POS Solutions, POS Retail
Article | January 12, 2024
Running a small business requires a tight eye on profits. More than likely, you will face scenarios in which you incur higher transaction fees you didn’t expect and could have avoided in the first place. Knowing how to navigate processing fees is a key part of your success. Whether you run a single location, a multi-location business, or even a mobile business, avoiding unnecessary fees should be part of the game plan.
Unfortunately, less-than-reputable POS providers are out there, and understanding fees associated with taking payment from customers isn’t easy, but knowing what to look for will help. In this article, we cover fees to keep an eye on and how to save more on your processing fees.
How To Avoid Paying Unnecessary Credit Card Processing Fees
Unfortunately, if you want to accept credit and debit cards as a form of payment in your business, you’re going to experience processing fees. The financial benefits outweigh the transaction costs, but you can still save some money on your POS system and credit card processing.
Negotiate Your Processing Fees
The reason it can be so hard to understand the actual cost of processing fees is that many merchant service providers bury fees in the fine print, and these fees can come back to haunt you. In general, the more upfront a company is about all its charges, the more trustworthy and reliable they are because they have nothing to hide, and typically those rates will be fair. But it also helps to keep an eye on certain aspects of a contract. You can then negotiate them or repackage services to boost your profits.
Transaction Fees: Choose The Right Plan
When setting up your contract, you are given the option of a range of credit card pricing plans. Here are three of the most common pricing models.
Interchange Plus Fee Pricing
This option offers different transaction rates for different card types, bank issuers, methods of transactions, and more. By understanding these fees when processing transactions, you can benefit financially by encouraging the usage of certain cards or procedures that are least costly.
Tiered Pricing
In this scenario, you are charged different rates for different tiers created by your provider. It’s important to evaluate this option carefully because most transactions can fall into a less favorable tier rate.
Flat-fee Structure Pricing
This fee allows for one charge for card-present (CP) transactions and another for card-not-present (CNP) transactions, regardless of card type. This predictable, one-rate pricing model is easy to follow, allowing you to encourage a lower cents-per-transaction option and formulate special pricing deals. However flat-rate can sometimes come out as more expensive than interchange-plus pricing.
How To Avoid Monthly PCI Compliance Charges
A semi-regular fee many merchants run into is not falling in line with PCI Compliant in how they handle payment information. Being PCI compliant means maintaining important standards for customer data protection, and it is taken seriously. Compliance is required for major credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard and is becoming more popular as businesses continue to shift to online sales.
Rule enforcement is most often the responsibility of payment processing companies. Your provider will charge you two fees: a PCI compliance fee – which is once a year – and a PCI non-compliance fee – which occurs every month you have not completed your yearly PCI Compliance audit. Providers are free to charge however much they like for each service, and it can range anywhere between $30-$99 a month. Monthly charges are done both directly or indirectly via higher monthly fees, processing rates, or both. In some cases, the charges begin months after originally signing up with the processors hoping you won’t keep a close eye on all your ongoing processing fees.
As a merchant service provider, we at BNG Point-Of-Sale have a long and reliable history in helping our customers practice PCI Compliance within their business and avoid non-compliance fees.
PCI Compliance is necessary and it does require some work by the processors, so the charges aren’t a hoax, but there are some ways to keep costs down:
You can take on the responsibility of PCI Compliance yourself and forgo the processor’s fee; however, you will be on your own if issues arise. In today’s world of increasing e-commerce, it’s not recommended.
You can prevent the risk of non-compliance fees by working with companies that handle compliance internally. If they (not you) are the source of customer purchasing data, they are automatically in charge of it. Square and PayPal are examples of companies that handle all PCI Compliance, and we often account for these services when onboarding our customers and annually remind them to follow PCI Compliance.
At first glance, it may appear you are not charged by these companies for compliance and non-compliance, but in reality, compliance is still built into the standard fee for service; you just won’t see it specified. Still, you won’t be responsible for non-compliance fees since they own the data and are fully responsible for it.
The amount of compliance required of your business depends on how you take in payment and store customer data. Since processors have numerous clients and prefer not to get specific about it, they may charge a basic fee to cover most issues. This means you could be overpaying, so it’s a good area to evaluate this price of the packaged service vs. when it is priced individually.
There may be companies that don’t charge for compliance, but they are rare and may be suspect. In most cases, any free compliance is covered with higher fees in other areas.
How To Avoid Chargeback Fees
Chargeback fees should be avoided since they are more expensive than traditional transaction fees – especially if you are categorized as a “high risk” client. The first step is to avoid chargebacks in the first place.
