5 Reasons For Your Business To Take The Plastic Route

Readers of the Canadian POS Corporation Blog know very well how important it is for Canadian business owners to accept credit and debit cards. Our many blogs have detailed the various reasons why doing so is a beneficial choice. Canada is slowly, but surely becoming a “cashless society”. In fact, we’re starting to see merchants pop up who are only accepting plastic! So it appears as if cash-only businesses are soon to be extinct.

Naturally, you don’t just have to take our word for it. We’ll admit to our bias. Of course, when you provide Canadian business owners with top-of-the-line POS terminals at the most affordable rates in the industry, you’re going to really be behind the concept of accepting plastic. Our blog, however, seeks to point out the various reasons why plastic acceptance is so important by researching other bloggers who have similar points of view.

Jim Gallagher is one such individual. On Promatcher.com, he provides a list of reasons that merchants should accept credit cards. Over the course of our next two blogs, we will be examining this list and providing our perspectives on each of his points. It is our hope that we will be able to further enlighten you as to why Canadian businesses are taking the plastic route (as opposed the “paper route” – get it?) to success. Here are his first five points.

1. Impulse spending. “Customers spend more impulsively when they can use their credit cards,” insists Gallagher. Simply put, it’s easier to spend money when you don’t have to worry about how much cash you have on you. He provides the example of friends buying each other a round of drinks when out on the town together. Credit cards make it so that exact amounts are not things to worry about.

2. New customers. This is often a point that tops lists of reasons to accept credit cards. They have long been known to grow customer bases because of the widespread convenience that they allow for. “You obtain new customers who prefer to use their credit card for payment,” writes Gallagher, “You won’t miss that possible sell because your customer doesn’t have enough cash on them or enough available on their ATM card account.”

3. Boost your average sales amount. The more sales you make, the better, right? Well you should also consider the amount of each sale. Accepting plastic has been known to increase the amount of money made per transaction. As mentioned, it helps for customers to avoid worrying about how much cash they have on hand. A credit card allows for a shopper to buy that little something extra. This will be especially important during the upcoming holiday season!

4. Credibility. Simply put, it will look better on your brand when you accept credit and debit cards. Placing up signs that show that you welcome Visa, MasterCard and Interac cards will communicate to others that you are a reputable business. “When you process credit cards you definitely become more legitimate and credible in the eyes of your potential clients or customers,” says Gallagher.

5. Less hassle. Credit card acceptance makes your life easier. You get paid a lot quicker than you would if you were still invoicing your clients and waiting on cheques. “You save your valuable time and can cut down on your overhead, by not having to send out bills or manage accounts receivable!” writes Gallagher. In our next blog, we’ll complete our look at his list of reasons to accept credit cards.

In the meantime, give us a call at 1-877-748-2884 to begin accepting credit and debit cards today!