Why Offering Customers Payment Options is no Longer Enough
Paying with a mobile wallet or similar, using fingerprint technology and even facial recognition is becoming commonplace for many bars and restaurants. If you want to compete for business, offering a range of options for your customers and understanding the needs and desires of your customers better is essential.
New rules coming in later this month mean additional security measures will be required for contactless payments, making it the perfect time for restaurants and bars to update their services and deal with any legacy issues.
Many POS systems will allow you to update the software to enable additional payment options, which will take many restaurants and bars a long way towards improving their customer service. But if you really want to impress your clients, using a multi-channel integrated payment system creates opportunities to offer pay-at-table services, online table bookings and loyalty programmes that can be directed straight to customers’ mobile phones.
Are you ready for the new security measures?
Additional security measures will be required for all contactless transactions made from September 14 onwards across all types of payment channels, as the European Payment Services Directive (PSD2) brings greater authentication to all types of transactions, both online and offline. If your payment system does not allow you to deal with this effectively, then now is the time to look at alternatives to bring your offering into the 21st Century.
From this date, two forms of identification will be required; something your customer has, knows or is. For example, chip and PIN will satisfy most requirements, but with contactless payments a second form of ID will be needed. This could be a fingerprint ID, or a one-time passcode (OTP) which is sent to the linked mobile phone of the customer depending on the transaction.
So, any restaurant or bar offering these services needs to be ready for this change to comply with the updated legislation, or risk facing the cost of fraudulent transactions, something no small business wants to do.
What should restaurant and bar owners do?
The importance of compliance with the new regulations cannot be over-estimated, but the benefit to bar and restaurant owners is much greater than this, as it provides the opportunity to access additional and upgraded services, including the option of networking legacy systems to improve efficiency.
Customer data is becoming ever more important to businesses as they work towards offering exactly what their patrons want by analysing buying behaviour and promoting products and services that are more relevant to them. As the amount and quality of data available becomes more refined, businesses that embrace new technology will be able to provide discounts, offers and even access to special events to their best customers. The ability to make a customer feel special breeds loyalty, something that will help to increase your profitability.
Complying with new legislation creates a challenge, but also an opportunity to improve your existing offering and boosting your business presence. Making the right choice now will have far-reaching benefits for both you and your customers, a combination with the unique possibility to move your business forwards.
