It is a decision many physical businesses have to make – whether to deal in cash only (or, as is increasingly rare, cash and checks), or to accept credit and debit cards. While there is an overhead associated with accepting these cards, and you have to have the infrastructure to do it, it is almost always the better option to allow your customers to pay this way. Businesses who do not accept major credit or debit cards create a certain impression with customers and also make doing business with them less convenient for everyone. This can lose them vital sales.

 

Here we take a look at why almost all businesses with something to sell to the public should consider finding a good collections credit card processing method and start allowing their customers to make payments in this way:

People Carry Less Cash Now

For all kinds of reasons, not least personal security, people tend to carry less cash now than they did in the past where cash was needed to make almost any purchase. This means that for someone to make a purchase in your shop or other retail outlet if you don’t take cards, they have to have enough money on them, or go to an ATM. In general, people tend to keep a small amount of cash with them in case they want to make a small, quick purchase like a cup of coffee, but they are often more reluctant to spend what cash they have than to buy on their card, because running out of that ‘walking around money’ means another trip to the ATM. This means that people will often walk away from purchases they’d happily make by card if they have to use cash, because of the additional hurdle of having to go and take out money.

Currencies

If you operate in an area where there are a lot of tourists or visitors, there is another problem when you insist on cash – they have to have the local currency. When they pay by card, your customers can have their account balance in their home currency and still pay you in yours, without having to worry about obtaining notes and coins in the right local money.

Larger Payments

If you sell things fairly expensive items (for example boutique clothing) or your customers generally buy a selection of products in one transaction (for example if you run a convenience store), then the average transaction may well be more than the amount of cash your customers would typically carry. If they are regular customers who know in advance you aren’t taking cards they may come prepared, but new customers may well be disappointed that they can’t pay by card and abandon the purchase.

Of course, taking credit cards also means that people can manage their money differently, and may buy your products even if they don’t currently have enough money to buy them in cash. For these reasons, everyone from market traders upwards is beginning to see that taking cards wins them enough business to more than warrant the overheads.