According to the new annual POS forecast released by Javelin Strategy & Research, mobile payment systems will grow to $5.4 billion by 2018.  The forecast predicts strong growth in both mobile and online payments for the period covering 2013 to 2018. Total retail transactions for all POS systems in the US are expected to grow from $3.98 trillion in 2012 to $4.2 trillion in 2018.
The forecast, Javelin Strategy & Research’s 2013 Retail POS Forecast: Mobile and Prepaid Opens New ‘POSsibilities’, contains a number of surprising predictions that retailers and processors should be aware of over the next five years. While gift cards will continue to be an important source of retail POS volume, the forecast says prepaid card volume will overtake gift card volume in 2015. The report also notes that debit card transactions now exceed cash transactions in total volume among consumers from Generation Y.

The split between retail and online sales still strongly favors in-store locations. Retail store volume constituted 93% of POS volume in 2012. The report says it does not realistically expect online volume to catch retail store volume in any year the forecast covers. However, it expects the highest rate of growth to take place in mobile payment processing, particularly on the strength of a major push within the industry toward mobile payment processing. Although a thin 0.01% sliver of total retail sales processed through point-of-sale (POS) systems in the United States in 2012, mobile payment systems will grow to a $5.4 billion by 2018 according to the new annual POS forecast released by Javelin Strategy & Research. The forecast predicts strong growth in both mobile and online payments for the period covering 2013 to 2018. Total retail transactions for all POS systems in the US are expected to grow from $3.98 trillion in 2012 to $4.2 trillion in 2018.

The forecast, Javelin Strategy & Research’s 2013 Retail POS Forecast: Mobile and Prepaid Opens New ‘POSsibilities’, contains a number of surprising predictions that retailers and processors should be aware of over the next five years. While gift cards will continue to be an important source of retail POS volume, the forecast says prepaid card volume will overtake gift card volume in 2015. The report also notes that debit card transactions now exceed cash transactions in total volume among consumers from Generation Y.

The split between retail and online sales still strongly favors in-store locations. Retail store volume constituted 93% of POS volume in 2012. The report says it does not realistically expect online volume to catch retail store volume in any year the forecast covers. However, it expects the highest rate of growth to take place in mobile payment processing, particularly on the strength of a major push within the industry toward mobile processing.

Even where mobile will not exceed retail, the report notes that mobile technologies have permanently altered the retail landscape. Tech savvy shoppers increasingly use their mobile systems to comparison shop in-store. Many also use retail locations to window shop items they intend to buy online.

The report was assembled using data Javelin obtained through two online surveys of more than 6,000 consumers. The surveys polled the consumers’ usage of a diverse mixture of payment options, including cash, prepaid cards, gift cards, credit cards, debit cards, checks, and mobile systems. The goal was to evaluate how well non-card payment methods will hold up in the coming five-year period against emerging methods.

The post Research Shows Mobile Payments Growth Rate Exceeds Over All Payment Methods appeared first on SwitchPay.

The Paypers has recently released the latest version of the Mobile Payments Market Guide. This guide offers an overview of the different mobile transaction services available worldwide in 2013. It also serves as a reference for mobile payments, including mobile commerce and mobile banking.

This guide offers a complete look at the vast ecosystem of mobile transaction services available around the globe. It includes valuable insight from the industry’s top thought leaders and stakeholders. The Mobile Payments Market Guide 2013 is the most comprehensive list of companies in this market, and it includes notes about banks, service providers, industry experts and associations. It also includes trends and upcoming developments in mobile payments.

This essential guide is endorsed by leading associations, including Ecommerce Europe, an association that represents products and services in Europe; The Smart Payment Association, which is a leading trader in mobile payments; EFMA, an organization that operates worldwide to bring together thousands of financial service companies; and Merchant Risk Council, a trade association that focuses on payment strategies and risk for electronic companies.

The latest version of the guide includes more comprehensive company profiles and an advanced search. The guide is available in PDF format for easy viewing, and it gives readers more information than previous guides regarding mobile transactions around the world.

Download the latest version of the Mobile Payments Market Guide here.

The post The Paypers Introduces the Mobile Payments Market Guide For 2013 appeared first on SwitchPay.

The concept of the digital wallet has attracted the interest of large payment processors, including not only credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard but also companies like Apple and Isis. So far, however, no one solution has achieved market dominance. Delayed launches, changes in methods of processing and a lack of attractive features have kept the buying public from settling on a favorite.

