Millions of small businesses across the country are always looking for ways to better connect with consumers and the kinds of preferences they’re developing over time. Now, it seems that a small but growing number of them are adopting a new payment platform that could go a long way toward giving shoppers added convenience.
Apple Pay was launched late last year, and provides a new payment platform that potentially millions of Americans will be using in the near future, according to a report from The Week. Indeed, all new iPhones from now on will likely carry this technology through which people input their payment data on their smartphone and then use an embedded RFID chip to pay for transactions instead of swiping their cards. As many as 220,000 retailers nationwide are now already offering it as an option. That’s a fairly rapid adoption rate overall, but data shows that many of the companies aren’t giant retailers, but rather small businesses trying to get out in front of the trend.
“It’s basic economics,” Bruce Freeman, an entrepreneur who teaches at Seton Hall University, told the publication. “Any way small business owners can collect money easily, the better off they are.”
Benefits beyond the norm
However, it’s important to note that the positives provided by Apple Pay aren’t just related to how trendy it can seem, the report said. For small businesses, it’s a new payment option at a low price; many point of sale machines that can handle Apple Pay transactions cost as little as a few hundred dollars, and any businesses that already accept chip-and-pin payments can simply sign up on Apple’s website to use those devices to process these new payments.
Moreover, this is more secure than traditional credit and debit card transactions because payment data is encrypted, the report said. Therefore, those worried about being hacked will typically be able to rest much more easily knowing how protected this data is in comparison with what they might have handled before.
Of course, if owners are worried about being impacted by a data breach, they might want to consider purchasing a type of small business insurance that can insulate them from many of the associated costs. Tech insurance, as it is known, could help victimized businesses keep their own costs down by thousands of dollars.
