Why SMEs benefit ‘massively’ from contactless payments

A recent study has declared that SMEs benefit ‘massively’ from accepting cashless payments from customers.

According to the research, which was carried out by e-commerce giant ECC Köln, more than half of the businesses surveyed (53%) stated that they have seen ‘positive improvements’ since embracing cashless payments, with slightly fewer business (51%) also saying that this has helped them to attract new customers.

An efficient means of saving time

It goes without saying that cashless payments are quicker than paying with cash as at the point of purchase; with all processes going through the system automatically, staff can get on with other work because they do not have to handle money.

However, research has found that going cashless can also save significant chunks of time when it comes to admin. According to ECC Köln’s study, cashless payments save businesses on average 29 minutes every day in the back office, which adds up to a staggering 121 work hours over a year. In fact, the research claims that SMEs now only spent on average 20 minutes every workday processing payments that have been made digitally.

The customer is always right

Of course, the benefits of going cashless will only ever be seen if it embraced by your customers. And it seems that more and more people are choosing to make payments via their contactless cards, largely because it is far more convenient.

According to a recent article in the Financial Times, contactless payments continue to rise by the day. In February of 2019 alone, UK consumers spent over £6bn on their contactless cards, and the number of payments made has absolutely skyrocketed. In February 2014, around 14m payments were made. During the same period in 2019, that number is estimated to have been 644m.

A continuing trend

Contactless is already an integral form of payment, but it would appear that it is actually set to become far more vital in years to come. According to UK Finance, contactless payments will likely make up around 36% of all payments by 2027. This is an absolutely incredible estimate given that in 2017, only 15% of payments were contactless.

For all businesses, and especially SMEs, being able to give customers what they want is absolutely key, and in that regard, enabling contactless payment is essential.