Robert Doherty, head of product, AIB Merchant Services
With nearly five times more point-of-sale card transactions than ATM withdrawals in Ireland, AIB Merchant Services is helping small businesses to coordinate their electronic payments and e-commerce activities
At the Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert in Croke Park in 2012, 8% of spending by the people attending was by card and 92% in cash. When the group played at the 3 Arena last year, 30% of payments for drinks and food at the venue were by card, according to research by AIB Merchant Services.
“Consumers nowadays expect to be able to use their card everywhere they go with many not carrying cash at all. I expect that within the next 12 months, a small number of restaurants and bars will emerge in Ireland that only accept cards, following the trend in the UK and the US,” says Robert Doherty, director of product, AIB Merchant Services.
“In the first six months of last year, there were 355 million card transactions at the point of sale, compared to 77 million ATM withdrawals.”
While Doherty acknowledges there will always be a level of cash circulating, AIB Merchant Services is striving to close off obvious gaps where notes and coins are most common, for example nightclub cloakrooms and charity donations on the street.
“Charities are losing substantial amounts of donations by only accepting cash when collecting from the public. Some have already addressed this by introducing contactless card readers,” he says. “Why couldn’t Dublin Bus and Luas allow the use of debit cards? You can spend a week in London without ever using cash, as debit cards can be used everywhere, including car parking and the Tube.”
There is a misconception among retailers that cash payments are free to process, while card payments cost them money, according to Doherty. “This is not the case. It costs money to store, spend time counting and lodge cash, as well as worrying about security,” he says. “All in all, our research has shown that to process a card payment at the point of sale costs 1.6% of a transaction, compared to 2.5% per transaction with cash.”
“All in all, our research has shown that to process a card payment at the point of sale costs 1.6% of a transaction, compared to 2.5% per transaction with cash”
Integrated solution
Three years ago AIB Merchant Services introduced a cloud-based electronic point of sale solution called Clover. The system replaces both your old cash register and your debit and credit card payment terminal with one simple-to-use, fully integrated retail solution. Already there are 5,000 Clover devices installed in the Irish market, with a strong presence in the hospitality sector, coffee shops, gyms and retail outlets.
“This solution offers much more than just a card terminal. It helps owners to manage their business in a better way, allowing them remote access to reports such as the amount of cash taken in a day, the best selling products, stock levels and the best performing staff,” Doherty explains.
“The sort of solutions only large department stores had before are now available to small businesses. Clover allows them to start trading online by linking their card present business with e-commerce capabilities, pulling all the necessary information together in one package.”
By installing Clover, retailers have the option of turning traditional phone orders into secure e-commerce transactions. This eliminates the risks associated with customers calling out their card numbers to staff. “Customers can enter their own card details onto a secure webpage,” says Doherty. “Local Irish retailers are losing so much business to UK companies when they cannot trade online. We would like to see a position where it’s normal for people to order and pay online for an item from a retailer up the road and go and collect it.”
An important feature of Clover is that has an app marketplace, where apps can be incorporated to meet the specific needs of the individual retailer. For example, a hairdresser could have an app developed for booking appointments and allocating stylists.
There are various apps available in the marketplace, such as for loyalty and gift cards. The Ecwid app was introduced recently. It offers small business a flexible and comprehensive e-commerce platform for selling anywhere at any time, online or in-person, on any device. It is ideal for restaurants and retailers that want to accept online orders and provide order pick-up or delivery options for their customers.
“You can instantly connect your Ecwid online store with your Clover station and get full automatic synchronisation of your inventory, orders and more, allowing you to manage online and in-person transactions with ease,” says Doherty.