Perks of Contactless Payments for Business
Is your business ready for tap-and-go payments? Learn about the benefits for merchants accepting contactless payments.
Contactless payment options are catching on as businesses recognize the benefits of customer convenience and faster speed at checkout. Contactless payments allow customers to tap-and-go with a contactless credit card or mobile wallet such as Apple Pay®, Google Pay™ and Samsung Pay®.
Contactless credit cards and mobile payments both use near-field communication (NFC) technology, which allows the customer to hold their phone or credit card over the payment terminal to “tap” the payment rather than swiping or inserting a chip card. Enabling contactless payments can help your business keep pace with competitors and provide a seamless payment option for customers who use their phones as an extension of their wallets.
Advantages of Offering Tap-and-Go
Some of the key benefits of accepting contactless payments include:
Quicker pace of transactions. Processing a payment with tap-and-go technology takes between 13 to 15 seconds, compared to 30 seconds for an EMV transaction. Shaving off a few seconds with each transaction may not seem like much, but it adds up to minutes or even hours when you have a line of customers waiting.
Touchless payments. Contactless payments solve some of the new challenges of serving customers while maintaining safety and social distancing. Using a mobile wallet or contactless credit card, customers can quickly complete transactions without touching the card reader. This allows for a touchless checkout experience whether you’re taking payments in-store or out in the field with mobile payment terminals.
High level of security. Contactless payments provide enhanced security for both the customer and the merchant. When a customer taps their card over the reader, the card sends a token via radio waves to complete the purchase. The token is a unique code that works once and can’t be recreated. Contactless payments are just as secure as EMV chip transactions because the same process of tokenization is used for both.
Better customer experience. Whether you’re accepting payments inside your store, providing curbside payment options or tapping payments on the go for service calls, contactless payment can simplify the process and save time for you and your customers. Shorter wait times can improve the experience and build loyalty with your customer base.
Operational efficiency. Taking a proactive approach can help your business reap the benefits of being a quick adopter of tap-and-go payments. As more consumers use this option, an increased volume of contactless payments can save time, improve productivity and reduce cash handling costs.
Upgrading POS Systems
According to a study by A.T. Kearney, 70% of merchants across the U.S. have POS systems capable of accepting contactless payments. If you’ve upgraded your payment terminals recently, you may already have the necessary hardware to accept contactless payments. If you need to upgrade your POS systems, you can explore smart systems that are compatible with mobile wallets and contactless credit cards.
If you need some help, Amegy Bank can help you manage credit card processing and payment solutions through our merchant services provider. Learn more about a range of advanced payment acceptance technologies that can help your business stay ahead of the curve.