Bira’s preferred card payments provider Global Payments has created a guide to mobile payments and how they can benefit your retail strategy.
Integrating mobile payments into your business offers a wealth of benefits through convenience for your customers and lower transaction costs for you.
Types of mobile payments for indie retailers
There are three types of mobile payments to consider, digital wallets, in-app mobile payments and mobile point-of-sale (mPOS).
Digital Wallets
The ability to accept payments via digital wallets including tap to pay at point of sale or click to pay on your e-commerce website. This form of payment is predicted to double between 2020-2025 according to data from Statista and could help you reach more customers.
To make a payment in person using a digital wallet, a customer just hovers their mobile device over your POS system to complete the transaction in a matter of seconds.
If you’re trading online and enable digital wallets on your e-commerce website this can give your customers more choice in payments options and saves your customers time by allowing them to pay from their stored payment method rather than having to complete their card details each time.
Digital wallets are also more secure than a traditional card transaction on a POS terminal. Instead of the customer's card number, the information taken from the digital wallet is a tokenized version of the card details, plus a one-time number tailored to the individual sale. This process is also used when customers use their digital wallets to make an in-app purchase, this process is an important security measure for businesses.
In-app mobile payments
If you have a merchant app, your customers can make payments from their mobile devices. Similarly to digital wallets, you’ll benefit from additional security and convenience for customers.
In-app mobile payments are a good way to build brand loyalty. However, the cost of developing a merchant app can be costly.
Mobile Point of sale (mPOS)
Taking physical payments through mobile point of sale (mPOS). mPOS typically includes an app on a mobile phone or tablet paired with a mobile card reader.
A mobile point of sale system allows you to turn your mobile device or tablet into a POS. mPOS systems give you more flexibility in where you can serve your customers.
An mPOS system can take payments from a chip-enabled card, contactless payments and magstripe forms of payments, and you can also use it to track cash payments.
Using a cloud-based inventory list, you can easily create and update a sales item or goods inventory list through an mPOS. This capability ensures that all product information—from descriptions and pictures to prices, and even barcodes—is kept at your fingertips. This essential data helps you make informed decisions to manage your business.
How can Bira help?
Global payments work with Bira to offer innovative card payment processing solutions for retailers. To read more about mobile payments you can read the full blog here.
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