Chargebacks can be the result of sales errors by you and your team, a misunderstanding by the customer, or the result of identity theft. Here are some ways to combat each.
Reduce Transaction Errors
Know when to stop a transaction. If an error occurs, push the cancel/hold button inside the transaction. If you are unable to do this, the transaction has already been claimed by the processing company.
Accurately process credits as credits and sales as sales.
Receive an Authorization Approval Code (AAC) before running a transaction.
Before batching your credit card processing at the end of the day, review all charges to verify all charges are correct and not duplicated. Keeping this as an active daily routine can prevent costly mistakes.
Ensure shipped items arrive to the customer to avoid disputes. Select the “ship product to billing address” to alleviate data error.
Keep Records Of Voids
Provide records to your customer of any proof of voids and include companion documentation for any disputes showing details of each purchase.
Decrease Risk Of Theft
If your processor charges more for card-not-present transactions, which most do, it’s because the risk of theft is higher. By requiring a driver’s license and signature and doing manually keyed-in card payments in person rather than over the phone, you lower the risk and enjoy lower charges per transaction.
Try to avoid non-qualified processing (when a card isn’t present or keyed or is missing billing information.) This type of processing is considered a high-risk factor, and processors charge accordingly.
When Possible, Run Orders On Debit Cards
Debit cards are considered a lower risk than credit cards and, in turn, the transaction rates are quite a bit less. This has mostly to do with the fact the purchase is a direct bank-to-bank transaction, but other factors make a difference such as PIN verification and signature requirements, bringing these purchases into a lower risk category. And typically the rates hold. You will still experience rate differences among debit cards related to how the purchases are conducted and who the issuing bank is.
Special incentives such as loyalty programs for debit card users help to easily boost profits.
A Final Thought On Keeping Processing Fees Low
As you can see, several variables can affect your processing rates. From fines to the pricing model your merchant service provider recommends, there’s a lot to consider.
As tempting as it can be to just try and find the cheapest option, be careful going with the lowest bidder. Remember, all POS and payment processing providers have to make some money to cover the costs of support their merchants. If you choose a processor with incredibly low fees, you run the risk of getting what you pay for when it comes to supporting your business.
If you’re not sure if you’re overpaying on your processing fees and want a free analysis, let our team review your current monthly statements and we’ll let you know if you’re getting a good deal or not.
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POS Solutions
Article | April 4, 2024
ABC Fine Wine & SpiritsOracle Retail Cross Talk is our favorite event of the year. Across the 2.5 days, we create authentic connections across our retail community so you can learn from each other. We recruit 25-30 global retailers to share their experiences in case studies, panel discussions, or fireside chats. We are thrilled to host a panel discussion with ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and Estee Lauder.
Delivering a great omnichannel retail experience takes the right people, process, and technology to earn shopper loyalty by offering engaging and seamless experiences across more than 70 unique customer journeys. Widespread curbside pick-up, flexible store environments, buy online, pick-up in-store (BOPIS) protocols–these new norms have dramatically accelerated in-store adaptation and innovation. As brands dive deeper for new ways to maximize the customer experience—and adapt to the rapidly changing world—they must lean into agile technology. Join this discussion to hear how ABC Fine Wine & Spirits and Estee Lauder are tackling today’s challenges and planning for the future. Estee Lauder
Platform Discussion: Stores and Omnichannel
As customers continue to evolve the omnichannel retail journey, you can provide them with engaging, seamless experiences while refining operations across point-of-service, ecommerce, and order management systems. Join us at Cross Talk to learn how Oracle Retail’s omnichannel modern retail solutions bridge the productivity gaps between the online and traditional point-of-sale functionality, improve store associate effectiveness, increase sales, and ultimately personalize the customer experience.
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POS Solutions, Ecommerce Merchandising
Article | June 7, 2024
When the pandemic first started, most retail stores had to close, and some even suffered financial losses. Know more how retailers up scaled their businesses.
Online shopping is quickly becoming the new norm in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most retailers had to migrate their businesses to the cloud in order to meet the current demands of highly tech-savvy consumers, and the use of POS software has become more important than ever. A cloud-hosted POS solution is no longer an option for small and large businesses, but rather a requirement.
POS systems have provided retailers with a more efficient way to track inventory and manage sales, replacing the old cash register and traditional methods of selling. As ecommerce grows, POS solutions play an important role in increasing convenience for online customers and providing a customer-centric experience.
To keep up with the latest POS system developments, there is a list of the most important POS software trends to watch for. By understanding current POS software adoption reports and key insights, you can maximize the potential of your existing POS solution or, better yet, have better ideas on financing trends by POS that can bring value to your retail business.
