If you’re an employee or an owner at a retail business, you’re likely familiar with the significance of payment terminals. Business comes to a halt if a system goes down. Customers may also complain if you don’t offer enough payment options. Striking the correct balance between convenience and cost can be tough. However, the pandemic has made it a requirement for businesses to use payment terminals to promote safety for both customers and employees.
But how exactly do payment terminals keep you safe during COVID-19? Learn more about payment terminals and discover the answers below.
What’s A Payment Terminal?
A Point of Sale or POS terminal, also known by various names such as an Electronic Fund Transfer Terminal, EFTPOS terminal, EFT terminal, or simply payment terminal is a device that interfaces with credit cards to facilitate electronic money transfers.
A terminal may be used for sending and receiving electronic transfers, for entering and editing account details, or for generating alerts about an account balance. It works just like a normal ATM machine but it doesn’t use a check. As it uses the magnetic strip technology of a credit card, the transaction is fully protected by encryption technologies and security features.
Payment terminals can be easily installed at any location in a retail store. There are also payment terminal stands available in the market to secure these machines wherever they’re placed. Most POS Terminals also have a USB or mini-USB port. These ports can be used to connect portable computers with the terminal and to transfer data from the terminal to portable devices.
Some terminals can also function as a scanner so that data that can be stored digitally can be scanned to an external hard drive. The data saved in the hard drive is accessible through the internet or can be saved in an external media. Payment terminals can be used as mobile cash registers as they’re small, compact and easy to transport and manage.
Benefits Of Using Payment Terminals During The Covid-19 Pandemic
Here are some of the benefits of using POS terminals during COVID-19 in terms of promoting safety:
- More Payment Options For Customers
A major advantage of using a payment terminal in a business is that it allows you to have an effective and secure system to accept credit card payments from customers instead of just cash. It provides a retail business the ability to accept multiple types of credit cards, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover Card, American Express, and Diners Club. The good thing about these terminals on top of giving businesses and consumers the ability to perform cashless transactions is that there are also very useful accessories like UV clean solutions that can be equipped to the machines to promote safety for everyone.
- Tap To Pay Makes Paying For Goods Safer
Tap to Pay is safe, fast and easy. With a contactless card, customers simply can tap on the payment terminal to pay for all transactions. When a tap-to-pay terminal is available on-site, customers don’t need to carry cash or checks anymore when they make purchases in stores. It’s a more convenient and safer way of paying for what your customers want to buy without being distracted by the potential threat of the virus. The contactless payment process also lessens the chances of your employees getting in contact with a carrier.
In the past, people used to carry a card with them while at a retail store. However, since this method was invented, businesses have been looking for new ways to make it even easier for patrons to pay with their credit cards. For example, stores now provide customers with an app that works with the tap-to-pay terminal. This allows customers to swipe their smartphones through the app and make payments for the goods they bought. While there are some exceptions to this practice, most businesses are now accepting tap-to-pay payments.
- Get Faster Payment
POS Terminals are very important in a business, especially during this pandemic. These terminal devices are used for making faster transactions. They give a customer the chance to make payments quickly. Because of this, the use of terminals has increased drastically over the past few months when COVID-19 struck the world. They’re now used in different industries such as hotels, airlines, hospitals, retail stores, and many more.
There are different types of POS Terminals available in the market. Some of them are equipped with ATM-ATM facility, barcode scanners, and more. Some of them even come with internet connectivity for online transactions.
Conclusion
While most business owners probably don’t realize it yet, there are a lot of benefits to using a payment terminal while COVID-19 is still around. The more that it’s used, the better for everyone. Health and safety measures are more important than ever nowadays. For businesses, it’s not only about protecting customers but also their employees. For your employees and customers’ safety, incorporating modern POS terminals is the best way to go. The benefits of using payment terminals during COVID-19 discussed above should be enough to encourage you to invest in these machines.