With the coming of the holiday shopping season in the next few months, most business people are rushing to upgrade their POS systems in expectation of the pre-season shopping rush. Here is how to go about upgrading your POS systems or payment terminals so as to fully maximize your sales and thereby your profits during this year’s holiday shopping rush.
Start by expanding your online presence
Why bother with traffic madness and congestion when the customers can comfortably shop online while at their homes or even the offices? Setting up an online store these days is easier than ever before. If for example you accept credit or debit cards within your retail business, then you already have a merchant account. This merchant account allows people to shop from the comfort of their offices or homes, meaning that you already have an online presence. If you don’t have this kind of a payment option, then today is as better a time to get started as any other. Best of all, there are numerous hosted payment gateways and payment forms that can be opted for.
Become EMV compliant
EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa – a standard payment option in most parts of the world. These credit or debit card types have become the norm where paying for goods in most retail businesses is concerned. This means that a retailer who hesitates to upgrade his POS systems or payment terminals so as to accommodate EMV-ready payment option faces a higher risk of business losses or worse, credit card fraud.
Apart from preventing fraud and losses, retail stores can also do a better job of targeting foreign shoppers visiting from abroad by being EMV compliant. Most of these shoppers have EMV cards in their wallets and are sure to appreciate the greater security that an EMV compliant retail store can offer.
Training the staff how to use the upgraded POS systems
Having a more secure processing technology or upgraded payment system is pointless if the employees do not understand how to correctly use them. As such, it is crucial that you train all your staff members how to:
- Accept and process EMV credit cards
- Process mobile credit card transactions
- Handle contactless payments securely and in a safe manner
- Issue charge-backs and returns using mobile credit cards, such as EMVs
For better success, make sure that the training happens just before the holiday season.
Offer a wider range of in-store payment options
If taking your products online is not viable for your case for one reason or another, then try and invest in a wider range of different payment options. This is beneficial in a number of ways which include:
- More point-of-purchase chances
- Quicker purchase processing
- Shorter lines
Here are two of the most popular payment options a merchant might want to explore:
- Mobile payment using contactless payment technology such as near field communication
- Mobile credit card processing using smartphones, tablets and the likes coupled with portable credit card readers
These options need to be EMV-ready so as to reap maximally from their use.