How to accept digital payments as a small business

Cash is expected to account for just 7% of in-store purchases by 2024 according to a Global Payments Report.

Since 2019 cash has already declined at a much faster rate than in previous years, accounting for 27% of in-store transactions in 2019, and just 13% by 2021.

Some of this quicker decline in the last few years is certainly down to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that customers were urged to switch to cards and contactless as a way of reducing the spread of germs when shopping.

But the reality is, new payment technology has left cash obsolete for all but a few customers and businesses.

It’s not just debit and credit cards that are replacing cash, but also digital payments like those used by the likes of Apple and Google Pay, as well as digital payments online.

Even as a small business you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of being able to accept these digital payments.

In fact, in the last year, digital wallets became the second most popular method of making payments in-store, just behind card payments.

Luckily, accepting digital payments is incredibly easy for small businesses, and if you already accept contactless card payments you have much of the hardware and software you need already.

Here’s a quick guide to accepting digital payments as a small business in the UK.

Use your existing card machine or upgrade to a new one

Depending how old your card machine is, you may already be able to accept digital payments through smart or mobile wallets.

Most new card payment machines are already equipped with the technology needed to accept contactless cards – and this is the same technology that is used to accept digital payments.

So if you’re already accepting contactless card payments, it’s likely you’re set to accept digital payments too.

One way to check is to have a look at your card machine and look for this symbol:

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If you see this on your card machine, you’re able to accept contactless card payments.

You may also see other symbols like:

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If you can see these symbols on your card machine it means you can accept digital payments from these providers.

However, not every card machine that accepts digital payments will have these symbols on the machine, so if you’re not sure just contact your card machine provider and they’ll be able to advise you.

If you can’t already accept digital payments, you’ll need to upgrade your card machine.

If you do need to upgrade your existing card machine to start accepting digital payments in your small business, just get in touch with us for a free quote and see how much money we could save you on your existing contract at the same time.

How digital payments work for small businesses

As we’ve said, if you can already accept contactless card payments in your business, you already have the technology you need to start accepting digital payments too.

Like contactless cards, smartphones that allow digital communications come equipped with near-field communication (NFC) technology.

These NFC chips transmit payment data between a card and card machine and allow smartphones with digital payments to do the same.

It’s totally secure and you never need to worry about someone intercepting the signal because it only works when the payment device (i.e. the smartphone) is placed in close proximity to the card machine.

Like contactless card payments, these digital payments occur almost instantly and will only be authorised if the customer has the funds in the account being used to make the payment.

This means you never need to worry about losing out on a sale because the customer blocked the payment.

All the customer has to do is place their linked smart device close to your card machine, and the transaction will be processed.

Why your small business needs to accept digital payments

There’s no question that cash is in rapid decline and, in reality, it’s more likely the UK will become a cashless society rather than see notes and coins make a comeback.

Nearly half of customers under the age of 24 (45%) now regularly use digital payments in-store and nearly a third aged between 25-40 prefer them too, according to research by Statista.

Even among older shoppers (over the age of 75) 10% are now using digital payments via a smart device instead of cash.

But accepting digital payments shouldn’t be a stress for small businesses and, as we’ve already noted, most small businesses that already accept card payments likely have the technology they need to start taking digital payments if they haven’t already.