Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM APRIL 2022 42 I may be a little biased, but I would argue that the most important part of the customer journey has to be receiving payment for goods and services. Your customer has made it toward the end of the sales cycle and you're ready to take their money. Seems simple, right? Well, like most areas of the business, things have changed drastically in recent years. Today, customers are looking for multiple ways to pay, and they EXPECT that you can accept payment from their preferred provider – especially online. Let's review the most popular types of payment methods and explore ways to ensure that you're staying out in front of this fast- changing industry. CREDIT AND DEBIT CARDS Credit and debit cards are still the most frequently used forms of payment. Nothing major to report here in accepting the cards. However, make sure you are PCI compliant, and make sure you've checked your processing rate/fees recently. We often see members who've gone years since they signed up with a payment processor, and both their rates and fees have gone up. But your membership or affiliation with a buying/marketing group should give you instant access to group-negotiated rates that are locked in and can save you thousands of dollars each year – so don't miss out on this easy benefit. CONSUMER FINANCE Financing a purchase is one of the easiest ways to increase your average ticket size. We see our average ticket increase from $600-$800 on our credit card programs, up to $1,900-$2,100 when customers can pay over "XX" months. Your customers will spend more when they don't have to come up with the full amount out-of-pocket today, period. Make sure you're advertising early and often that payment terms are available – both in-store and online! SECONDARY AND TERTIARY LENDERS With an estimated 60% of appliance purchases made in duress, most customers entering the appliance market weren't planning on replacing their appliances, so they also weren't planning to have $1,000+ on hand for the purchase. Don't forget those "duress customers" with little or no credit history (Millennials, Gen X, Gen Z), and don't let these customers leave your store when/if they're declined by a primary lender. It's important to make sure you have and can offer a financial solution for every customer to leave your store with a purchase. ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT METHODS APMs – Alternative Payment Methods – can include bank-to- bank transfers (ACH), Apple Pay, Google Pay, and/or BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) services and even QR codes. Crypto currency, although not (yet) widely adopted, would also fall in here, and it's one we have to keep an eye on as its popularity increases. While some of these may feel foreign to you, the customer's convenience is the key driver. I encourage you to look at adding these payment types to your website, and even to your in-store experience. It's imperative to end the shopper journey on a high note. A satisfying experience at every stage of the journey will help you create a customer for life. So make sure you're eliminating those barriers along the way, especially when it comes to making it easier for customers to give you their money! HOW TO AVOID PAYMENT ROADBLOCKS IN THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY Chris Kirk Finance Trends RO Chris Kirk, vice president of financial and business services, Nationwide Marketing Group

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