The capability of implementing a digital wallet by substituting a mobile phone for a physical wallet has been available for some time, but even industry insiders have been slow to adopt it. While the technology exists, the degree of customer acceptance that would lead to its large-scale adoption seems to lay in the far future.

A number of major players, however, are beginning to dip their toes in the water. Apple’s Passbook is the early sales leader, driven by the massive customer base of the iPhone. Users accustomed to easy interaction with the iPhone find the utility of its digital commerce features quite attractive.

Other firms have put forward visions of a digital wallet used only for internet purchases. While this sort of application has had some success, those that extend their reach to physical transactions at brick and mortar retailers face much more customer resistance. Implementations of the digital wallet for use at the counter, such as Google Wallet and Serve from American Express, are fundamentally different from those intended solely for online use.

One example of the latter is the “one-click” shopping system now operated by Braintree as a result of their recent acquisition of Venmo. This system’s users need only enter their payment information once in order to make purchases from over 4,000 participating Internet merchants. If the key to customer acceptance of the digital wallet is the ability to use the system at multiple merchants, then this solution may be the wave of the future.

Traditional payment processors seem to be struggling to catch up to less traditional systems that have been aggressive in building their infrastructure in anticipation of the looming digital wallet war. One example is Paypal’s effort to penetrate the real world through Discover’s payment network. This fall the company came out with a plan to extend Paypal digital payments to the full range of merchants that currently accept Discover cards. Paypal accounts, of course, can be funded using multiple payment options.

Yet another new development is the redemption of digital rewards cards using the client’s smartphone. Coffee giant Starbucks is in the lead in the race to create a mobile payments network driven by digital wallets with the final goal of working with issuing banks.

Card networks are also chasing the brass ring of digital wallet success. Visa and Samsung have announced a cooperative effort toward the development and marketing of a brand of contact free mobile payments usable on Samsung phones. This would mean that PayWave, a mobile payments app from Visa, would be standard equipment on NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung.

The post The Digital Wallet Rush Continues appeared first on SwitchPay.

About The Electronic Transactions Association

The Electronic Transactions Association is a worldwide trade alliance representing more than 500 businesses that provide electronic transaction processing services and products. ETA’s goal is to progress the mobile payments sector profession by encouraging leadership through advocacy, education and the spread of information.

Recently, the Electronic Transactions Association’s Mobile Payments Division introduced three key solutions to help navigate the dynamic mobile payments sector. The new information is comprised of the following:

• Mobile Payments Glossary of Terms
• Best Practices and Guidelines for Mobile Payment Solutions
• Beyond the Hype: Mobile Payments for Merchants

“The ETA Mobile Payments Association offers a singular voice for the upcoming mobile payments industry,” said Jason Oxman, Chief Executive Officer of the Electronic Transactions Association. “The recently announced “best practices” signify months of cooperation among staff from technology and payment firms across the mobile billing spectrum and indicate a precise course for the future of the sector. These recommendations provide data to ensure that, regardless of the platform, technology, or firm, mobile payments products and services serve both customers’ and vendors’ unique needs.”

“Best Practices and Guidelines for Mobile Payment Solutions” accounts for crucial concerns, including competition, security and privacy while managing the interests of a diversified number of stakeholders, including consumers, state and federal legislators, credit card issuers, infrastructure providers, merchant acquirers, federal regulators and merchants. The complete “best practices” record is available on the internet:

“Beyond the Hype: Mobile Payments for Merchants,” offers an extensive summary of the present condition of mobile billing as well as an evaluation of costs and risks vendors should weigh out prior to implementing a mobile payment solution. The white paper is available on the internet:

“Mobile Payments Glossary of Terms” contains more than 100 important phrases and terms relevant to the business. It will be a helpful resource for beginners to the market as well as those more experienced. The glossary of terminology is available on the internet:

The ETA Mobile Payments Committee is a sector-wide task force of 100 associates from top businesses in the modern market of mobile billing, including device manufacturers, processors, mobile network operators, financial establishments, developers and credit card networks.

The ETA MPC is responsible for the development and implementation of new approaches to the sophisticated challenges surrounding the breakthrough of mobile payment processing in the U.S. and worldwide. In addition to the sector initiatives released today, the association is actively engaged in collaborative efforts concerning consumer education and public policy.

The post The ETA Releases Best Practices and Guidelines for Mobile Payments appeared first on SwitchPay.

As consumers begin to use cellphones and smartphones for more every day activities, including accessing the internet and conducting personal business, it only makes sense that consumers should be able to make payments with their iPhones and iPads as well. Over the past few years, mobile payment processing technology has become an attractive concept for reducing the complexity of making and receiving payments. Now, the popularity of the technology has received an additional boost from the government agencies that have adopted the technology as a viable payment method.

