Could Contactless Card Payments Benefit your Business?

Long gone are the days of drawing out money from a cash machine to pay your way and here, Sussex Business Times caught up with South Coast Payments, who explain the many advantages contactless card payments could provide your business

Since contactless card payments were introduced back in 2007 they have grown enormously in popularity. Nowadays practically every customer expects the reduced queues and streamlined service that contactless provides, so why have contactless payments become so popular and how can they help benefit your business?

What is contactless?

Contactless card payments are a fast, efficient way of making a payment without having to insert a card in the card machine. The technology uses radio frequency identification or near field communication via an embedded chip to make secure payments. Customers simply hold their card close to the PDQ machine, which then identifies the card and processes the payment from the correct account.

How can contactless benefit my business?

One of the main ways contactless card payments can benefit your business is improving customer satisfaction. Contactless payments significantly reduce the time it takes to carry out a transaction by reducing the card payment processing time. The average contactless payment is approximately 60% faster than the traditional card payment method, which is a huge benefit for businesses who carry out a large number of smaller value transactions and suffer from long queues.

Contactless payments also offer the benefit of increased security, a point which was a concern for many consumers when contactless first became popular. On a surface level, contactless payments are more secure as the card never leaves the customer’s hand and also the risk of pin number compromise is eliminated for smaller payments as it is not required.

Is it secure?

Contactless technology has many security precautions in place. As with regular chip and pin, contactless payments use secure encryption technology that supports a secure transaction and also data protection. Banks offer the same level of fraud protection on contactless cards as they do on non-contactless, which means customers are still protected in the event of their information getting into the wrong hands.

Due to the limit of £30 per spend and also the fact that every few payments customers will be asked to enter their pin number, contactless cards hold little appeal for criminals as the risk outweighs the potential gain.

The benefit of introducing contactless payments to businesses who sell items under the £30 threshold is great. An improved customer experience is paramount to repeat custom for many businesses. Providing a contactless option will result in shorter transaction times, less queuing and many more happy customers.

If you run a business in the South Coast area and would like to find out more about card payment solutions contact us today on 02392 489911.