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Revolutionizing the Checkout Experience
3 ways to leverage new payment technology. The evolution of the checkout has been rapid, with the pace of change and adoption of new and emerging payment solutions only looking to increase.
3 Min Read
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The evolution of the checkout has been rapid, with the pace of change and adoption of new and emerging payment solutions only looking to increase. For grocery retailers in the United States, understanding the latest trends and dramatic shifts in consumer behaviors can help drive sales and create an enhanced customer experience.
Here are some of the ways that these merchants are leveraging payment technology to grow their bottom line and ultimately thrive amid ongoing economic uncertainty.
Adopting New Technology
While many trends have evolved since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, merchants remain focused on delivering broader convenience to consumers at the checkout. In fact, when it comes to the in-store experience, providing more checkout options can help store operators maintain a competitive advantage as consumer expectations shift and new payment methods become increasingly more popular. Here’s how:
Embrace contactless technology at all checkout points, including self-service kiosks, to provide customers the convenience and physical safety that many have come to expect. Since becoming more widely available in the U.S., many customers and merchants find “tapping to pay” to be faster, ultimately speeding up the checkout line. Paysafe’s latest consumer research, released in June, reveals that two-thirds of consumers (67%) indicate that they now regularly make contactless payments with their credit or debit card, with one in 10 consumers (9%) confirming all their transactions are now contactless.
Broaden payment choices for customers by leveling up self-service kiosks to accept both traditional forms of payment and alternative payment methods, such as digital or mobile wallets. With more than one-third (39%) of American consumers confirming that their payment habits have changed since the onset of the pandemic, offering quick and easy checkout solutions that take into account how customers want to pay is imperative to winning new business and strengthening relationships with existing clientele. This means merchants are not only embracing new technology from a terminal standpoint, but also prioritizing the various ways in which their customers prefer to pay at the checkout.
Implement mobile-based point-of-sale (POS) systems. While fixed payment terminals remain the most common form of checkout in the U.S., implementing mobile POS that offers the full functionality to power the checkout experience from anywhere within a store empowers employees to serve customers directly, not just at the register. By plugging into mobile-compatible software that transforms smartphone devices and tablets into an autonomous POS system, store operators can help reduce wait times and ultimately speed up the checkout process.
Hopping on the Cloud
Store operators who have recognized the value of adopting cloud-based technology are reaping rewards. Through cloud-based technology, stores of every size and processing volume can better understand how to maximize sales by accessing real-time data and analytics that provide further insight around consumer payment patterns, as well as patterns in buying behavior.
Moving to the cloud also enables merchants to consolidate and streamline their operations, effectively eliminating the need for multiple solutions. Store operators can manage everything within a single, integrated system, making it possible to easily navigate several key functions all at once, including inventory management, data collection, transactional reconciliation and even fraud prevention.
Evolving the Store Experience
Throughout the early days of the pandemic, which were littered with lockdowns, restrictions and understandably cautious customer behavior, merchants had to quickly adapt to a new way of offering goods and services to avoid store closures.
More merchants began embracing a variety of omnichannel solutions, with the aim of creating a truly frictionless customer experience that bridges both online and brick-and-mortar storefronts. This has led to a proliferation of purchasing options, including enhanced mobile ordering, curbside pick-up, plus the expansion of at-home delivery, all of which enable customers to buy products without needing to enter the store.
Now with the return of shopping in-person, consumers continue to favor the speed and convenience of the omnichannel experience, further demonstrating the importance of using multiple sales channels to offer broader payment choice and ultimately reach more customers.
Afshin Yazdian is CEO of Paysafe, U.S. Acquiring, based in Houston. Reach him at [email protected].
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