Choosing a great payment solution should be a top priority when it comes to running a retail business. While any standard POS will allow you to ring up sales, the best options can boost your business efficiency, reduce costs, and streamline your accounting and reconciliations. Ultimately, these benefits add up to higher store productivity, more satisfied customers, and higher profits.

What Are Integrated Payments?

Integrated payments involve connecting your point of sale system (POS) with your payment processor, so data flows seamlessly from one platform to the other. They are all about aligning the systems and platforms that facilitate the payments side of a business. Such a setup does away with the need to manually key in customer and credit card information at the checkout counter. All the necessary information is ready when you initiate the process using your EFTPOS terminals when your POS is integrated with your payment processor.

Why Do I Need Integrated Payments?

At first, it may seem like the benefits of payment integrations are limited to the checkout counter. The truth of the matter is that integrated payments can have positive effects in multiple areas of your business, including profit, customer service, and business intelligence.

Delivers Excellent Customer Service

Exceeding expectations and providing good services is the root of developing customer loyalty. Your company can place orders and with the touch of a button and staff can complete check out orders proficiently to reduce customer wait time with a fast and reliable POS system in place.  The full-service POS system enables staff to process almost every kind of payment method and review transactions immediately while minimizing human error.

POS systems have a variety of services that allow employees to enable guest pagers, reservations, waiting lists, caller ID, and gift card management all on the same device.

Run a More Efficient Operation

The last thing any business wants is to keep customers waiting. On average, retail shoppers abandon their purchase 7.5 min after waiting in line, so you could be missing out on sales if your checkout lines take too long.

This is where integrated payments come in. You can reduce checkout time and keep the lines moving as quickly as possible when your POS and payment processor are tightly connected.

Enhances Cooperation and Teamwork

Most POS systems are user-friendly and intuitive. They are customizable and store-specific. The system will prioritize whatever your employees and customers need most. The customized payment solutions let you generate detailed reports that highlight the most popular items sold and your busiest times of the day.  When you have this information, you can evaluate your staff based on who is able to guide your customers with upselling and advice.

Simplified Credit Card Payment Processing

Much of the difficulty of taking payments online has been removed by POS systems. The shopper is always at your site because these solutions integrate seamlessly with your store’s checkout. You can start taking various payment methods in a few minutes – that’s how fast they are to set up.

There’s no need for a payment gateway or merchant account with these simplified payment processors, which means lower fees. With such solutions, rates get more competitive, and most of these new processors also don’t charge monthly or setup fees. The experience is streamlined: the system processes payment after entering the customer’s credit card.

One thing to consider before choosing a simplified processor is that you normally don’t get the same level of support. Seeing as they’re so easy to use, you might not need it anyway. Support is usually offered via guides or through email.

Increases Overall Profitability

A profitable POS system begins with integrated and innovative payment processing technology.  Through integrated payment processing, you get much more than a simple credit card transaction. You also get marketing and promotional tools to grow your business, increase exposure of your brand, maximize income, and boost customer loyalty through gift card promotions.

Businesses that have POS systems equipped with payment processing can increase order size by accepting various forms of credit cards and even mobile payments with lightning-speed transaction approvals.

Things to Ask a Provider

Sometimes, payment processors will try to lure you in with low rates. Ask the provider if all charges related to a transaction are billed in the same month or they charge “bill-backs”. Also ask is if there are different charges for different types of cards. Some services have different fees on processing different types of transactions – e.g. business, debit, personal, and rewards cards – as well as for different transaction values.

The Customer Experience

Customers should find the buying process from your online store or service convenient. If it requires too much time, too much personal information, or too many steps, your customer may decide not to buy from you and go looking elsewhere. Always look for POS systems that let your store accept all major credit and debit cards and which are integrated with all major shopping carts. Never underestimate the importance of mobile users.

Here are some more things you need to consider:

Internationally Acceptable

Make sure your POS system is internationally accessible. It should allow global payments because many people use the advantage of the global market, so your buyers might come from a foreign country.

Your Business Model

Your type of business should be on the list of businesses your system of choice supports.

Different Currencies and Forms

It might be a good idea to include the option to pay in cryptocurrencies in your online store, website or app if you’re in it for the long haul.

Fees

POS systems have different fee structures, so make sure the one you’re choosing fits your budget. Shop around to see different offerings.

Customer Service

We already mentioned this, but you could still check in advance whether the provider offers live technical support. You might need at least some within standard working hours.

Our Last Word

The right POS system will make it easier for customers to pay for your products. It takes time to choose. Hopefully the information in this article will make the process a little easier.