5 Reasons You Should be Accepting Cards

Accepting card payments has never been so important, and takepayments are making it easy for you to get set up. Get 3 months free rental* to help you get started.

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on lots of businesses, and adjusting to the ‘new normal’ is important to help you thrive in the current climate.

Following the pandemic, consumers have changed the way they make payments. In fact, at the beginning of lockdown, data from LINK suggested that 76%1 of people thought Coronavirus would affect their future use of cash over the next six months. Over half of these people said they will use cards more and 44% said they will use contactless/mobile payments more.

And it’s important to keep up with these changes to avoid losing customers.

Here’s five important reasons why you should be taking cards.

1. Consumers want you to

Customer satisfaction is the aim of the game for business owners, and customers expect to be able to pay the way they want to – on card. In fact, 83% of consumers2 admit convenience is higher on their priority list today than it was just five years ago.

Following the pandemic, consumers are also making shorter visits to the shops to reduce risk of exposure, which makes card payments more suitable, as it is much quicker than cash.

2. Card payments are safer

...For both you and your customers. For businesses, card payments are safer because there’s less cash lying around, helping protect you from burglaries and potential employee theft. Not using cash as much also helps eliminate the risk of counterfeit cash and the potential to shortchange yourself or your customer.

The same is true for your customers, they feel safer carrying around a card rather than a pocket full of cash.

Coronavirus has also left consumers fearful of handling cash with 54% of consumers1 avoiding cash use and 44%

of consumers1 planning to use contactless and digital payments more.

3. Stay competitive

Businesses are always competing in a crowded marketplace, so anything you can do to give yourself the edge over your rivals is a big bonus.

If you’re set up to accept card payments and your competitor around the corner isn’t, that gives you a boost in the eyes of consumers who, as we’ve seen, want to pay by card.

Think about it, if Joe Blogs is in the market for a quick bite to eat on his lunch break but he isn’t carrying cash, who’s he going to choose? Finding the nearest ATM is timeconsuming, so if you’re accepting cards and your rival isn’t, his decision is simple.

4. It could boost profits

Consumers are more prone to impulse spending when they’re paying on plastic, it’s been shown time and time again.

Say you’ve got a £10 note in your wallet and your large cod, chips and peas comes to £9.50, you’re not going to be able to give in to temptation and buy that sausage as a treat for your dog for £1, are you?

Paying by card has been coined ‘friction-free spending’ - it removes the barriers to consumers spending more, so by accepting cards you could be benefiting your bottom lines.

5. Make your life easier

And what business owner doesn’t want that? Accepting card payments is quicker, so you’ll get through more customers in a shorter amount of time and reduce queue sizes, which could mean more sales in a day.

It also speeds up the counting up process at the end of each day, helps with accounting, and avoids several trips to the bank to deposit funds.

takepayments can help

Making the transition to card payments is easy with takepayments. They offer:

Personalised pricing packages Short 12 month contracts No charge to join Next day settlement**

Interested? Speak to one of takepayments’ specialists today and claim your offer* Call 01472 304 154 or visit takepayments.com/ffp

* This promotion may be withdrawn at any time. This offer is available to Fast Food Professional members. Terms and conditions apply. Businesses will be required to enter into a contract with takepayments Limited and a separate contract with an acquiring bank for the processing of the card transactions. Contracts have a 12 month minimum term. Standard monthly charges under the takepayments contract will apply after the first 3 months. Under the contract with the acquiring bank, there will be a minimum monthly service charge. The 3 months free applies only for the rental with takepayments Limited. **Providing you perform your banking window before 9pm you will receive full settlement the next banking day. This service is only available to takepayments Limited customers who have Barclaycard as an acquirer. Ecommerce pay pages, pay by link and virtual terminals are currently settled the day after the next banking day.

1 https://www.link.co.uk/about/news/coronavirus-cash-usagedata/

2 https://www.smartinsights.com/ecommerce/customerexperience-examples/convenience-is-driving-e-commercegrowth-and-influencing-consumer-decisions/