Merchant Accounts: Give Your Business a Competitive Edge

Renowned General Electric CEO Jack Welch once said, “An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” Never before has that maxim been more relevant. As the global marketplace becomes increasingly more accessible, and hence, more competitive, businesses today need to learn and implement new strategies quickly in order to remain ahead of their competition.

One of the keys to remaining competitive in today’s marketplace is to accept credit cards as a form of payment for your business’ products. Credit cards make you accessible to a far larger share of potential customers than cash alone. Certainly in the online marketplace, accepting credit cards is a near essential component of doing business, and that one, simple step can allow you to grow your business across the country and around the world.

Credit cards are advantageous to your business largely because they are advantageous to your customers. Today’s consumers love credit cards, and for good reason. First of all, when properly used, credit cards help consumers build that much-touted and powerful symbol of solvency and reliability: the credit score. Credit scores are based on a consumer’s ability to handle credit, and by using credit cards, consumers know they can build good credit fast, a move that can help them qualify for a mortgage, car loan, or other financial product down the road.

Credit cards are convenient for consumers. With a credit card, a consumer can have immediate gratification by purchasing big-ticket items that would otherwise require years of saving. And they can pay for those goods over time, without having to go through the hassle of applying for a personal loan. They’re safer than cash – if they’re stolen, they can be replaced and the consumer is not held liable for charges made by the thief. Most of today’s cards even offer extended warranties on electronic goods and other purchases, and consumers also know that if they are unhappy with a merchant’s services, they can dispute the sale with the credit card company, often successfully.

But perhaps the biggest reason today’s savvy consumers are turning to credit cards more and more is because of the “R” word: Rewards. Over the past decade, competition among card issuers to attract new customers has increased dramatically. Like any other lending institution, card issuers know they’ll only continue to make money if they continue to attract new customers. One of the tools card issuers are using to attract new customers and retain old ones is to offer rewards for using their cards. The type of reward can depend on the card or the cardholder, and can include travel benefits, goods and services, or money. Consumers know the more they use their cards, the more rewards they’ll rack up. In essence, these cardholders are being paid to shop. Why use cash when you can swipe your card and earn a reward in the process?

Of course, there are advantages to the business besides attracting new customers and higher profits. Once entered into the terminal or computer, credit card transactions can’t be stolen or misplaced. Cash and checks can both be stolen or lost. And while it can take a week or even more for a check to clear, the money from a credit card transaction is deposited to your business bank account at the end of the workday, which means your cash flow is improved in the process. And just an aside: while it used to be true that cash is king, research shows that today’s consumers actually have more faith in businesses that accept credit cards, because they feel it shows a business is more established, more trustworthy, and has had to go through an approval process by the card issuer or bank in order to accept those cards.

Sure, there are lots of reasons to accept cards to remain abreast of your competitors. But what if none of your competitors are accepting credit cards? Does that mean you should still consider it? Absolutely. If your competitors aren’t accepting credit cards yet, chances are they will be soon. In fact, if they aren’t, it’s a great opportunity to put yourself ahead of the pack and improve your visibility among your current customers, as well as potential customers. Accepting credit cards will make you appear more “modern” and in-tune with the needs of your customers, and compared to your competition, you’ll appear more legitimate and established, and more dedicated to meeting customer needs. What’s more, if your competitors are not accepting cards, you’ve just identified an all-important niche to catapult your business ahead of the rest of the pack.

The bottom line is simple: if you want to stay in competition, you have to learn new techniques and put them to work for you quickly. Set aside some time right now to explore the options and advantages you could be experiencing once you start accepting credit cards at your business.

Karen Zabel is a freelance writer who writes about North American Bancard.

Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated