out a merchant account that offers a package of payment services to make your business operations smooth as, well, butter.
- Multi-layered Security
It’s the secret ingredient everyone wants. And, in fact, the most advanced security solutions are invisibly behind the scenes doing their work without anyone noticing. Look for words such as credit card “tokenization,” which is a system that encrypts your customers’ data with indecipherable codes that are used only once, and of no use to a fraudster. Also find out about “chargeback protection,” which helps keep an eye on suspicious product returns, some of which will be fraudulent. Also, make sure the payment gateway protects against fraud when authorizing online credit card payments. The more security layers, the better.
- Payment Options
Accepting credit cards are a must for any online business. In fact, the more options you give your customers, the more likely they are to make a purchase. So, what other ways do you want to accept payments? What about Apple Pay®? It’s just one of the new ways for customers to pay by mobile device with a tap. What about a mobile point-of-sale (mPOS)? Do you need to accept online payments while you’re onsite with customers? Do you want to accept global payments? Your answers will determine which payment processors you consider. Just keep in mind, when you add flavor options into your recipe, your customers will be even more delighted with the experience.
- Scalability
How big can this cake get? With larger, more flexible payment processors, you’ll be able to scale up as you grow. There would be virtually no limitations on payment acceptance and processing as your business grows. A payment processor such as Vantiv could support you from a small startup that simply needs to accept payments to a large, thriving business––and help you grow all along the way.
- Integration
Businesses can be complex, with lots of parts and pieces coming together. Operations need to be seamless, or the whole thing could fall apart. Some payment processors help you integrate your online payments with other business operations including accounting, inventory tracking, digital gift cards, marketing, customer analytics, sales figures and much more. The more a payment processor can help simplify your operations, the more smoothly you’ll be able to run your business. And, in the end, the more likely your profits will rise beautifully.
- Business Plan
What size business are you planning to build? How many layers? Flavors? How many are you planning to serve? - Designated Merchant Account
The more elaborate your business, the more you might need an expert payments “baker” with the know-how to help you achieve success. - Multi-layered Security
It’s the secret ingredient everyone wants and needs. It protects customer data, your financial interests and your business reputation. - Payment Options
They more payment options you give your customers, the more likely they are to buy. - Scalability
If you expand or open new stores, can your payment processing company grow with you? Better yet, can they help you grow? - Integration
If your payment processor can integrate business operations with payments, it’ll simplify your life and help profits rise.
RECIPE CARD:
List of Ingredients: