It’s the goal of every entrepreneur to create a business that serves the community and reaps profit consistently. But in order to achieve this feat, these businesspeople have to be adaptable, resilient, and strategic in the way they navigate the business field.
Competition in modern times is fierce across multiple fronts, and lagging behind can be the difference maker in your business’s success or its inevitable downfall.
One trend that more entrepreneurs are adopting to increase their chances of their business’s survival is a cashless payment system. Customer needs are rapidly evolving, and in order to stay top of mind to these consumers, business owners are accepting digital payment processors like eWallets and credit cards to facilitate cashless payments.
This push for cashless systems isn’t limited to brick-and-mortar storefront owners. Mobile entrepreneurs like tradespeople, stall operators, and food truck owners are also reworking their financial operations by including cashless payment systems to stay ahead of the competition.
If you’re wondering how they do this, there are actually several tools and strategies that these businesspeople employ to restructure their business’s payment system. Let’s explore how entrepreneurs across various industries are navigating this shifting norm of consumers going cashless.
1. They Accept Portable POS Systems
One piece of technology that is traditionally used to accept and store cash payments is a point-of-sale system.
Think of this device like a cash register, but with enhanced facilities that can track and integrate with smartphones and apps to streamline processes like auditing, accounting, and tracking past transactions.
While brick-and-mortar stores have a fixed POS system to help carry out daily financial-based operations, POS systems can also be compact and portable. The portable POS variant simplifies transactions by reading and processing eWallet and credit card information on the go. This guide from Westpac can help you accept payments as a merchant.
In any case, the portability offered by a POS system simplifies processing transactions as business owners can carry this device wherever they go without needing the device to be fixed to an outlet or a building.
For tradespeople who work in different houses, or food truck operators who work in distinct areas in the city, this flexibility is something they’ll surely appreciate.
Besides offering an easier time for customers to process their payments, this device also expands the range of payment options available to the clientele. This can help the business attract all sorts of customers, leading to increased customer satisfaction overall.
2. They Use Invoicing Apps for Clients and Staff Overseas
Many entrepreneurs are starting to tap into talent beyond their community as potential new hires or contractors for their business. Similarly, entrepreneurs also find it easier than ever before to cater to clients based internationally, thanks to the interconnected nature of the Internet and the world at large.
As the economy takes form and continues to skew towards globalization, new technology starts to emerge as a way to serve this expansive customer base and streamline international operations. One example of this evolution in motion is the growth of invoicing apps.
Through these apps, professionals and businesses can send invoices to customers for them to pay back, regardless of where they’re located in the world. These apps also come in a wide range of features, such as automated billing, which allows payments to be made and tracked more easily.
Through invoicing apps, sending payments across borders has become simplified and less prone to manual errors. For remote businesses that accept international currencies or pay freelancers abroad, these tools make it easier for the business to keep track of its numbers and clear up any pending payments smoothly.
3. They Accept Mobile Payments Through Digital Wallet Apps
Another way entrepreneurs are operating on a cashless basis is by using digital apps to facilitate end-to-end payments.
Using apps such as Apple Pay and Samsung Wallet is effectively the standard of payment in many stores and businesses across much of the developed world. Most entrepreneurs realise this and connect their merchant account with these apps to grant customers flexibility in paying how they want to pay.
Enabling mobile payments is a fairly intuitive process. Most POS systems are compatible with mobile payment methods, so it’s really just a matter of setting up the terminal to accept these contactless forms of payments, creating a merchant account that accepts and receives payments, and getting it to work.
Once it’s set up, customers can pay through scanning a QR code or tapping their phone onto a POS device to validate the payment. By offering this payment method, customers can pay faster, and operations can go much more smoothly. No more time wasted on physical cash handling.
4. They Create a Digital Storefront
In a cashless economy, having a strong online presence is crucial to ensure that your product or service actually catches attention. Nowadays, having an online presence can help you get impressions and position yourself front and centre to potential customers.
Most businesses have a social media page dedicated to their store on Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok. Some have dedicated shops built with e-commerce builders like Shopify and WooCommerce, where they can advertise their products and sell them. In any case, the more digital channels a business has, the better reach it’ll have.
What makes having a digital presence so impactful is its aid in various functions in a business.
With a digital footprint, businesses can answer customer inquiries and boost brand visibility with a few clicks of a button. These platforms can also integrate with payment systems that make digital payment easy and intuitive.
You can operate a business online from virtually anywhere as well, whether you’re at your home office, in a convention centre, or in a client’s building miles away from your office. As long as you have a working internet connection, you can perform a variety of productive tasks that contribute to your business growth.
In any case, entrepreneurs should strive to create an online storefront to expand their reach and cater to online-focused customers. This way, they’ll stay relevant and reachable to not just their loyal customers, but to a new demographic as well.
5. They Leverage Digital Tools That Integrate With Payment Technology
Modern entrepreneurs utilize digital tools to make financial management easier. Before, accountants and small business owners had to handle record-keeping manually for every transaction. This is not only time-consuming, but it’s also prone to human error.
Nowadays, integrating tools with payment gateways is not only possible, but also made very simple. There are a plethora of financial software systems that automate receipts or refunds as soon as a payment or refund has been processed, providing business owners with undeniable proof that a transaction has taken place.
These various digital systems also make cash flow management and tracking consumer trends a simpler ordeal. This is because of the level of integration these systems have with one another, allowing for operations to be streamlined and feed off of each other without manual supervision.
In any case, entrepreneurs who utilize digital tools to conduct financial payments can make their administrative and financial operations run more smoothly, which in turn allows them to put their complete focus on what they do best.
We hope we’ve given you enough insights on how entrepreneurs are adapting to this cashless norm. Good luck in growing your business!
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