Small Business Saturday: How your company can stay competitive with big brands

The UK’s most successful small business campaign, Small Business Saturday, is taking place tomorrow. It promotes independent businesses around the UK and encourages consumers to ‘shop local’.

Independent businesses are vital to the UK economy; however it can be difficult for them to stay competitive with bigger brands. Making sales, especially around major sales events such as Black Friday, can be difficult, and these companies need to do all they can to meet ever-changing customer expectations.

One way your business can stay competitive is by opening up your payment options. Technology is changing the way we live, including how we pay for items, making accepting card payments a necessity for many small businesses to meet customer expectations and increase sales.

Not only does it make life easier and more convenient for your customers, it also means there’s no waiting around for invoices to be paid, or time-consuming trips to the bank.

Whatever kind of business you have, the number one rule is to listen to what your customers want. Having the most up-to-date payment options is proof that you are keeping up with the way consumer spending habits are changing. The good news for small businesses is that this shift only points in one direction – increased sales.

What are the advantages?

There is an expectation from consumers that card payments are available everywhere, meaning that independent retailers need to make it a priority to maximise sales. The benefits to your business will be significant:

• Grow your business – accepting card payments opens up new sales channels and prevents lost sales opportunities
• Customers are more likely to spend more on higher value items
• It’s proven that accepting card payments increases order size
• You’ll make fewer trips to the bank to deposit cash and cheques
• It increases security as there will be less cash held on your business premises
• Cleared funds will be in your business account usually within 3-5 working days after the transaction
• It opens up the option to accept card payments over the phone and online

Digital payments are expected to overtake cash this year, with many UK consumers preferring to use cards and smart devices to make payments. Can your business really afford to miss out on these sales? The benefits of accepting card payments far outweigh the cost and happy customers become loyal customers, which makes for repeat business and promotion through word of mouth, a valuable asset to any business.

Benefiting from credit and debit card processing has never been easier. So why wait – start growing your business today!

What if I already accept card payments?

If your business already accepts card payments, take the Handepay Price Challenge! We’re so confident that we can save your business money, we’ll put our money where our mouth is. If we can’t save you money, we’ll give you £1,000!

To find out more about accepting card payments, get in touch with one of our friendly advisors today.