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We’re all familiar with the old-school tills of yesteryear: that memorable ‘ding’ when the cash register opened, the shop assistant manually inputting the price of each item sold, and some of you might even remember a time when tills were cash only. Flash forward to the present day and such a system can seem pretty prehistoric thanks to the introduction of point-of-sale (POS) till systems. And now, electronic point of sale (EPOS) systems have revolutionised payments further, making them quicker, simpler, and safer than ever before.

Whether you’re running a business online or have a physical brick-and-mortar store, there’s no doubt that the Chip and PIN system keeps your business and your customers safe when making transactions. In the past, businesses had to process payments with bulky machines, which alienated small businesses and pop-up retailers from accepting card payments. Now, you’d struggle to find a company that doesn’t use a Chip and PIN device to process their card payments.

In 2020, research from UK Finance shows that the total amount of cash payments made in the UK fell by 35% while contactless transactions went up by 12%. With this increase, scammers are increasingly targeting digital payments. In fact, Juniper Research reported a 16% growth in eCommerce fraud losses in 2022, with the global total cost to merchants at over $41 billion.

As a small business in the retail industry, no doubt you’re au fait with the ins and outs of accepting payments; it’s the backbone of trading, after all. But when it comes to refunds and returns, not everyone is as clued up despite the fact they’re a byproduct of working in sales. With nearly one in ten (9%) of all products purchased in brick-and-mortar stores being returned, businesses need to have an efficient product refund system in place to make the exchange as streamlined as possible for all parties. As well as this, 62% of shoppers said they were more likely to shop online if they could return items in-store. This shows just how important in-store refunds are to customers and how much of an impact they can have on eCommerce overall.

For small businesses, offering the right payment methods is what could turn window shoppers into paying customers, and that’s the aim of the game, right? In fact, as many as 87% of consumers would reportedly abandon a purchase if they thought the checkout process wasn’t up to scratch, so nailing yours is an absolute must.