With new research showing a shift by consumers to contactless payments, technology provider Fattmerchant introduced a new suite of contactless payment tools for small business owners
A recent survey conducted by Fattmerchant shows a shift in consumer payment preferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly half of respondents said they are uncomfortable with making purchases at stores that do not offer a contactless payment option, while 55% said they are now more likely to shop at businesses that offer contactless payment options.
This points to an acceleration in the adoption of contactless payments by consumers in response to the pandemic with its impact on shopping habits, e-commerce, work from home, and ongoing stay-at-home health guidelines.
“The pandemic is serving as a catalyst for contactless payments – following COVID-19, businesses that don’t offer contactless options will not survive,” said Suneera Madhani, CEO and founder of Fattmerchant.
“For example, 41% of the survey respondents said they were now uncomfortable with using cash. The heightened demand for contactless payments is here to stay, but so many small businesses don’t have the resources to accept them,” she said. “Contactless by Omni makes it easy for businesses across all industries to utilize contactless payments and adapt to changing consumer needs.”
Powerful new easy-to-use features
The all-in-one Contactless by Omni payment solution gives business owners the ability to go touch-free and virtual within a day, allowing their business to begin accepting payments in ways most preferred by customers.
Easy-to-use features include:
- Instant cart setup: one-click online merchant cart creation with no configuration or technical skills required.
- Text 2 Pay: merchants can text customers a payment link for easy mobile payment transactions.
- Touch free devices: touch free mobile and countertop devices let customers pay instantly with a tap by card, phone, or smartwatch.
- Virtual portal: merchants can easily take and key in orders over the phone for pickup or delivery.
- Email invoicing: digital invoices can be sent by email or text message.
- Omni channel payments reporting: contactless payments data is easily reconciled through a single dashboard.
COVID-19 creates shift in payment preferences by consumers
Contactless by Omni is designed to help small businesses quickly and easily adapt to a growing contactless payments demand caused in part by the pandemic.
Fattmerchant’s survey found several notable changes in the way consumers prefer to pay for products and services:
- 56% of respondents are now more likely to make purchases online, rather than in store, for the foreseeable future
- 64% of consumers said they were more likely to purchase from merchants who offered convenient contactless payment and delivery
- 82% of customers said they were “somewhat likely” (28%), “likely” (25%), or “very likely” (29%) to abandon an online purchase that was too time-consuming or complex
- prior to the pandemic, 17% “very frequently” used contactless payments followed by “frequently” (28%), “occasionally” (29%), “rarely” (12%), and “never” (13%)
- in the future, 27% will pay “very frequently” with contact payments followed by “frequently” (31%), “occasionally” (26%), “rarely” (10%), and “never” (6%)
- 53% said they plan to continue using home deliveries from their favorite store even after the pandemic ends while 37% said they would not continue
- 54% said they would be willing to pay a small fee for every service.
With this sea change in consumer purchase and payment preferences, it’s clear merchants of all sizes need to update their payment offerings to ensure faster, easier, secure payment and delivery options for success in the future.
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