Making a purchase with one of these is quite simple for the consumer, but can be somewhat complex for the business owner. Welcome to "3"ā€¦three insights in about three minutes. I'm Drew Dinkelacker. To get some perspective, I'm turning to Scott Farace. He is the CMO of Celero Commerce; that's a payment processing firm in Nashville. Scott, I know you just use your card in-person, online, and even with your phone, how complex can this be?
Scott Farace: More complex than most people ever care to want to know, Drew! First, a business really needs to decide what accepted methods work best for them in-store, online or even mobile. Then they must decide what types of technology are needed to take a payment. So those solutions can range from terminals to software, to gateways to applications. Technology is evolving fast, and, as most of us experience, when using your own debit or credit card at a store and someone behind the counter tells you to swipe, dip or tap. Each is different and each has its pros and drawbacks to a business owner. And this can be difficult waters for a business owner, small and mid-sized and scale, to be able to navigate at their own.
Drew: It would seem like the pandemic forced businesses to evolve, didn't it?
Scott: No doubt about it, Drew. A great example are high-end restaurants. Before the pandemic, if you wanted to order from your favorite steakhouse, most likely your only option was to dine in. They probably didn't have online mobile and they certainly didn't have curbside options. Once the pandemic hit, survival became a necessity and most adopted a whole wide range of new processes, and that's everything from taking orders online to integrating with delivery services and taking payments in the parking lot.
Drew: I would think that curbside payment would be easy with swipe, dip or tap, wouldn't it be?
Scott: Well, most consumers assume it's simple to just take a payment wherever or whenever you want, like a curbside at their favorite restaurant. What they don't see is all that has to take place for that business before and after that short time they swipe, dip or tap their card. Fortunately, our business model aligned well with the needs of the market, so we're able to advise our clients on the solutions and procedures they needed in this new environment and how to take payments these new ways like curbside. When you think about what was unthinkable for a high-end restaurant pre-pandemic, is now commonplace, and technology procedures and deliverables have evolved very quickly, and that is all to our benefit.
Drew: Who knew there was so much going on behind a simple swipe, dip or tap? Thanks, Scott. "3" is a production of MarketingAccelerator.com, and it's just one of the resources we provide for marketing and business leaders. I'm Drew Dinkelacker.