When it comes to running a home business, card payments are more important than ever.
If you’re running a business from home then it’s easy to feel left out of the technological transformation that’s happening in businesses with their own premises. However, just because your operation is small doesn’t mean that you can’t compete with bigger companies when it comes to accepting card payments.
If you’re running a business from home then it’s easy to feel left out of the technological transformation that’s happening in businesses with their own premises. However, just because your operation is small doesn’t mean that you can’t compete with bigger companies when it comes to accepting card payments.
In fact, it’s more important than ever that you offer a full range of payment methods to your customers. Asking them to send cheques through the post or accepting cash on delivery simply won’t do anymore.
What do the stats say?
According to the latest 2017 statistics, debit card payments have overtaken cash payments for the very first time. One in three millennials prefer to avoid using cash altogether and even 34% of baby boomers expect cash to become obsolete within the next 25 years.
If you’re only accepting cash or cheque payments, then you’re turning away a large part of your potential market.
Putting everything into place
Luckily, it’s no longer particularly complicated to accept cards if you run a home business. There are mobile solutions that will allow you to accept card payments when you’re out and about visiting customers so that they don’t need to run to the ATM.
This is ideal if, for example, you run a mobile hairdressing company or another business that delivers services in clients’ homes and static setups that run off your home WiFi network.
Both of these provide exactly the same experience that people get when they shop in a store. You can also reassure them that their purchase is backed by the same consumer credit and chargeback protection that card payments usually provide, so customers don’t have to worry about security, or losing any cash they may have otherwise had to withdraw.
Accepting credit cards may well increase your earnings too; studies show that people spend 12-18% more at small businesses when using a credit card than when they use cash.
Despite all of these benefits, two thirds of SMEs in the UK still don’t accept credit cards, so introducing card acceptance is a great way for your home business to stand out from the crowd and take a step ahead of competitors.
This is ideal if, for example, you run a mobile hairdressing company or another business that delivers services in clients’ homes and static setups that run off your home WiFi network.
Both of these provide exactly the same experience that people get when they shop in a store. You can also reassure them that their purchase is backed by the same consumer credit and chargeback protection that card payments usually provide, so customers don’t have to worry about security, or losing any cash they may have otherwise had to withdraw.
Accepting credit cards may well increase your earnings too; studies show that people spend 12-18% more at small businesses when using a credit card than when they use cash.
Despite all of these benefits, two thirds of SMEs in the UK still don’t accept credit cards, so introducing card acceptance is a great way for your home business to stand out from the crowd and take a step ahead of competitors.
February 15, 2018