As a business owner or manager you realise the importance of staying ahead of retail trends and payment methods, but it is also important to understand how your customers get paid. When you get a firm grip on how your customers are paid you can better understand how they pay you.
So how are my customers paid?
A huge percentage of your customers are now paid directly into their bank accounts, and this is a very important thing to remember because it has a direct effect on how they spend their money once it is paid in.
The Payments Council have researched this and uncovered that around 10 years ago almost a quarter of all workers were still paid in cash. Now, 10 years on it is just one in nine people getting paid this way.
So how does this affect my business?
This will affect how people spend their money because once their money goes into their account a lot of it is already allocated, leaving a pretty consistent figure at the end of each month that is actually available to spend. Most people can work with this but they are reluctant to take it out of the bank in case they are unable to budget properly and spend it on something else. People are more money conscious these days and if they leave there money where it is and spend directly from their debit card, if they don’t spend all their available funds, then they can carry them over for another day or save it up.
What this means to the business owner is that people are going to be using their debit cards more often because it allows them more control over their money. However, sometimes this is merely an illusion to some debit card owners and they end up spending more than they intended, but at least when they have a debit card they have access to all their money, all the time; this is another great thing for your business, it’s kind of a win-win situation with debit card payments.
Does accepting debit cards cost me a lot?
It needn’t cost you too much if you use the right payment processing company. The best thing to do if you do not already accept cards is to contact these businesses directly and find out the rates they are willing to offer you. Some independent payment processing companies will give you much better rates than the banks.
Conclusion
So with a massive 89% of workers being paid directly into their bank accounts there is little wonder that the debit card is such a popular payment method and that businesses would do well to accept card payments in the future. If you're a small business owner looking to get ahead of the curve, check out our future-facing card machines.