The customer has become the center of the business and it is not for less, a good user experience is a mutual benefit that directly affects the company’s income statement. Beyond customer service or the provision of a web page, the chosen payment solution (or solutions) will be decisive. Keep in mind that we are in the final stretch of the purchase process and a bad experience can lead to cart abandonment in the case of e-commerce. Also, a bad review or recommendation, in addition to the loss of the client in the physical store.
Therefore, it is important to listen to the pulse of the market. Little by little, cash loses positions in favor of other types of payment, where of course there is the traditional credit or debit card, but also text messages, QR codes or mobile phones. We are faced with a wide variety of options and the client wants to feel free to choose the one that is most comfortable for him. According to the latest data from the Bank of Spain, In 2021, card or contactless transactions exceeded 195,246 million euros – well above the 111,131 million that were made with cash – and forecasts indicate that this figure will continue to grow in the coming years.
Technology and freedom in payment solutions
Digital payments have already established themselves as a frequent habit in face-to-face and electronic purchases in all sectors. For this reason, the challenge now lies in adapting the collection processes to the demands of consumers. Oddly enough, there are still many businesses where these solutions are not available and they prioritize cash. What they do not know is that this strategy, in the medium-long term, will not be viable. According to the latest study of UniversalPay payment methods, 43% of Spaniards surveyed would give up a purchase in an establishment if it does not accept electronic payment. Also, 80% recognized that having this service made their day-to-day life easier.
In recent years, the purchasing habits of society have undergone a great digitization, but it has been after the COVID-19 pandemic that we have seen a large increase in this trend.
Mobility restrictions and health recommendations prioritized purchases over the Internet and the use of contactless payment methods to minimize risks. Now, when we begin to leave those moments behind, we have realized that this change is here to stay. Customers want to choose when, where and how they pay. They won’t go back.
A revolution where everyone wins
Betting on innovation benefits everyone, not just customers. Companies can improve their efficiency thanks to technology. For example, at UniversalPay we launched our payment solution Integrated Table Collection (CMI) for hospitality, a system that allows the collection generated in the cash register to be captured from the payment device. In this way, the waiter always has control of the different tickets generated in the dataphone itselfwithout the need to travel and saving time for restaurant staff and diners.
The system includes other services that help improve the customer experience, such as installment payment, which makes it possible to charge several diners at the same time and with the payment method they wish -card, check or cash-. In the same way, the DCC system is also included, which allows the foreign client to pay in their currency of origin, knowing at all times the exact amount that is going to be charged. Finally, the automation of the collection that supposes the BSC system prevents the restaurant staff from manually entering the amount of the ticket in the terminal, this not only eliminates any type of human error in the collection, but also facilitates the subsequent management of the accounts thanks to the fact that the cash register is carried out automatically .
Discovering a new world in ecommerce
Ecommerce is not new, we know that, but for many traditional sectors it is still an unknown place. Not so much in the big chains, which began to migrate a few years ago, the digital divide is found especially in small and medium-sized companies. It is important to bear in mind that, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, 99% of Spanish companies do not exceed 50 employees, that is, they are SMEs or micro-SMEs. Due to this dimension, many national companies encounter strong barriers in their digitization process, such as the lack of financing to start the process, the shortage of specialized personnel or the lack of knowledge about the resources and help that could be available to them in this matter, including the already famous Next Generation EU funds.
It will be key to take advantage of this national and European support for transformation to achieve the resilience of the productive fabric of our country. E-commerce offers much faster growth possibilities if we compare it with the process that must be followed to grow in the offline world. We all know examples of companies that have managed to get very far quickly using these tools, a path that would undoubtedly have been more complicated to carry out only offline. Within this jump to ecommerce, it will be important to take into account the personalization of the user experience at the time of purchase, especially in the most complicated moment of the process: during payment. Key to this will be the implementation of solutions and technologies that integrate the possibility of carrying out fast and secure transactions from any medium, through any channel, anywhere and at any time.
This article is inside our magazine nº46: ePayments 2022.
