A payment gateway has simplified lives in more than one way. Especially for small business owners and shopkeepers who didn’t have the luxury of benefitting from the advantages of the pos machine due to the required investment, and low scale of operations.
However, these days integrating a payment gateway into the business isn’t expensive, nor complicated, as there are multiple service providers offering simplified and inexpensive solutions to make their businesses future-ready.
In this article, we will look at a few ways a payment gateway solution can help small business owners compete with bigger brands by giving their customers a seamless and satisfying experience!
Start Accepting Digital Payments
People prefer to transact using their credit/debit cards, UPI, and digital wallets more than they prefer cash which was the ideal mode of transaction a decade back. By integrating a payment gateway into their eCommerce sites; sellers can attract the millennial consumer base that has been the primary driver of this change in perspective. Moreover, since it allows the business to accept a host of digital payment options, customers can shop without having to worry whether their preferred payment mode will be accepted or not.
Faster Checkout Experience
Whereas dealing in cash can take minutes; digital transactions happen within seconds resulting in less queuing up of people in brick-and-mortar stores making the entire buying experience more satisfying. The experience is the same for online buyers as well since the system is more than capable enough of handling multiple simultaneous transactions at the same time without any dip in performance.
Works Seamless Across All Networks
No matter which banking or card network the customer might be using, the transactions happen seamlessly nonetheless. This has been further strengthened by UPI also known as United Payments Interface, which works seamlessly across all bank networks, digital wallets, and interestingly enough, now even your credit card.
More Secure
Cash requires counting and storing the money in a secure place till it can be moved to a bank. All of this poses a huge security risk for small business owners as anti-social elements and burglars may try to break in to steal the money. However, when transactions take place digitally, and there is no cash to deal with then the risk is significantly reduced as payments happen directly between the bank accounts of the customer and the business owner.
Reduces Overhead Costs
There is no need to hire additional staff to count or store the money. Moreover, there is less need for someone to keep a track of accounts. By integrating a digital payment gateway system, a business is essentially automating the entire process of keeping a track of finances. Therefore, businesses can save a significant amount of money by not having to hire more people and use that money to provide better experiences to their consumers.
Centralized Dashboard
The best payment gateway providers offer a centralized dashboard that gives business owners a bird’s eye view of all the incoming and outgoing transactions, which helps them better manage their accounts, and also keep a track of inventory, vendor payments, salaries, etc. All of this information if calculated manually is often prone to human error which isn’t the case with a payment gateway in place. Moreover, it also helps in automating the entire process of calculating taxes.
Customized Checkout Page
For a business, it’s crucial to stand out from the competition. By allowing small business owners to customize their checkout page, they can create a solid brand recall. Instead of a standardized look, a business can incorporate its logo, fonts, colors, etc. which is very useful in maintaining a constant brand image in the customer’s mind every time they shop.
Having a payment gateway is the need of the hour as it not only helps a business evolve as per the market trends, it’s also helpful in increasing sales and better customer retention by giving consumers a solid experience whenever they shop from a brand’s store also use buy now pay later.
So, if you are a business owner still relying on cash transactions in your day-to-day operations, get a move on, and integrate a payment gateway platform to take your business to the next level!