The popularity of mobile payment technology is growing as the number of smartphones in use increases across the nation. Over the past three years, the number of payments for government services made using mobile devices has doubled each year. Nationally, nearly 27% of households report that they are cellphone-only households. The State of Arkansas has the highest concentration of these households, reporting a concentration of 35%, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Arkansas created a plan to strategically use the data in the CDC study to invent a number of new mobile-friendly services that could be operated on various smartphone operating platforms. In addition to creating new apps and providing mobile information, creating a way to implement mobile payments for state agencies was high on the list of tasks to accomplish. Focusing on being able to move to mobile apps and payments easily required a lot of work on the part of the programmers, but the end result is better than many expected.

Arkansas recently became the first state to offer smartphone users the ability to process payments for e-government services with secure mobile payment technology. The mobile payment services rolled out can be used to add money to inmate trust accounts, make payments for property taxes, or pay fees for restitution or probation and parole supervision. If the rollout in Arkansas proves to be successful, it could change the way the country accepts payments for services in the future.

The inmate deposit service is currently the most used mobile payment service since the implementation of all three services. The deposit service gives the friends and family members of inmates the ability to make deposits into an inmate’s prepaid phone account or Department of Correction-managed trust securely in real time using their mobile phone. Offenders supervised by the Department of Community Correction can easily make their payments for monthly supervision, court fees or restitution fees using the Probation and Parole Supervision and Restitution mobile payments system. Property owners in Pulaski County, Arkansas’ largest county, can use the recently released property tax payments system to pay real estate and personal property taxes via their mobile devices.

The early adoption of information technology was one of the keys to successfully creating the mobile payment technology now in use in Arkansas. A board-led, public-private collaboration between the state and the Arkansas Information Consortium, called the Information Network of Arkansas, was enlisted to help the state government entities create effective Web-enabled information services that could be properly viewed on mobile devices. A secure back-end payment system was created to use with the new mobile portals that were designed for the agencies, ensuring a smooth transition to mobile payments for the state.

It is believed that using mobile payments can increase the speed and convenience of accepting payments. By providing people with more  alternative ways to pay, the amount of revenue collected by anyone who implements this into their business is predicted to increase. Now that they have been implemented, the citizens of Arkansas are encouraged to explore the new services and test their functionality.

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Are you considering investing in a mobile platform for your business? If so, you’re not alone. More and more businesses are adding mobile platforms like mobile websites and/or applications to their marketing mix.

The reasons to consider going mobile are clear. All you need to do is to look at your circle of friends, business associates and customers. What do they all have in common? They are probably regular users of smartphones and tablets to interact with businesses and other organizations.

In some industry sectors, a standard website that is well designed and kept up to date can deliver a good return on investment. If the interaction with your customers and suppliers is relatively infrequent and/or technical in its nature, a standard website probably gets the job done.

However, if your business is tied to serving existing customers and actively developing new ones, you should take a hard look at expanding your existing online marketing tools to include a robust mobile platform. This is especially true of businesses who serve the consumer product and service sectors. Restaurants, bars, realtors, retailers, doctors, lawyers, musicians, nonprofits, grocery and other consumer-focused businesses need to continually provide their customers with the electronic tools and business reasons to stay connected.

The first step is to evaluate whether it would be a good return on your investment to add a mobile platform for your business. Here are three good places to start:

Check Your Mobile Traffic

Google offers 3 helpful tools that can help you to assess how much mobile traffic is currently coming into your existing website.

Google Analytics

This is a free tool that “attaches” to your website and provides a tremendous amount of helpful data to analyze your visitors web traffic. It provides a view of where the visitor is from and what device they are using to browse your site.

Google Webmaster Tools

This free tool can refine the visitor data to determine how mobile users are using keywords to get information from your website.

Google Keyword Tool

This tool works with Google Analytics to help determine the possibilities for adding a mobile platform to your site. Armed with the information culled from these Google tools, you’ll have a picture of the potential for investing in a mobile platform.

How Does Your Website Look On A Mobile Device?

Now that you have a handle on the frequency and type of mobile device views on your website, you are ready to appreciate what the users see and experience as they navigate your website. It’s likely you will find the experience to be concerning as mobile websites require different programming.

What Type of Mobile Web Design Is Best?

Google recommends a “responsive website design” that adjusts the site to adapt to the mobile device viewing the site. Mobile web marketing is a powerful and effective way to expand your reach and improve your customers satisfaction.

