Shopping malls were the hang out place, the shopping place, and the Santa Claus visiting place for many decades. However, thanks to the internet and a mass of online retailers for just about everything, shopping malls are not as popular as they once were. Merchants may have an ace in the hole to combat the downfall of brick and mortar shopping malls: digital payments and currency. E-commerce hit it big over the 2015 holiday season, and many who operate in-store are now taking advantage of these new, trendy payment methods.
While cash, debit, credit, and checks will reign supreme for the foreseeable future, mobile payments and electronic payments are gaining traction. From Apple Pay to BitCoin, the options are growing monthly, and consumers young and old are pursuing these new payment methods. The big issues comes when merchants cannot accept these methods. Sure, sometimes customers will simply whip out their debit card to pay instead, but this inconvenience could cost you business.
All merchants should investigate this option, but your current merchant account processor may not allow you to accept these payments. Chances are, if you are a high risk merchant, your chances are slim, due to your already “high risk” business nature. There are options available, even if you have a high risk merchant account, and they are available from reputable processors. The thing is, you cannot rely solely on Google to find a processor to accept your high risk company and mobile payments. You need to research. Not all answers are found quickly, and not all processors are for every business. Even if the processor hits every checkpoint, you still need to read the fine print.
Mobile payments are gaining traction, but they are still hard to process for many merchants, especially high risk merchants. For some, even accepting mobile payments can place their “everyday” business into the high risk category. Merchants must remember that while the fad is likely to stick around, merchant account processors tend to hesitate on new technology, thanks to cyber security fears and overall performance fears. Even so, it is possible to accept mobile payments, regardless of what type of business you operate.