Starting your own business? Your best silent partner could be a smart terminal.

Launching your own ecommerce or brick-and-mortar store is a labor of love that involves successfully juggling numerous components. Of course, hiring and training a committed team of staff members will probably be one of the most important ways to streamline the running of your operation. However, if you combine these human capabilities with the many benefits of a smart terminal or point of sale solution, your employees and customers will all benefit, and so will your bottom line.

On the surface, your smart terminal or POS solution is designed to enhance the payment process. With maximum efficiency and high security, it can read a customer’s physical credit card with a swipe or tap. Alternatively, the transaction can be done contactlessly through the use of the near-field communication (NFC) technology located in both modern payment devices and your customer’s smartphone or tablet. If you also incorporate a virtual terminal into your suite of business tools, you can further augment your customers’ payment choices by allowing for phone orders. To complete a virtual terminal payment, you simply manually enter the person’s card details for the same fast and secure results.

Accept any payment method that your customers want to use.

Today’s buyers are accustomed to having several options not only in the products they choose, but also in the ways they purchase. These days, it goes without saying that cash is taking a back seat to cards and other forms of electronic payment. Today only two out of 10 buyers prefer to pay with bills and coins.

The advantages of providing this type of buying flexibility quickly become apparent when you look at the numbers. Consider that the average cash transaction is $22. Now, contrast that number with the $112 that constitutes the average non-cash purchase. That stark difference may be the only compelling proof you need if you are thinking about modernizing your point of sale system.

The versatility of smart terminals is obvious when you consider just how many ways to pay they allow. They help you accept cash, credit and debit cards, online transactions, and let you provide remote ordering over the phone. Additionally, you can configure your system to let regular customers pay on a recurring basis, with withdrawals automatically taken from their bank account on a predetermined schedule, in an amount agreed upon by all parties. Finally, your smart payment device should transform your client invoicing process from a nightmare to a breeze through easy, secure online billing. Although these features will not rid you of all of your payment headaches, your smart terminal or point of sale system will streamline your billing and make regular communication with your customers flow smoothly.

Generate receipts and reports to make accounting easier.

When you run a business, it is crucial that your financial records are accurate, organized, and easily accessible. Attempting to remain on top of your costs can be difficult if you’re still keeping track of things via paper ledgers and receipts. Take your organization strategies to the next level with your smart terminal or POS solution. In just a few clicks, you can leverage the product and purchase information stored in its database to create actionable reports. You can then share those reports with your tax professional, investors, or key staff members to constantly keep your finger on the pulse of your store’s success in real time.

Your payment device should also make finances easier for your customers. No longer do they need to keep track of slivers of paper should they have to make a product return. Your terminal is equipped to instantly send a digital receipt that is more environmentally friendly and can be easily stored away for future reference.

As an entrepreneur, you may already be familiar with chargebacks. These fund reversals occur when customers go directly to their credit card company to dispute a charge without first trying to work it out with you. The result can be time-consuming and stressful for everyone involved, particularly for you as the merchant. Fortunately, today’s smart terminals and point of sale systems can be an invaluable assistant as you are going through the chargeback dispute process. Your system can monitor activity, securely storing all of the supporting documentation you require, and letting you know when you need to take the next step in your dispute so that no deadlines are missed. Although smart payment devices cannot prevent chargebacks – they are inevitable – they can minimize their effect on your business.

Manage your inventory using a smart payment solution.

Providing consumers with the products they want should be one of your primary objectives. In order to achieve it, your smart terminal or POS solution will be an invaluable ally. Its inventory management capabilities will enable you to record each piece of merchandise that enters your stock and keep track of when it was sold, for how much, and to whom. The key is the digital catalog that your system’s database helps you to create and cultivate. Once you have gone through the setup process, modifying your stock, changing pricing, and ordering supplementary items that complement what you have all become infinitely easier. Furthermore, your smart payment device should pair with your barcode scanner to ensure that you never run low on your most popular goods. 

By tracking merchandise in real time and by creating reports that forecast future sales based on past histories, you always have time to reorder well in advance. By the same token, you can reduce the supply of items that are not selling well or place these poor sellers in a different location on your website or physical store for better results.

Worry-free PCI compliance.

Any business that stores, manages, or transmits cardholder data must meet the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). This is a set of guidelines that protect the privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of all sensitive payment information provided by your customers. When you have a smart payment solution from Payanywhere, we take on the burden of PCI DSS compliance, providing you and your customers the peace of mind that comes with knowing your systems are protected by our dedicated experts. That leaves you free to do what you do best: Run your flourishing business.

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