Running a business can be a challenging endeavour, especially if you’re new and just starting to build one from scratch. “Challenging” can even be an understatement, as more than half of all small businesses cease operations within five years.
There are a lot of reasons why small businesses meet an unfortunate ending sooner than expected. From rising costs to a lack of sustained consumer interest, these variables can chip away at the revenue of a business and doom it early on.
With this being the sobering reality Australian businesses have to contend with today, it’s essential for business owners to proactively implement measures to counter stagnation and bankruptcy. One way of doing that is by installing the right equipment to get your business running smoothly and productively.
There are various systems and tools that can bolster operational efficiency and make life easier for both staff and customers. Each department has its own fair share of productivity-boosting equipment, and one particularly important consideration businesses should consider is their payment tool stack.
If you’re seeking ways to get your money’s worth with the best payment tools for your small business, then you’re in the right place.
We’ll get into the meat of things and lay out ways you can future-proof your small business with the best payment tools for the job, as well as explain how you can incorporate them into your operations.
Let’s get started.
4 Top Payment Tools Businesses Can Consider
There’s a wide range of payment tools that can be great additions to improving a business’s general longevity.
Implementing one or multiple of these payment tools can help businesses better connect with their customers and reduce payment friction. Moreover, it can also help promote business continuity over time.
Here are some of the most effective payment tools that businesses can consider setting up to position themselves optimally for long-term success.
- Mobile Payment Solutions
For businesses that operate digitally or on the go, utilising mobile payment solutions is a good, quick solution to making transactions happen. Apps like Square and Zelle can work on smartphones, enabling merchants like yourself to accept a wide range of payment options through a single app.
Besides the wide flexibility, mobile payment solutions also integrate with inventory and accounting systems. They also make it easy to keep track of one’s transaction history and print out digital receipts.
With Australians relying on cashless payments more and more, having this option is a great way to meet the everyday Aussie’s payment needs without needing to invest in POS systems.
- Online Payment Gateways
Another popular option businesses can opt to use is online payment gateways. PayPal, Stripe, and Wise all provide business accounts that allow entrepreneurs to create and send invoices, hold multiple currencies, and integrate with eCommerce platforms like Shopify with relative ease.
These payment gateways are common choices for eCommerce platforms, as many Aussies choose to buy using wallet apps that they already have. For Aussies without credit cards, this may even be their only option, as applying for this payment gateway is not particularly restrictive. It’s also a 24/7 service, meaning anyone can use it anytime to process payments online.
- Lending Integrations
Aussies with not enough cash no longer have to worry about missing out on time-sensitive deals, as there are lending apps like Afterpay and Zip that allow consumers to pick a buy now, pay later payment option.
These lending apps allow budget-conscious individuals to buy things on their own terms, enabling them the flexibility and freedom to pay through an interest-free, installment basis.
For businesses, offering this option can be a good way to entice otherwise hesitant customers to purchase your products. This makes it a great addition to a business’s payment toolkit.
- Subscription Billing Platforms
For Australian businesses offering recurring services, subscription billing platforms such as Chargebee, Recurly, or Stripe Billing streamline the entire payment lifecycle.
These payment tools handle the bulk of the billing operations, from invoicing customers to displaying the monthly cash flow. Just like the other payment tools, subscription tools also integrate with external software like CRM and accounting tools.
This payment model is a game-changer for services that work on a subscription model, like certain SaaS software, fitness memberships, or delivery subscriptions. This is because it can help minimise the administrative burden of manually tracking the cash flow of subscribers and instead do it automatically.
Future Proofing With an EFTPOS System
As previously mentioned, small businesses can approach improving and future-proofing their operations in multiple ways. The four options above are ideal for digital businesses and brick-and-mortar businesses, but the best choice for
Doing it through integrating a reliable EFTPOS system is one particularly effective way of future-proofing your business. EFTPOS stands for Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale, and it’s fairly effective in enhancing operational productivity and cutting down labour hours to streamline efficiency on various fronts.
For the uninitiated, an EFTPOS system is a payment processor that allows businesses to accept debit and credit card payments as soon as a sale has occurred. It’s the facilitator that sends the customer’s funds to the merchant’s account. It’s a popular equipment used in many retail and service environments that’s lauded for providing exceptional security, accuracy, and speed.
Modern EFTPOS terminals often include wireless functionality, touch-screen support, and integration capabilities with accounting and inventory management SaaS systems like Xero and QuickBooks.
Furthermore, these terminals are also directly connected to financial institutions. This makes fund transfers and transactions happen quickly and hassle-free, as it’s all handled by a third party once the transaction has taken place between seller and buyer.
These features make it a great tool to have for companies that want to scale and benefit from robust systems without relying on human-prone errors and inefficiencies. Essentially, it’s a modern system that helps businesses serve customers faster—a value-adding equipment for a satisfactory customer experience.
4 Benefits of an EFTPOS System
Investing in an EFTPOS system is a good way to future-proof your business for a variety of reasons. Let’s explore those benefits more meticulously:
- Speeds Up Transactions
An EFTPOS system is a great tool for speeding up each individual transaction. Traditional methods often require cashiers to punch in numbers in a cash register or count cash and give back change, which can add up.
An EFTPOS system simply requires the buyer to tap their card onto the system, and the processing chip in the device automatically reads and transfers the funds near-instantly. For businesses that deal with long queues regularly, a POS system can significantly cut down queue times and make for a smoother buyer experience.
- Increased Payment Options
An EFTPOS system, as mentioned earlier, accepts a wide range of payment options. Customers all have different payment preferences, and offering the one they’re most likely to use makes them more likely to follow through with the purchase and report a good experience in doing so.
This is especially true for people who don’t bring cash or only have foreign currency (i.g., tourists). With an EFTPOS system, the facilitating device automatically converts the currency on both cards and makes it so that everyone gets to know how much they’re spending or receiving, and executes the transaction for them upon confirmation.
- Improved Financial Accuracy
While cashiers are trained to be accurate handlers of cash, they’re not impervious to making mistakes. There may be times when they give out less or more than necessary, creating a hole in the accounting system.
And even if the customer notices the mistake and corrects it, the entire exchange can be time-consuming and leave a sour taste in the customer’s mouth (should they be the ones who were short-changed).
With an EFTPOS system, there’s virtually no risk of anyone getting an amount lower or higher than they’re supposed to. The payment facilitator automatically records the transaction as it happens and charges the transaction accordingly. This data, if set up, can also be synced with accounting software for even greater accuracy.
This entire set-up makes it so that bookkeeping and its pertinent data become streamlined and easier for your accounting department to handle.
- Greater Security
With an EFTPOS system, no physical cash needs to be exchanged. This means that your store, assuming that it’s a brick-and-mortar set-up, won’t always be holding a large amount of cash at the end of the day.
This not only removes (or at least lowers) the need to go back and forth to the bank, but it also makes for a more secure system as criminal risks like theft, robbery, and burglary won’t completely wipe your business’s funds dry.
In addition, most EFTPOS systems offer encryption of all transactions in real time. This allows business owners to audit payments and flag suspicious activity as they please. On top of that, EFTPOS systems are strictly regulated and need to comply with PCI DSS standards. This makes it easier for both the merchant and the buyer to feel protected during the transaction.
We hope you’ve learned from these tips on future-proofing your small business with the right financial tools. All the best in surviving the tough business world!