Options are beginning to increase for smaller sized companies.
Though mobile payments have been receiving the largest amount of attention from large credit card companies and banks, telecom corporations, and large national and international retailers, the doors are finally starting to open for smaller businesses, as well.
The latest technologies may provide affordable, practical systems for small companies, too.
The retail world is turning to an increasingly smartphone-friendly direction and small businesses need to make sure that they are on board with the changes or they will risk falling behind. Fortunately, being able to offer consumers options for mobile payments is looking increasingly achievable for smaller businesses, and it may be enough to provide them with a boost in marketing and sales opportunities.
Mobile payments will allow small businesses to free themselves from expensive checkout terminals.
These point of sale devices, such as magnetic stripe card readers, come at a notable cost to small businesses, whether they are purchased or rented. When combined with the fee charged per month or per use, the costs can begin to stack up. In a struggling economy, this challenge only grows in size.
How, small businesses can seek out customers beyond the restrictions of these devices as well as outside the brick and mortar walls of their stores.
According to AT&T vice president of small business product management, Ebrahim Keshavarz, “We’re seeing a huge explosion in small business.” That telecom company is currently in a large mobile payments agreement with developers of the systems that want to use the wireless networks to make these services possible.
As an increasing number of consumers are already beginning to rely on mobile wallet apps that will allow them to store their credit card data so that they can use their smartphones to pay for products and services, small business owners are beginning to discover that they can affordably and efficiently cater to these customers’ payment preferences.
The National Retail Federation held a poll in February, and already at that time, approximately half of the survey participants had said that they would be using mobile payments as a part of their transaction options within the following 18 months. Among them, 6 percent have already put these systems into place.