Other Mobile Tools For Your Business

One of the best ways you can use mobile technology to boost your business is by accepting mobile payments. Take a note from other big businesses such as Apple, Starbucks, Urban Outfitters that have incorporated this into their marketing mix.

The post Why Small Businesses Should Embrace Mobile appeared first on SwitchPay.

One of the most difficult aspects of a sale is the initial approach to the customer.  What do you say? Do you lead with a sales pitch? Do you try to connect with them on a personal level?  Below you will not only find advice on how to begin the conversation with your customers but how to correctly determine their needs and close the deal.

Increase the Number of Customers Who Approach You

By making yourself more accessible to consumers, you’re increasing the number of people who will try to talk to you. Then down the line, a percentage of these people will turn into customers. The key is to not act like a salesperson who simply wants to make a sale and then move onto the next client. Instead, businesses have to be willing to take the time necessary to build relationships with consumers. That means interacting with consumers on social media websites, attending in-person events where you could expand your client base, responding to calls and emailing customers quickly and kindly.

Show Your Customers What You Can Do For Them

Every time you’re tempted to ask a customer, “What can I do for you?” replace that question with this statement: “Let me show you what my business can do for you.” Asking a direct question isn’t going to return the answers you’re looking for. Consumers may be nervous when they feel like they’re being put on the spot. Sometimes, customers don’t even know yet that they want or need whatever it is you’re selling. That’s why you have to approach consumers by explaining how you can help them. Think of this tactic as the start of a two-way conversation with customers.

Don’t Go Straight for the Sale

All too often, salespeople try to sell a product before even explaining what that product is. Pushy marketing doesn’t work for most people and it certainly won’t be effective if consumers don’t know what they’re being sold. Instead of sounding impatient from the beginning, explain what your business does. Describe the goods you sell. Move slowly, as if you’re simply planting the seed instead of trying to close a sale at that very moment.

Present Yourself as an Expert

Consumers will take you more seriously and listen if they think you’re an expert in your field. Briefly explain your background and experience in your industry to present yourself as an authority. Not only will customers trust what you have to say, but they’ll also know that they can go to you if they have any questions or concerns, because you’ll undoubtedly have the answer.

Employ the Key Elements of an Introduction

There are four basic things that every sales introduction needs: 

• Your name.
• Your position and experience or a specific skill or qualification.
• What you can do to help the customer.
• A question that will kick off dialogue.

Be Ready For the Sale

One of the best things you can provide to your customers is convenience. Making the customer experience pleasant for them ensures a greater chance of their return. Having a mobile payments system in place and being ready to answer any of their questions can help make that possible.

The post The Art of Approaching a Potential Customer appeared first on SwitchPay.

A common misconception among brick-and-mortar retail businesses is that having a simple website is all they need to attract new customers and keep the old ones coming back for more. But the reality is that businesses using mobile marketing to optimize their retail business are seeing an increase in customers and customer interaction. Smartphone usage is more popular than ever, and the trend continues to grow. In fact, more than 50% of smartphone owners in the United States have used their mobile phones while shopping in a retail store, according to a study by comScore.

So, how do retail business owners tap into this growing medium and start improving their foot traffic and customer loyalty? We have some tips that can help business owners interested in including mobile in their marketing mix.

Find Your Target Demographic

Mobile marketing isn’t difficult but it requires diligence on the part of the retail business. One of the first steps you need to take is pinpointing your target demographic. Chances are, you already have a good idea who your best customers are. But, what are their mobile phone habits? Do they keep their mobile phones with them when they shop at your store? Once you answer these questions, you can begin planning a strategy.

Local Search Optimization

Because many people use keywords on their phones to search for retail stores near them, making sure that your store is optimized for local search is worth the investment of time and money. But, make sure that once customers find your website on their smartphone that it’s optimized for mobile usage. If it’s not, there’s a good chance that the potential customer will be lost.

Incentives to Engage

Sometimes, simply having a mobile optimized website isn’t enough. Engaging new customers will require a little more incentive. Find a web company that can make mobile coupons so you can offer them to new and returning customers who might be on the fence about making the trip to your store. This will give them the push they need to make a visit.

Engage Returning Customers

Using social media is one of the easiest ways to engage returning customers. But, if you want to up the ante a little more, hold simple contests on these channels asking customers to “like” or “follow” you on Facebook or Twitter. Offer the winner discounted or free items in return.