Consumers had to reorient their purchasing toward needs like food, medicine, and other home items as the viral pandemic threatened everyone's health and safety. The US Census Bureau recently released a report that found that throughout the pandemic, retail stores providing food and beverages saw the biggest monthly growth in retail sales.
To better understand how POS systems are assisting retailers in overcoming the challenges posed by the rapidly changing retail landscape, here’s a list of the most recent and importantPOS software trends:
Cashless Transactions via Mobile POS Systems
Adoption of Cloud-Hosted POS Systems
Multichannel Commerce
Customer Layout Programs
Personalized Shopping Experience
AI Integration in POS Systems
Use of POS Data Analytics
Simple POS Hardware
Investing in modern POS systems and maximizing their rich feature sets can help your retail business go a long way, from attracting new customers to retaining a loyal customer base that can drive sales and support your long-term growth.
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POS Retail
Article | May 10, 2024
Savvy retailers partner with leading marketplace software providers to dominate the digital marketplace with unified retail. Read the article to unlock the ingredients of successful retailing.
Contents
1. Unified Retail Management: The Inducer of Selling Prowess
2. Multichannel Versus Unified Commerce in Retail
3. Unlocking Operational and POS Success with Unified Retailing
4. Top Companies Dealing in Unified Retailing Software
4.1 Tackle.io
4.2 Anchanto
4.3 Logicbroker
4.4 JungleWorks
4.5 Appscrip
4.6 NuORDER
4.7 CS-Cart
4.8 AppDirect
4.9 Convictional
4.10 Mirakl
5. Summing Up
1. Unified Retail Management: The Inducer of Selling Prowess
Unified retail management is a distinct approach to retailing that involves managing diverse retail operations, from inventory management to checkouts, through a single, integrated system. By ensuring personalized shopping experiences, offering impressive integration with POS systems and checkout options, and simplifying digital marketplace processes, the unified approach benefits B2B businesses in many ways, transforming them into true selling prowess.
Over 66% of all software spending in retail is now focused on the concept of unified commerce.
[Source: Research and Markets]
With the apparent shift toward unified retail management, businesses adopting this approach today hold a competitive edge in the market. A single, integrated system comprising marketplace optimization tools helps them streamline operations, enhance productivity, reduce manual work, and gain greater visibility into their activities.
2. Multichannel Versus Unified Commerce in Retail
Representing different strategies in the retail sector, both multichannel and unified retail management approaches aim to offer customers an exceptional shopping experience, enhancing loyalty and satisfaction. While multichannel retail management involves maintaining and managing diverse sales channels, a unified approach combines them to ensure a uniform customer experience across all touchpoints.
A prominent distinction between the two is their respective points of focus. Notably, the unified approach focuses on rendering consistent customer experiences, while the multichannel approach aims to ensure a harmonious appearance of the brand. Yet, unlike the complex infrastructure that the multichannel platform entails, a unified retail management software consolidates all retail operations on a single platform, overcoming operational inefficiencies and data inconsistencies that can emerge in the former approach. The simplicity of the unified software further ushers in the desired agility in operations and decision-making prowess. Significantly, with features like consolidated platforms and real-time data synchronization, which are hard to find in a multichannel platform, unified commerce software limits the chances of discrepancies and errors, elevating business growth and profits.
3. Unlocking Operational and POS Success with Unified Retailing
As customer expectations shift and the retail environment matures, businesses worldwide are increasingly implementing unified retail management for enhanced POS strategies and peak financial gains. This transition ensures that separate channels don’t usher in frustrations with inconsistencies in customer experiences. Importantly, with online marketplace optimization tools for unified retailing, B2B businesses further stand to bridge potential gaps, unlocking operational and POS excellence, marked by:
● High Operational Efficiency
Unified retail management systems streamline various retail operations, including merchandising, marketing, and customer relations, combining different aspects of retailing to reduce manual work and increase overall operational efficiency. It further improves inventory management and ensures that overstock situations at POS are averted.
● Process Simplification for Better Customer Experiences
Whether it is simplifying crucial processes such as easy returns or ensuring seamless transactions via faster checkout and payment options, unified retail management builds trust and loyalty among customers by rendering them hassle-free experiences across all digital marketplaces and touchpoints.
● Integrated POS and Effortless Checkouts
In a unified approach, efficient transaction processing is made possible by effortlessly integrating the POS system with inventory management. This allows real-time updates of inventory levels and integrated reporting for better decision-making. It also lets businesses add effective self-checkout options, encouraging higher purchases and seamless checkout experiences.
● Better Insights and Visibility
With unified retail management systems, retailers gain greater visibility into their operations, as data and analytics are centralized. This centralization enables them to optimize POS strategies and view real-time information on variables like sales performance, customer behaviors, and stock levels.
