Be it an online business or a brick-and-mortar establishment, having a trustworthy online payment gateway has become a necessity for most businesses today. Payments are authorized, abiding by all the encryption compliances for sensitive information such as card details. The encrypted details are securely routed from the buyer to the seller and thereon the seller to the virtual payment processor. The purchase amount is debited via the payment gateway and reflects in your merchant account after the stipulated holding period. Contrary to the popular notion that a payment gateway is only relevant for e-commerce retailers, having a top-notch POS system machine equipped with a reliable payment gateway is very important for physical stores too. Here are the top benefits of having an online payment gateway for your business:-
- Transactions Security
In the absence of the stringent data encryption compliances provided by renowned payment gateways, your business transactions will remain vulnerable to all kinds of errors and data fraud. If you wish to build a credible brand image for your business and garner a loyal customer base, ensuring secure payments is the single most important requirement, and in fact a non-negotiable.
- Increase in Sales Volume
Providing customers with a wide range of payment options goes hand in hand with encouraging more frequent and high-value transactions. Installing a cutting-edge POS system machine that enables popular payment modes like QR Code Scanning, UPI payments, and digital wallets, in addition to credit cards and debit cards, will ensure that you do not miss out on customers who prefer to go ahead with non-cash transactions.
- On-Site Payments
With an online payment gateway for your business, you don’t have to worry about the tedious installation and maintenance of conventional POS terminals. You can easily collect payments anytime and anywhere. This is especially important for businesses where services are provided on-site or on the go, like event managers, legal advisors, facility management services, pest control services, and so on.
- Swift Transactions
Manual payment processing is always more time-consuming subject to inaccuracies or fraud. With a good POS system machine with the right payment gateway procured from a reputed POS service provider, you can rest assured of fast and accurate transactions. Whether it is an e-commerce store or a regular store, having a robust online payment gateway helps in expediting the checkout process. This will automatically bring down the number of abandoned shopping carts and increase the probability of repeat visits from customers.
- Virtual Payments Enablement
The Covid-19 situation has drastically altered the purchase behavior, shopping preferences, and payment requirements of customers. No industry, sector, niche or geographical zone is isolated from these changes. Online payments have become a norm, thereby bringing contact-proof digital payment options to the forefront. Only with a good online payment gateway, can you cope with this altered situation as a business owner, and put your customers’ requirements at the forefront.
- No time constraints on shopping
As opposed to the time-bound norms of physical shopping, businesses with payment gateways allow customers to make purchases from the comfort of their homes and make payments anytime and anywhere. Even if you are traveling and need to make an emergency purchase, all you need to do is to select the merchandise, specify the store pick-up option, make the payment, and collect the product from the selected store the next day. Having no time constraints on shopping and payments is a big advantage provided by virtual payment gateways.
- Documented Transactions
From the merchant’s point of view, installing a suitable online payment gateway will rid you of the responsibility of manually documenting your transactions. With a POS system integrated with an online payment gateway and cloud backup, all your sales transactions will automatically get stored for future reference.
Conclusion
Cash as a mode of payment is diminishing in popularity, and digital payment methods have become mainstream now, owing to their sheer convenience. In the current era of physical/social distancing induced by the Covid-19 situation, businesses can stay afloat and flourish only if they rise up to the challenges in this altered reality. The demand for all-in-one payment processors has rapidly increased, merging the conventional merchant POS device with an online payment gateway that enables all possible digital payments. Investing in a suitable POS system machine and payment gateway is thus no longer a frivolous expense, but a basic requirement today.