Accept Mobile Payments

Another way to use mobile technology in your retail shop is by accepting mobile payments on a smartphone or a tablet device. When a customer swipes their credit or debit card, there is a field where you can encourage them to enter their email address. This is an easy way to increase the number of email addresses on your list of newsletter recipients.

The post Using Mobile Marketing to Optimize Your Retail Business appeared first on SwitchPay.

On a recent Saturday morning, there was a hustle at the farmer’s market where families were walking around with their kids and pets. The crowd was enjoying the weather as the sun was out and the breeze was crisp and cool. The dew glistening on the produce made it feel like it was just picked a few minutes before.

A man was there looking for produce for the week. He went to a stand manned by a beaming local farmer and asked for a basket of blueberries, some tomatoes, onions and peaches. The farmer got his order together, looked up and said “that’ll be $16.” After he fished for is his debit card, he took it out of his wallet and handed it to the farmer. He apologized and said they only accepted cash. Having no cash on hand, the man spent the next few minutes walking around looking for an ATM machine. When he found one, he reluctantly paid the $3 withdrawal fee and purchased his produce.

Stories like this one happen every week at farmer’s markets all over the U.S. For some reason, vendors at various farmer’s markets have been slow to adopt new payment-processing technology. The thing is, it could really boost sales – some farmers report that accepting credit cards has increased their sales by 30% – and improve the convenience of the customer trying to purchase their goods. While there are many reasons to begin accepting mobile payments, here are a few:

People Buy Less With Cash

Studies have show customers often buy impulsively, but when they pay with cash, there’s a limit to what they can spend. However, when you give them the ability to pay with a credit card or debit card, you may be able to sell them a few extra items and increase your revenue.

Cash Isn’t Popular Anymore

Now that debit cards are used much more than cash, people do not keep cash on hand as often and this can be a difficult reality to come to terms with if your sole method of payment is diminishing. Accepting mobile payments opens up a world of possibilities for where you can accept transactions and the increased revenue it can generate.

Improve Customer Service

When you have to turn away customers that do not carry cash, it does not show attention to your customer’s needs. However, offering more payment options, and being more open to your customers’ payment preferences is a great way to build customer relationships. Provide your customers a choice and they will surely come back.

Increase Popularity

People look for quality products and convenience. If you can offer them both, you will increase your populatity and as a result you will increase your profits. Especially when the other vendors are turning customers away or fumbling with cash trying to make chance.

Take your business to the next level and start accepting credit cards with SwitchPay today.

The post How to Grow Sales at the Farmer’s Market by Accepting Mobile Payments appeared first on SwitchPay.

Food trucks make everything better. A public park. An outdoor concert event. Any large gathering of hungry people is always better when there are food trucks around. As a food truck owner, or someone who is seriously considering getting into the industry, you know that location is everything. You’ve probably spent countless hours plotting out the best locations and the best timing. And, if you’re lucky, you’re probably making money hand over fist.

Accept Mobile Payments

However, there are always ways your can make a little, or a lot more. Sure you can cut costs by using cheaper supplies for your food, but that might negatively affect the quality of your product and the way your business is perceived. One of the best ways you can improve your bottom line while maintaining the quality of your product is with your primary means of income: mobile payments. Here are some ways to save big with a mobile payment processor.

Find a Good Mobile Payment Processor

You might be surprised to know that the field of merchant services and payment processing is a competitive one. Everyone offers different deals, so find the one that matches with your business goals. Don’t get locked into an uncomfortable contract with a payment processing company. Just like you have to earn the loyalty of your customers, your payment processing company must earn your loyalty again and again.

Make Sure You Have a Good Rate

As mentioned above, the field of merchant services is highly competitive. Some companies offer what look to be better rates than others, but beware of monthly fees, usage fees and contract fees hiding behind those too-good-to-be-true number. Make sure you read the fine print and, again, try to avoid contracts. Behind that good rate could be some hidden fees that could cost you in the end.

Make Sure the Product is Quality

Some of the leading mobile payment processors accept payments with card readers that lose their reliability after a few uses. Some companies will charge a higher rate when you manually enter the card number into your mobile device. Be on the lookout for price gouging like this, and stick with a trustworthy mobile payment processor.

With SwitchPay, what you see is what you get. You won’t have to worry about any of these issues as there are no contracts and no hidden fees. We work hard to earn your business month after month. Our app is versatile and easy to use, and the card reading device that we give you for free is one of the most reliable in the industry. As a food truck owner that relies on SwitchPay for all of your mobile payments, your biggest worry should be where to park.

The post Financial Tips for Food Truck Businesses appeared first on SwitchPay.