It goes without saying that if you have an online business, you need to accept credit cards. Forbes Magazine wrote in an article that if you don't accept credit cards, you could lose as much as 70% of your sales to competitors who do. But businesses that don't accept credit cards lose sales in more ways than one. The same 70 percent number, or even more in some cases, is true for businesses that aren't online.
Most people don't have a lot of cash on them.
Thanks to direct payroll deposit and debit cards, 50 percent of Americans carry "a few singles and maybe a five or ten" and 40 percent carry "around $5 or less, including coins," according to a recent poll by one company.
This means that even if you sell cheap items, you could lose as many as 90% of your potential customers if your product or service costs more than they have cash on hand and you don't take credit or debit cards.
Even Starbucks, where the average amount of a sale is $4, does most of its business with credit cards and debit cards.
According to statistics, the average American has at least four credit cards, and almost everyone has a debit card. If you don't accept these cards at your business, you're missing out on a lot of sales.
Most people prefer to pay with a credit card.
Not only do customers avoid the hassle of carrying cash, which puts them at risk of losing it or having it stolen, but they also feel safe knowing that their bank will back them up if they have a problem with the quality of your products or services.
Then there are the programmes that give rewards.
A lot of credit card programmes offer cash-back or other rewards for every dollar that a customer charges to their card. People who are in rewards programmes will go out of their way to pay by credit card and will do everything they can to avoid using cash. If your business won't help them get their rewards, they'll just go somewhere else that will.
Big-ticket items are easier to buy with a credit card.
Customers who spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a product expect to be able to pay with a credit card. This is especially true for customers who can't pay for their purchase all at once and plan to pay off the rest of the balance over time.
Some customers have no choice but to pay with credit cards.
Employees who are making purchases for their employers or who are travelling on company business are often given company credit cards that they are expected to use for all purchases. Accounting for cash expenses and then paying back employees for out-of-pocket costs is a nightmare for businesses. If you don't take credit cards, these people will go somewhere else to shop.
You're not getting enough B2B sales.
For accounting reasons, many companies that buy goods or services for their own use or to resell prefer to pay with a credit card. If you don't accept credit cards, you won't be able to serve customers who want to come back. Instead, they will have to go somewhere else.
Hope you've found at least one good reason to start accepting debit and credit cards at your business. And if you don't take them because you think you can't afford to, you should rethink that. In reality, you can't afford not to.
