The holidays are here. Now is the time for merchants to make fantastic profits by providing comprehensive payment processing to customers. However, it is also a great time of the year for criminals who want to steal consumer information. To prevent fraud from occurring at your place of business, take a few critical precautions to make business move smoothly and keep fraudsters away.
Security is Key
Recent massive data breaches of major retailers has brought security to the forefront of merchant strategy. According to the FTC, over $1.6 billion was lost to fraud during the 2013 holiday season. Businesses must take a more proactive approach on payments security to protect customers and profits. Merchants must upgrade their POS terminals with chip-and-PIN or chip-and-signature functionality to protect themselves against liability for card-present fraud.
Multi-Channel Strategy
eMarketer is predicting a 14.4 percent increase in digital transactions this year. Companies should acquire an omni-channel inventory management solution that gives merchants an overview of total operations. They should incorporate a usable interface with reordering features that reflect best sellers in each location.
Managers must not get too caught up in system upgrades. They must also remember the importance of the in-store experience. An excellent way to boost the in-store experience is to institute a “roaming cashiers.” This keeps wait times down as employees check out customers more quickly.
Gift Card
Giftcards.com reports that over $100 billion is spent on gift cards every year. Merchants must find payments providers that offer easy POS activation, spend tracking features, and support services to maximize profitability from gift cards. Merchants should look into personalizing cards to differentiate themselves from other merchants. Plus adding incentives to up-sell gift cards to increase revenue.
Is your business really ready for the holidays? Increase your profits and protect your customers by implementing these tips. eMerchantBroker offers the widest variety of payment processing for high risk merchants. Plus EMB offers merchant chargeback protection called Chargeback Shield, a program that reduces the frequency of chargebacks by 15-30%. The Chargeback Shield will defend your account while you worry about boosting profits.