● Personalized Selling
Unified retail management systems easily consolidate customer data from different sources into a single, centralized database, allowing for personalized selling. They also enable B2B businesses to implement dynamic pricing, offer tailored recommendations at POS, and carry out targeted promotions based on such data, cultivating stronger customer relationships and overcoming inconsistencies.
Companies that grow faster drive 40 percent more of their revenue from personalization than their slow-growing counterparts.
[Source: McKinsey]
● Cost Saving
Despite the initial investment, a transition to unified retailing promises marketplace optimization tools, which increase cost efficiency, curtail manual errors, and reduce the costs associated with handling separate channels and systems.
● E-commerce Integration
Unified retail management software easily integrates with e-commerce platforms. It allows retailers to manage online storefronts, align data across different channels, and process online orders, ensuring smooth functioning and optimum profits.
● Omnichannel Capabilities
With a unified approach, retailers could further organize omnichannel marketing campaigns, providing consistent offers, pricing, and messages across multiple touchpoints. This would also ensure customers get personalized recommendations at POS and promotions, regardless of their chosen channel.
● A True Competitive Advantage
From enhanced flexibility and customer experience to robust security and supply chain resilience, the unified approach renders a true competitive advantage to retailers, enabling them to become industry leaders and grow their customer base effectively.
4. Top Companies Dealing in Unified Retailing Software
With business optimization at the core, leading marketplace software providers are empowering businesses to attain success with the unified retailing approach.
Here’s a list of the top companies that are rendering forward-looking unified retail solutions to businesses:
4.1 Tackle.io
Founded by industry veterans, Tackle.io is a unified retail software provider that aims to simplify B2B software retail processes. Considering the present-day cloud era, Tackle.io offers an impressive platform to businesses, rendering them high earnings potential from cloud marketplaces and allowing them to launch products quickly without wide-ranging engineering resources.
Offering a comprehensive Cloud GTM platform, Tackle.io aims to support various aspects of cloud-generated revenue for enterprise-level businesses, including co-selling and marketplace integration. It employs a data-driven approach to enhance customer satisfaction and increase profits. Significantly, its easy integration with hyperscale cloud ecosystems simplifies partner collaborations and automates co-selling workflows.
4.2 Anchanto
Facilitating online sales and shipping for retailers, brands, and logistics companies, Anchanto is a notable unified retail management software provider headquartered in Singapore. The company offers a comprehensive technology stack to businesses and streamlines their retail operations through solid integration capabilities, data analytics, post-purchase services, etc., enabling them to achieve operational excellence.
The company boasts advanced SaaS technology to offer retailers scalability, cost-effectiveness, and regular updates. Furthermore, with impressive integration with more than 150 POS systems, global marketplaces, ERPs, and web stores, Anchanto allows for real-time data access and enhanced decision-making. Correspondingly, it renders customized solutions to 3PL businesses and eliminates customers’ WISMO queries, ensuring high customer loyalty.
4.3 Logicbrocker
Logicbroker is a leading multi-vendor commerce solution provider that links trading partners seamlessly, regardless of their integration methods. Offering a wide range of products, the company helps retailers enhance their brand presence by fostering connections and managing operations. Predominantly, the solution provider serves mid-market and enterprise manufacturers and retailers in different industries, including consumer electronics, health and wellness, home improvement, etc.
The company’s distinct product onboarding center cuts down manual tasks, while its dropshipping solution helps retailers widen their product range without requiring additional warehousing space. Furthermore, with tools for more straightforward payment processing, split payments, dispute resolution, visibility, and control, the solution provider supports business development, ensuring security and regulatory compliance, including CCPA, SOC, and GDPR standards.
4.4 JungleWorks
JungleWorks is a notable unified retailing software provider that renders no-code solutions to businesses wishing to manage hyperlocal operations like on-demand delivery or home services. It offers various solutions for faultless on-demand operations of companies of all sizes, from establishing online marketplaces to facilitating transactions and managing logistics.
The company aims to help on-demand service providers foster enhanced customer engagement through personalized marketing campaigns and omnichannel capabilities. It streamlines fleet operations, ensuring robust vehicle tracking and monitoring of real-time driver activities. It also provides headless e-commerce solutions, enabling businesses to leverage limitless API-driven integrations and customization options.
4.5 Appscrip
Powering mobile-first business models, Appscrip is a technology solution provider that caters to diverse businesses such as social, on-demand, shopping, messaging, discovery, etc., facilitating their technology management and modernizing their businesses through augmented reality, IoT, and telematics. With scalable, aesthetically appealing mobile apps, the solution provider is helping retailers expand their businesses by focusing on their products and ensuring high customer satisfaction.
