By: Guest contributor
Brick and mortar stores have had a rough time over the past few years. The Covid-19 pandemic saw coronavirus spread around the world and governments in the vast majority of countries implementing measures, restrictions and lockdowns that prevented people from leaving their houses unless absolutely necessary.
This meant that many brick and mortar stores found themselves falling on hard times. However, since the pandemic has passed and now that we’re able to head out and about again, many more of us are considering opening up businesses with face to face interactions. Whether that’s shops, cafes, restaurants, beauty salons or anything else. If you’re in the process of setting up your own tangible store, you’re probably finding that there’s a lot of work to be done.
From developing a product to branding, launching and more. One area that is often neglected? Payments. Here’s more information that will help to guide you on this journey.
Covering Maximum Payment Methods
First, you need to make sure that you’re offering your customers as many types of payment solutions as you possibly can. The more types of payment you’re able to take, the less likely you are to see people walk out of the door because they don’t have the right means of paying on them. If you let someone know that you only take cash, they may not be bothered enough to go to a cashpoint. Nowadays, you could even find that just taking card isn’t sufficient – you should make sure that customers can pay through contactless means such as Apple Pay through mobile or Apple Watch.
Setting Up a POS
POS stands for point of sale and, for most businesses, it takes the form of a till point. They don’t come cheap, but they are an essential. You should make sure that you are able to easily scan bar codes, have plenty of change in the cash register in case of cash payments and that card payment methods are attached. You can even get different designs to match the aesthetic of your store.
Mobile Payments
You don’t necessarily have to stick to a stationary till point either. You can now take mobile payments through tablet. There’s software out there that can allow you to move a tablet around your store as your customer picks out different products, totalling as you go and taking a payment from any space at the end.
Tipping
If you work in a service industry, you should make sure that tipping is incorporated into the payment process. Many staff, such as wait staff or bar staff can charge on a tablet, offering customers the choice of tipping a choice of percentages before the payment is completed.
Hopefully, some of the different options outlined above should help you to take payments as easily as possible in your store. Give them a try and see how you get on!
