The world of credit card payments has always seemed to be a steady, tried-and-true industry that has perfected the payment card process. So when a new way of “doing things” is brought to market, it’s met with both excitement and a bit of trepidation. When it comes to handling someone’s financial transactions, we can understand that using a new way of doing business can be scary. That’s why we want to explain that when that new way is the quickly popular Apple Pay and Near Field Communication (NFC), you need not worry and should start accepting both as soon as possible.
Accepting whatever type of payment your customers want to use is always beneficial to a business — and that’s not the only benefit of accepting Apple Pay and NFC payments. Other benefits include:
Quicker on the draw — The traditional swipe transaction includes swiping a card and selecting debit or credit, providing alternate identification and either offering a signature or PIN, nearly doubling the steps of an Apple Pay transaction. All that’s needed is for the customer to position their phone near an NFC-equipped device, ok the purchase and they’re done!
Safe and secure — In a transaction paid by Apple Pay there is no credit card number used. Apple doesn’t use an actual credit card number, but a device account number to complete the transaction. This greatly reduces the chances of the customer’s credit card number ever being compromised.
They’ll be coming — On average; one out of five of your customers have, or will soon have, access to Apple Pay. Factor in that other devices are equipped with NFC technology, and that number could grow dramatically higher. Not being able to accept these types of payments could have a negative effect on your bottom line.
Bad guys beware — Apple Pay offers up a transaction-specific dynamic code when processing a transaction, but never a true debit or credit card number. Those numbers aren’t shared with retailers so when, or if, someone with bad intentions breaches their system, the transactions that used Apple Pay will be totally useless to them.
Apple Pay and NFC payments are the latest ways to get paid by your customers, so it would be beneficial to be ready to accept these types of payments when they walk through your doors. Enjoy the future of payments now!
