Top 8 small business payment solutions

From a flower stand offering beautiful bouquets to a food truck that offers tasty gastronomic delights – small businesses help feed families, employ others, contribute to the economy and make someone’s dreams come true.

No one knows better than you how much hard work goes into running your company – you need to take care of the marketing, finances, employment, stock and inventory management, locations, rent and so much more to keep your business afloat. But business payments shouldn’t be one of these issues.

To be successful, your organisation must provide convenient payment options for your customers. So what are some of the small business payment solutions you can rely on? Keep reading to find out!

1. Secure card acceptance

According to Statista, the total value of annual fraud losses on UK-issued debit and credit cards reached a value of 574.2 million GBP as of 2020. No matter how big or small your business might be, fraud is a reality everyone has to deal with.  This provokes the need for you to accept credit cards securely. This is why when you choose a payment provider, you need to ensure that they comply with PCI DSS standards to ensure that no cardholder data is stored on your POS device. 

2. Delve into mobile payment options 

Gone are the days of needing to connect your POS device via cables to a wall socket. Today, there are a number of mobile payment options that you can use to accept seamless payments. When choosing a card machine for your small business, mobile alternatives are well-preferred. They come with free Internet connectivity and don’t require additional cables to operate. Ideal for restaurants or coffee shops that need to be able to take the payment device to their customers at their tables or taxi businesses who are always on the go. A mobile payment terminal is an option worth exploring. 

Taking this point one step further, what about completely eliminating the need for POS devices altogether? Since 2018, using your smartphone as a POS device is now possible, too. SofPOS (software point-of-sale) or tap-on-glass technology means that your smartphone can turn into a payment device that you can carry with you wherever you go.

3. Consider introducing Unattended devices

Is your business involved in self-service projects like vending machines, ticketing, or parking hotspots? Reducing the need for the human touch, unattended devices have been designed to integrate perfectly in a self-service environment. The payment devices integrated into your offering provide a secure payment method, they are tamper and vandal-proof and they come in a sturdy chassis. You can also take full advantage of the flawless communication between the POS and master device.  

4. Take card payments online 

If you thought you needed a website and complex hosting and domain name reservations to accept online payments, well, you’d be wrong. Now you can accept online payments from near and far and get paid straight into your merchant account. Here are some online payment solutions to consider: 

MO/TO Virtual Terminal

With a Mail Order Telephone Order (MO/TO) Virtual Terminal, you can turn your smartphone, tablet or computer into an online card payment machine. It requires no complex integrations or additional hardware in order for you to accept card-not-present transactions from a client who’s physically far away from you and calls in or emails you with their card details. 

Payment Request

A Payment Request is a one-time payment link that you can send to your customers via SMS, email or chat app in order to get paid. Your customer receives the link and when they click on it, are taken to a secure page to make the payment. 

Pay Links

Much like Payment Requests, Pay Links are links that can be sent to multiple customers also via SMS, email or chat app, helping you get paid in multiple ways. 

PayButton

PayButtons are buttons that appear on a page where you showcase your products. They’re a great marketing tool because they help increase conversions. You can choose the colour and size of your button, after which your customer will be taken to a secure payment page to complete their checkout. 

5. Offer an affordable online payment gateway

An online payment gateway is the technology that enables you to accept payments on your e-commerce website. It assists your customers with their online checkout process. If you’re wondering about accepting payments online for small businesses, then you need to consider some of the online payment methods available to you. You can easily integrate your checkout process with some of the world’s leading e-commerce shopping plugins. It all depends on what stage of growth your business is in. But ultimately, taking your small business online is the new normal and you’d be missing out on revenue if you didn’t pursue this option. 

6. Integrate Invoicing in your offering

Invoicing is a necessary part of doing business. But it no longer means that this process needs to be difficult, complex or cumbersome. There are providers on the market which offer free invoicing services, which means that you can invoice your clients straight from your account. With free invoicing, you can customise your invoice using your brand’s colours and logos, add and apply discounts, calculate VAT, track the invoice’s status in real time, and even enable your customers to pay in any way they choose – by card or bank transfer. 

7. Take payments via QR code

Quick Response or QR code payments are next-generation payments which are safe, contactless, secure and convenient as your customers can make in-person payments straight from their smartphone. Linked to the Payment Request functionality mentioned above, you can quickly and easily generate QR codes from your account or app. Once done, all that your customer needs to do is scan the code on their phone and they’re taken to a secure page where they can enter their card details. And voila! Payment success! Yet another way to accept seamless payments.

8. Set up your very own online shop

You can also join the growing trend and start selling your products online with all the professional support you could possibly need with an online shop. It offers all the functionalities for online sales, payments, product & customer management in one place. You can take advantage of free domain name and hosting services, use a set of customisable templates to show off your brand’s personality, accept all major payments, avail of cloud-based inventory management and take your online business across borders with multi-language accessibility. Now you can truly unlock the potential of your business and never miss out on another sale as your business will operate around the clock, working directly for you. 

Closing remarks

There are several payment options for small businesses that you can consider implementing to accept seamless payments and to catch every sale you can. Luckily, there’s one European provider that offers you all these solutions and more, all from one place – myPOS. myPOS is your perfect partner in payments because it not only offers physical card payment solutions in addition to online ones, but you will also enjoy instant settlement of funds without paying monthly, annual or sign up fees. With myPOS, you also get a free merchant account with IBAN as well as a Visa business card. Plus, you can take advantage of 24/7 customer support to help answer any question you may have. Whichever payment solution you choose for your business, choose myPOS to help your business grow.