Correspondingly, the comprehensive solution provider offers end-to-end IT and development services to retailers, helping businesses through the whole product development cycle, from ideation to implementation. Furthermore, with its specialization in mobile-first models, dedicated POD teams, and impressive tech stack, it prioritizes user experiences, enabling businesses to launch their products rapidly, scale their businesses, and ensure high customer engagement through an intuitive interface.
4.6 NuORDER
Lightspeed, a leading B2B platform provider, offers the NuORDER solution to businesses, which carries the right ingredients for retailing success. The comprehensive NuORDER software promises users compelling features like integrated payment solutions and virtual showrooms, simplifying wholesale transactions for brands and retailers worldwide. Acquired by Lightspeed in 2021, the software further facilitates automated workflows and data-driven decisions for B2B selling with integrations with over 120 POS systems, ERP, and PLM. Moreover, through its impressive attributes, NuORDER streamlines retail operations, allowing retailers to optimize inventory allocation, view unified catalogs, and work with teams across diverse brands and stores.
The company’s strong suit lies in its ability to facilitate data-driven decision-making, allowing error reduction, enhanced control, and better business outcomes. With the platform’s easy compatibility with chain stores, department stores, and online retailers, NuORDER renders solutions for diverse retail environments, increasing order efficiency and fine-tuning range plans across all stores and departments.
4.7 CS-Cart
CS-Cart is a leading e-commerce software that provides businesses with a self-hosted multivendor solution. Its open-source architecture allows retailers to customize and scale their e-commerce websites and caters to SMEs and enterprises. The solution has distinct features like payment dependencies and vendor-to-admin payments, which renders an excellent POS experience.
Furthermore, the company offers tools for automating tasks, handling marketplace workflows, optimizing order processing and product management, and simplifying seller onboarding, which boost sales and augment retail operations. The company also provides easy integration with over 70 payment gateways and diverse payment options, implements comprehensive security measures, and ensures compliance with industry standards like GDPR and PCI DSS.
4.8 AppDirect
Headquartered in San Francisco, AppDirect is a cutting-edge B2B subscription commerce platform provider that connects technology advisors, businesses, and providers to simplify retail processes associated with technology solutions. Correspondingly, the company aims to help enterprises collaborate successfully and gain high efficiency in the B2B technology sector.
Notably, AppDirect's software offers multiple features to retailers, including a custom cloud marketplace, advanced merchandising tools, fast checkouts with diverse payment options, industry-specific solutions, and a catalog of over 300 pre-integrated SaaS and IaaS providers, which ensure tailored online marketplaces for businesses for enhanced customer experience and strong brand presence.
4.9 Convictional
Recognized as a leading modern dropship platform provider, Convictional helps established retailers launch new dropship, cross-selling, and marketplace programs. With advanced tools for marketplace dominance, robust vendor management, and integration capabilities, it allows retailers to onboard and dropship with various brands, ensuring quicker assortment growth, limited onboarding time, and increased online sales.
Convictional further allows retailers to expand their product range quickly without manual efforts and ensure smart decisions through data-driven insights. The company’s software boasts impressive collaboration tools, encouraging transparency and establishing a win-win situation for retailers and suppliers. Its impressive attributes also include automated payouts with flexible payment options, making for smooth invoicing and greater customer convenience.
4.10 Mirakl
Founded in 2012, Mirakl is a leading technology partner promising digital growth to businesses worldwide through its innovative features. The company offers unmatched expertise and assistance to retailers through its comprehensive solutions for all operations, from implementation to development. With the ability to manage millions of API calls, SKUs, and stock updates, Mirakl promises retailers seamless digital business advancements and optimum profits.
The company further boasts an impressive retail media experience, enabling businesses to monetize their platforms through targeted advertising. From launching platform businesses to maximizing product ranges, Mirakl effectively empowers enterprises to enhance their digital presence through impressive marketplace and dropship solutions. It also renders tailored solutions to industry-specific retailers, including fashion, grocery, health and beauty, and so on.
5. Summing Up
Unified retail management promises B2B businesses the ability to outperform competitors in the market, serving as a driving force behind enhanced selling competencies. From ensuring excellent customer experiences to streamlining operations and enabling data-driven decision-making, the marketplace software platform for unified retail empowers businesses by increasing their efficiencies, reducing costs, and helping them meet their business goals. Importantly, with the retail sector quickly transforming, companies investing in unified retail management software firmly set themselves up for sustained growth and business excellence in the digital marketplace.
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