Enhance Customer Experiences with Value-Added Payment Services

Enhancing payment experiences can be good for business. A Salesforce study found that 79% of consumers consider shopping experiences as important as the products and services a company offers. Furthermore, 92% say a positive customer experience makes it more likely that they will make another purchase. Therefore, meeting consumer expectations, particularly for convenient, personalized checkout processes can directly impact revenues and competitiveness. Enhancing checkout with value-added payment services can be an important step toward achieving customer satisfaction and business growth.

Start with the Basics

Before you can enhance payment experiences at the checkout, you need to accept the payment types that consumers prefer. Statista research shows that volume of point of sale (POS) transactions that use cash has fallen from 59.7% in 2008 to 10% in 2021. While cash use has fallen, the volume of digital payment methods like debit cards, credit cards, and online transfers, has grown. Retailers need to recognize, however, that these payments can occur in different ways. For example, the volume of contactless payments, including contactless card and mobile wallet payments, has increased to 63% of in-store transactions. Additionally, three-fourths of Canadians have made payments at unattended devices at self-checkouts.

A PYMNTS study found that payment choice ranks as more important than dozens of other factors when consumers decide where to shop. Understanding a retail customer base’s preferences and accepting them at the checkout counter and on mobile point of sale (mPOS) devices is fundamental to delivering loyalty-building customer experiences.

Value-Added Payment Services Elevate Experiences to Delight Customers

As more merchants upgrade their payment technology to accept the payment methods that today’s consumers prefer, retailers and restaurateurs will have to do more to differentiate their businesses. Value-added payment services allow merchants to innovate and create unique checkout experiences. Android payment terminals running on an open platform allow merchants to expand capabilities at the checkout to enhance experiences for their customers and their employees. Value-added payment services available to merchants include:

• Digital Receipts

Almost half of consumers prefer digital receipts over paper options that they quickly throw away. Digital receipts are more convenient, searchable in email or a mobile wallet, and more environmentally friendly.

• Buy Now, Pay Later

BNPL allows consumers to divide payments over three or four weeks, making large payments more affordable while avoiding credit card interest charges.

• Currency Conversion

Travelers will appreciate automatic currency conversion at the point of sale, allowing them to use digital payment methods in different regions of the world seamlessly and transparently.

• Loyalty Rewards Programs

Merchants can manage a loyalty rewards solution directly from the payment terminal to give customers a personalized experience and the ability to access their accounts and redeem points.

Positioning Merchants for a Successful Future

In the rapidly changing world of commerce, merchants must stay relevant and competitive by meeting customers’ expectations for convenient, personalized, efficient payment experiences. Value-added payment services that expand a payment terminal’s functionality empower retailers and restaurateurs to meet —  or exceed — their customers’ expectations.

Ingenico has developed an Android payments platform that allows merchants to add features and functionality to their payment devices as easily as downloading from an app store. Contact us to learn how to create unique experiences that delight customers and win their loyalty.