Why Debit Card Acceptance Is A Treat For Customers

There has been a nationwide buzz, all month long, about Halloween. The annual tradition of trick or treating will be here in a few short days, so prepare to stock your home with treats for the kids, if you haven’t already. As a neighbourly individual, participating in Halloween festivities is simply a cool thing to do. However, as a business owner, it’s important to remember that you need to treat your customers all year long!

Last Friday, we highlighted some of the main reasons that your shoppers consider credit card acceptance such a treat. In today’s blog, we’ll outline some of the main reasons debit card acceptance is also so highly regarded as well. As Nicole Gibillini points out on BNNBloomberg.ca, a recent study confirms that the majority of Canadian are ditching cash and opting to pay with plastic.

Convenience is everything.

“The survey, conducted by research firm Leger on behalf of mobile payments company Square, polled 1,566 Canadians between March 5 to 8 and conducted phone interviews with 316 Canadian small businesses,” she explains, “The results revealed 79 per cent of Canadians prefer paying with a debit or credit card before using cash.”

Not unlike credit cards, debit cards offer Canadian shoppers the convenience of not having to carry cash on their persons. It enables them to spend to their hearts’ content so long as there is enough money in the bank accounts connected to their debit cards. Gibillini reveals that more than two-thirds of the survey’s respondents “said they’d be more likely to make a purchase from a small business if cards were accepted.”

Cash is no longer needed.

According to the Square survey, Canadians carry an average of $46.50 in their wallets. Many respondents also admit to not having visited a bank or an ATM in the two weeks prior to taking the survey. Debit cards allow for payments to be processed without people having to worry about how much actual cash they have on them. It also helps to eliminate unnecessary trips to the bank machine.

“Three-quarters of respondents to the Square survey admitted to carrying less cash now than in the past,” reveals Gibillini.

Everyone has gone mobile!

What makes debit card usage especially convenient in 2018 is the fact that tap-and-go technology exists. For purchases under $100, a customer can simply tap his/her card on a POS terminal in order to complete the transaction. The time it takes to complete a purchase has never been shorter. Many credit cards offer this option as well.

As Lauren La Rose of The Canadian Press reports for Global News, “most Canadian banks have their own mobile apps that allow for some tap-based purchases — although there are varying limitations around which credit cards can be attached to accounts, what mobile operating systems are compatible, and which wireless carriers are on board.”

At Canadian POS, we happily offer the Poynt Smart Terminal which has revolutionized the ways in which credit cards and debit cards are accepted. Perhaps it’s time you made the switch to make your acceptance of credit and debit more convenient than ever! For more information, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.