Contactless payments have become a must-have for restaurants everywhere, whether through a debit card or a dedicated app. Clients swear by this new method of footing the bill. Read on to find out why it’s more than just a passing trend.
“Would you like to make a contactless payment?” As a restaurant owner, you must ask this all the time. Most of the time, the answer is positive and here is how it goes: the customer holds out their debit card near your POS terminal and waits for the little “beep” sound. When it finally happens, it’s time to put the card away, wait for the ticket and leave.
If you have sunday, it’s even simpler: all it takes is a scan of QR Code, and the bill is payed in less than 10 seconds without your waiter having to do anything. That’s the beauty of technology.
Contactless payments have been raising steadily in the UK since 2014:
Even back in 2018, contactless payments were more frequent than chip and pin.
According to Statista, the total number of contactless transactions were over 1.3 billion as of October 2021
53% of all credit card and 69% of all debit card transactions were made through contactless according to UK finance.
In restaurants as well as elsewhere, the popularity of contactless payment solutions continues to grow and new solutions are continuously hitting the market.
How Does Contactless Work Exactly ?
Through NFC technology (Near Field Communication). A technology that allows you to swap data very rapidly between two nearby devices. All you need to do is to place a debit card next to a POS terminal and voilà ! The payment is done. You don’t even need to pair the two together, contrary to bluetooth.
We do it differently here at sunday. After having scanned the QR code set in front of them, customers are redirected to our web application. They will see their bill displayed on their phone. They can pay and leave a tip if they want.
The Advantages Of Contactless
If it wasn’t so convenient for you and your customers, contactless would obviously not have become the new go-to payment methods. Here is why it’s such a huge success.
It’s quick. No waiting time for customers (or barely any) and faster table turnover for you. These are the main advantages of contactless technology. It improves the customer experience and makes your life easier. Plus, it’s become an important criterion for many diners who have grown accustomed to contactless payment.
It’s safe. Not touching a credit card reader at the time of payment? Doing everything from your smartphone? Very convenient as the Covid-19 epidemic continues.
It’s flexible thanks to smartphones. Via virtual debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, sunday and others, paying with your cell phone has become a popular solution for your customers. All options are available in a few clicks. Real easy!
And what about splitting the bill? You probably get this request a lot. It’s always a painful process if you use a debit card, and “classic” contactless methods don’t change anything: the waiter has to divide the bill and make customers pay each one after the other. With sunday, your visitors can divide the bill in equal parts, indicate how much they want to pay or choose to pay only what they have consumed.
Drawbacks? Little to none
Nobody is perfect and contactless is no exception to the rule. It does have some flaws, but fortunately they’re not prohibitive for most customers.
There’s a risk of fraud. “Digital pickpockets” do exist. While it’s possible to steal banking data through NFC, the risk is extremely low. It’s highly improbable that this would happen at your restaurants. But it’s still possible.
In case of theft, your card can also be used to pay as long as you have not stopped the transaction. As the contactless payment limit is set at 100 pounds, the damage cannot exceed this amount.
You have to invest in a compatible POS system. You can hardly do without it today. You might disappoint your customers. If not, you can turn to sunday. It’s the fastest way to go contactless and your customers can pay on their own.
The limit is 100£. If there are 1 or 2 guests at the table, the contactless payment limit might not be reached (in affordable restaurants anyway). For a larger table, it will simply not be an option. With sunday on the other hand, there is no payment limit. 50, 100, 200£ or even more, it’s up to you.
It’s convenient, it’s fast, it’s safe and it’s flexible; contactless is the present and future of payment. At a time when new mobile payment solutions are being democratised in restaurants and for many other businesses, it has a very bright future ahead of it.
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