These stats reveal why you are losing sales

Here’s a situation you might be familiar with:

You’re at a festival and you need to get lunch. After queueing up for half an hour, you get to the front of the line and start ordering food for you and your mates. The total amount comes to $57.95.

Unfortunately, you don’t have $60 worth of notes. You now have two choices: Start digging through the coins in your pockets to make the remaining 95 cents or start thinking about running to your mates to get more cash.

Usually by this point, I’m wishing the vendor would accept credit cards.

How much easier is swiping or inserting your card than wading through notes or digging through coins to pay for $57.95? Card use is certainly a welcome respite from carrying around a bulging wallet full of coins (first world problems I know!).

But it is frustrating and I bet you offload your coins at every opportunity. For example, paying $10.55 for a sale worth $9.55 (using a $10 note and additional coins) to get rid of as many of the pesky 5, 10, 20 and 50 cent pieces as possible. The speed and convenience of card payments today make for an easier and more desirable experience.

Reasons you are losing sales

If your business is still not taking card payments, consider these stats:

• 64% of people prefer to pay by card (TNS Omnibus March 2014)
• Yet, 61% of small and medium businesses don’t accept credit cards (MYOB Business Monitor)
• 10% of businesses have lost customers because they don’t take credit cards (MYOB Business Monitor)
• More than 1 in 2 people walk away from a sale or service each year because they can’t pay by card (TNS Omnibus)
• Each year, 8.88 million  people walk away from a sale or service because they can’t pay by card (TNS Omnibus)
• Every month, 5.13 million people walk away from a sale or service because they can’t pay by card. (TNS Omnibus)

According to data released by the Reserve Bank of Australia, ATM cash withdrawals are decreasing every year. The increase in popularity and preference for card payments mean that consumers are less likely to carry cash.

First and foremost, taking card payment on the spot means you get paid faster which improves your cash flow as you don’t have to wait 7, 14 or even 30 days to get paid. You save valuable time on paperwork such as raising invoices as well as the hassle of chasing late payments.

Moreover, the MYOB Business Monitor shows that 37% of businesses sending invoices say over one quarter of their customers pay late. And 15% of businesses sending invoices spend more than five hours a month chasing payments. Interestingly, only 1% of people say internet transfer is their preferred payment method which means providing a card payment option is critical when customers don’t want to pay by cash.

It’s very important to understand consumer behaviour if you want to stay relevant and ahead in business. We’re moving towards a cashless society. As cash payment continues to decline, you need to ask yourself: Am I giving my customers all the necessary means possible to pay my business?

Embrace the shift to a cashless society and enjoy the business benefits of providing card payments with MYOB PayDirect.