While many merchants’
retail credit card processing remains stuck in place,
installed into their checkout counters as part of their traditional store layouts,
a new wave of small to medium sized businesses, both those that operate with a traditional
storefront and those that are "in the field" are incorporating
mobile POS machines to
change the way they accept payments. The ability to take a customer’s credit card and run it
through the reader where the customer and the salesperson stand is revolutionizing the
world of efficient credit card and debit card payment processing.
The benefits are obvious. For store owners, additional employees circulating with mobile retail
credit card processing devices, be they wireless versions of traditional POS machines or
applications based on smart phones, can cut down on customer wait time in line, help customers
identify prices or other information, and prevent customers from being discouraged by long waits.
For restaurants, mobile tablets or POS machines can be integrated as part of an entire
computer-based management system to facilitate taking orders, adding orders to bills,
printing receipts and processing payment, logging staff hours, keeping track of inventory,
and calculating daily income much easier for management and staff.
But the merchants that will benefit most from mobile credit card payment
processing are those that work away from the office. Some examples are retailers
with a booth at a trade expo, house-cleaning and gardening services, tutoring services,
and door-to-door sales. The benefits in these circumstances are many.
Without a credit card terminal, merchants that choose to accept credit card payments
can face significant difficulties. Fees per transaction are typically much higher because
credit card processors perceive this “card-not-present” payment scenario as inherently more
risky since the card cannot be swiped.
This in turn may make it prohibitively expensive for these merchants to
accept credit card payment. Furthermore, any method that requires physically
recording credit card information or keying it into a system that stores the
data carries the risk of having customers’ sensitive data stolen and used fraudulently.
A mobile point of sale credit card processor eliminates all these problems.
There are many different formats of mobile, wireless credit card processors,
and each one entails a different form of technology, investment, and fee structure.
Merchants looking to improve efficiency and increase profits would do well to investigate
these processing options.