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Local retailers face an uphill battle when competing against national brands.
They simply don’t have the budget that the big players do to spend on best-in-class marketing and business technology.
But in the last several years, many companies have started developing retail tools for small businesses that were once only available to large chains — and these tools are helping to boost sales for small businesses.
Innovation in consumer financing technologies, payment card acceptance, ecommerce fraud prevention, and loyalty marketing services are helping create opportunities for small businesses to increase sales by taking on their competitors.
Ready to learn more about how to grow a retail business? Read this article to get started.
From in store to online, retail tools and technology can play an important role in the success of a business. They offer numerous benefits by simplifying and streamlining the selling process, enhancing customer experiences, and enabling effective back-end management.
Retail tools for small businesses can also empower owners to improve operational efficiency and gain valuable insights into their target audience. By embracing these tools, businesses can stay competitive, adapt to changing consumer demands, and help achieve long-term growth.
Consumer financing retail tools can be valuable for business owners. They may help enhance the overall customer experience, foster customer loyalty, and potentially reduce cart abandonment rates. Here’s what to know.
Buy now, pay later options give customers the freedom to pay in a way that works best for them, while you get paid upfront. This flexibility can help increase sales and average order sizes by giving your customers more options when it comes to buying the things they need.
As an example, to break up a smaller purchase, shoppers can choose PayPal Pay In 4,1 which splits the cost into four interest-free payments. Learn more about installment payments
Shoppers have never had so much freedom in how they shop – and more than ever, they expect flexibility.
Large retailers — especially the ones selling “big ticket” items like refrigerators, washing machines, and home theater systems — have offered consumer financing for years to help their customers make bigger purchases. With PayPal, small businesses can offer their customers this flexibility, too.
With PayPal Credit, your customers can make purchases of $99 or more – with No Interest if paid in full in 6 months2 – while you get paid in full upfront. Subject to credit approval. See terms. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, and it gives your shoppers greater buying power.
Until recently, the ability to accept credit and debit cards was not available to all businesses. Some small businesses don’t have enough sales or a long enough history to qualify for a business account. In addition, many small businesses have struggled to justify the cost of card acceptance, even when it’s an option. The cost to purchase a point-of-sale terminal and the recurring monthly account fees can add up quickly, too.
But companies like PayPal are turning their attention to creating mobile card readers and apps that make accepting payments affordable for small businesses. Mobile card readers are devices that business owners and store employees can plug into their smartphones and tablets to swipe customers’ cards. They’re simpler and much less expensive than large point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and even support accepting checks and cash like their POS brethren.
Plus, the companies that provide them often charge more predictable fees than some merchant service providers. Moving beyond simple card acceptance, these providers are working to popularize consumer payment apps that work with their mobile card readers. For example, with the PayPal mobile app, a consumer can walk into any business that accepts PayPal and pay by “checking-in,” without having to swipe a credit card.
The development of these technologies is a great benefit to retailers because it enables them to offer customers the much-appreciated, and often expected, convenience of broad and fast payment acceptance.
Risk management solutions, such as fraud detection, play a crucial role in assisting small businesses in proactively managing and mitigating risks.
Fortunately, many ecommerce companies that service small- and medium-sized businesses either sell fraud detection software or provide fraud services as a component of their offering.
For instance, PayPal offers solutions that filter transactions through a variety of screening criteria to help prevent fraud. Both companies give users the flexibility to customize the filters to target specific threats to the business. Also included is the ability to check for things like discrepancies between a customer’s IP address and shipping address, the Card Code Verification (CVV) number (the three or four-digit security code on a credit card), and when several orders are submitted in rapid succession.
Online retailers that use these tools stand a much better chance against fraudsters’ attacks than those that go it alone.
Get more tips and strategies for how to manage risk.
Whether you’re looking to save time or increase customer loyalty, online selling tools may help streamline your operation. Here are a few examples:
There are several ways that smaller businesses can use technology to become more competitive and increase sales. Not every new technology makes sense for every business, but these innovations are so central to retail operations that business owners should consider them carefully.
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading, independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants, and associations to leading technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.
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