Merchant Services
Every business needs the proper tools to succeed in an increasingly difficult world of business, which is why reliable merchant services are so important to have. Businesses these days need all the help they can get. With new businesses being created literally every minute of every day in the U.S., it isn’t hard to see why. The customer pool is shrinking as more and more people begin opening their own businesses and become competitors for the same groups of people. Unfortunately, most of these new businesses won’t make it past their first year. Nearly all of them will fail within the first 5 years of opening their doors. Yes, the increase in competition is a factor. But an even bigger reason for this is because business owners don’t have the proper tools in place to keep everything under control. Small business owners don’t normally have the advantage of huge sums of money to play with. This means a lot of the burden falls on them when it comes to operations, inventory, back office, working the sales floor, etc. There is no “magic wand” for these types of challenges to your business. There are, however, some valuable tools available to help you tackle all of those challenges. You need a merchant account if you want your business to accept credit cards. You can ill-afford to not accept credit and debit card payments in your store(s). Did you know there are over 3,000 different types of payment cards and multiple ways they are accepted? This is a lot of options for customers! Business owners need the proper equipment and services to accept all 3,000 of those payment cards. Everyone uses credit cards. It’s simple, easy, convenient. The end.Ok, so there is actually more to tell you. Don’t leave yet!
If you own a small business (especially a new one) you need an affordable merchant service with competitive transaction fees which won’t break your bank. Beware of merchant services who don’t divulge all of their pricing information! If you have to dig to find it, chances are they are hiding more than you realize. Unfortunately some merchant service providers are not fully transparent when it comes to their fees. If you feel like you aren’t sure, take more time and do more digging. There are definitely some excellent options out there for your business. Most merchant services provide business solutions for not only accepting credit, debit, and gift card payments but also check guarantee services, gift cards and loyalty programs, payment gateways (for online payment processing), merchant cash advances, and many other services. How much would your business benefit from having a loyalty program in place? If you are not sure about this, here are just a few facts about loyalty programs:- Loyalty programs increase customer retention rates by nearly 80% in the first year.
- It costs 5 times as much to acquire new customers as it does retaining existing customers.
- 72% of women spend more when they receive rewards in return.
- Nearly 70% of the public is willing to share more personal information to be a part of a rewards program.
- $1.6 trillion is up for grabs with customers changing where they shop.