Facilitating Preference of Pay Doesn’t Need to Come at a High Cost
Successful businesses meet consumer preferences.
After all, consumer product demand is commerce’s co-pilot. It drives corporate decision making.
This preference sells products. It sells services.
Realizing the power of consumer preference benefits a business’ product and service line.
When it comes to paying for these products and services, continued emphasis on consumer payment options truly sets a business apart.
In fact, blocking a consumer’s preferred payment method can prevent profitability.
“By facilitating preference of pay, a hotel, retailer, or any other business further meets consumer needs,” Mike Baldinger, Evention Partner & Co-Founder said. “For the modern day consumer, convenience is key. This philosophy trickles right down to payment.”
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s 2019 Findings from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice report, consumers used cash in 26% of transactions. And consumers used cash for nearly 50% of small transactions of $10 or less.
Credit cards also account for many purchases. In it’s 2019 report, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco also found consumers used credit cards for 23% of purchases.
Facilitating preference of pay elevates the consumer experience because it caters to consumers’ choices.
This is particularly relevant to the hotel space, an industry that focuses on integrating customer service with hospitality.
“Hospitality is all about consumer preference and catering to these consumers to provide the best hotel experience possible paralleled with these preferences,” Baldinger said. “Enabling hotels to easily accept any payment method, touchless, credit card, cash, or otherwise by automating the reconciliation of those transactions allows hospitality to better serve consumers.”
Reconciliation for any payment method can be extremely time consuming for the accounting staff. Automation can greatly minimize that challenge.
“Automating cash management, tip and gratuity allocation, credit card reconciliation, and group billing means efficient, error-free billing, payroll, and reconciliation,” Baldinger said.
By integrating automation in a contemporary customer-centric business environment, versatile payment methods offer advantages for both business and consumer.
