Mobile Payment Options for Small Businesses

As a business owner, you should never underestimate the different preferences that exist between each of your customers. The same applies when it comes to making payments. Although many still prefer cash, more and more people are choosing to use mobile payment options to pay for goods and services, whether in store or online. As such, this presents you with an opportunity to maximise sales and further enhance the experience your customers receive when exploring what your business has to offer. However, the challenge is choosing the right mobile payment option to complement your small business. So to help you decide (and reap the benefits), here are a few of the questions you need to consider.

What features do you require?

There is a wide range of mobile payment systems available to small businesses, but they all work in a slightly different way and offer a variety of features. As such, some mobile payment systems may perform more favourably under certain conditions than others, which means that you need to know exactly how you’re going to use your system and what may be required in your sector. As well as allowing you to process card-based transactions (credit and debit cards) and manage a merchant account, some systems may allow you to perform other tasks, such as inventory processing, stock checks, calculate replenishment rates, purchase order issuance or even designing customer loyalty programs. Therefore, you need to create a list outlining the core features that your business requires and compare it with what mobile payment options are currently on offer.

Thinking about installing a mobile payment system in your business? Need help supporting the costs involved? Apply for Business Finance or learn more about how your business could benefit.

What is your budget?

Mobile payment systems also offer a variety of price schemes, which means you’ll need to consider your budget and how much you can afford in the long-run. So, as well as the cost of equipment and installation, you should also factor into your decision what credit card companies the system is compatible with, the running fees from the provider, and the terms and conditions you’ll be subjected to. For example, though some providers may charge low transaction fees, they may insist on establishing a service contract and charge fees based upon transaction levels and the types of transactions taking place. Therefore, this only makes identifying which features your business stands to benefit from all the more essential. Nevertheless, although this may seem intimidating, there are plenty of funding opportunities available to small businesses to help you spread out and manage the cost of a mobile payment system.

Supporting the cost of a mobile payment system

As a small business owner you will, no doubt, be operating on a limited budget, so finding the necessary capital to support the cost of a new mobile payment system could prove challenging. However, were you to do it on your own, the expense could lead to you drawing upon your own savings or force you to divert funds away from other key areas of your business. But, with the growing prominence of the Alternative Finance Industry, more and more small business owners are gaining access to the funds they need to carry out a wide range of essential projects, including installing or upgrading their mobile payment systems. As such, just some of the alternative business finance solutions that are available which could help in this pursuit include Secured Business Loans, Hire Purchase, Overdraft Replacement, Invoice Finance and Business Cash Advance. However, just like finding a suitable mobile payment option for your small business, you also need to source an agreement which can fully support your goals, which is where speaking with a qualified business finance professional could prove invaluable.

Need help supporting the cost of a new mobile payment option?

As with any business in the UK, adapting to the needs of your customers and tailoring your services around them is a crucial responsibility, especially when it comes to their preferred method of payment. In fact, by not allowing them to make payments in a manner that they prefer, you could be generating a loss in potential earnings as they seek out other establishments who will. Yet, nevertheless, the cost of installing and running a mobile payment option within your business could be more than what you can handle by yourself initially, hence this is where sourcing a suitable finance agreement for your business could help, providing you know where to look.

Rangewell is an Access to Finance specialist who has mapped over 400 lenders to offer businesses like yours an overview of more than 23,000 business finance products. Our services are completely free to use and we’ll also guide you through the application process - we support businesses from start to finish, to find the most appropriate and affordable business finance for their needs. So if you’re looking to support a new mobile payment option for your business and need access to additional funds, apply for a Business Finance solution today or find out more with Rangewell.