What are You Waiting For? 3 Reasons to Accept Mobile Payments for Your Business

Articles|Blog|Payment Processing

Technology often outpaces our ability to accept and implement it. A case in point: mobile payment technology. Here’s how it works: consumers link their credit or debit cards to an app on their iPhone or Android device. Terminals that utilize near-field communication (NFC) are able to accept payments when the customer merely places their mobile device near the terminal. Pretty convenient, right? Instead of fumbling through your wallet for the right card, you merely open the app and wave it over the terminal.

There’s a growing number of companies creating mobile payment apps, with the most popular being Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay. Yet, while the companies creating mobile payment apps increases, merchant adoption stands around 10 percent. If you’re not currently accepting mobile payments, here are three reasons why it’s time to adopt the technology:

It’s Secure

Great care has been taken to make mobile payments safe and secure. They employ a multi-step system to thwart theft and hacking. In the case of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, users are required to enter a PIN and use a fingerprint scan to process a payment. The transactions are also encrypted when sent to the payment institution, making any data worthless to hackers.

It’s Fast

With mobile payments, there’s no need to wait for a receipt to print out. The transaction is quick and painless and the customers are quickly on their way. This is especially important during busy times when the line at the register may be backed up.

It’s Growing Rapidly

Mobile payments have been shown to be both fast and secure. That’s why its usage is growing so quickly. It’s predicted that sales using mobile payment apps will grow to $142 billion by 2019. You know you should make purchasing as easy as possible for your customers. This gives you one more way to earn their business – by accepting their preferred payment method. This is especially true of Millennials, the group born between 1982 and 2004. Almost half of Millennials prefer to pay with their mobile device than cash. This is a market segment you don’t want to ignore.

No Time Like the Present

Adoption and acceptance of mobile payments is not without growing pains. There needs to be consistent training for all employees to aid the integration of the system into your business. This is especially important if you have high employee turnover. But the benefits clearly outweigh the cons. Mobile wallets are rapidly increasing, so it’s imperative that your business gets on board with this emerging technology.