According to the Federal Reserve’s 2020 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, consumers use cash for only 26% of all payments, and other payment methods—like debit and credit cards—are preferred over cash. On top of this, COVID-related hygiene concerns are making businesses and consumers rethink how they spend and receive money. In fact, 72% of consumers expect businesses to offer cashless payment options.
All this to stay, there’s a growing cashless trend that is quickly becoming the norm—and small businesses have more options for going cashless than ever before. Here are three ways to go cashless in your business:
1. Accept cashless payments from your customers
If you’re a cash-only business, you might want to consider accepting other forms of payment, like debit and credit cards as well as digital and mobile payment alternatives. Even if you still accept cash, offering cashless (or even contactless) payment options will open the doors to more and new business. Not only that, you’ll create checkout processes that are faster and safer, AND you’ll streamline accounting. The more transactions you make digitally, the fewer you’ll have to account for manually.
So how do you offer cashless transactions? You could start by accepting debit and credit cards, or take your cashless transactions even further by accepting customer payments via PayPal, Amazon Pay, Venmo, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and/or Google Wallet.
To accept digital and mobile payments, you will likely need a point-of-sale (POS) payment terminal or special app for in-person transactions. The service you decide to use will help get you onboarded to their system with the right device(s) and/or technology.
If you’re concerned about associated credit card or platform fees, just remember that you’ll likely increase sales simply because you offer these cashless point-of-sale (POS) options—so the investment should pay off in the long run.
2. Negotiate cashless payments with vendors
In the same way that your customers prefer to transact without cash or check, your vendors might also want payments from you via card or other digital payment method. What’s more, YOU might want to pay them online. The best way to approach cashless payments with vendors is to simply ask them if they have their own digital POS option. Chances are, they’ll accept payment from one of the options listed in the previous section—or, you can use Bluevine Payments.
With Bluevine Payments, you can make vendor and bill payments anytime, anywhere with no monthly fee. Simply select or add your own payee, choose a payment method (such as ACH or wire transfer), and your payee gets paid. You can make one-time, recurring, or scheduled payments, and even earn credit card rewards.
All in all, the benefits of cashless vendor payments here are a win-win. On one hand, you’ll have a digital record of your expenses to make accounting easier. On the other, your vendors will get paid faster because they won’t have to wait for a check to arrive by mail. Plus, going cashless also means going paperless, which is a win for the environment.
3. Open an online business bank account
Going cashless in business isn’t limited to customer transactions or vendor payments. You can also do your business banking entirely online. If you’re unsure about an online business bank account, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you only go to a bank branch to use an ATM?
- Are you paying monthly or other hidden banking fees?
- Does your bank impose minimum balance requirements and/or transaction limits?
- Do you want to earn interest on your checking account balance?
If you answered “yes” to any or all of these questions, then a digital bank account like Bluevine Business Checking might be right for you. Business Checking is the first account of its kind. It’s built specifically for small businesses and gives owners like you the flexibility and transparency you’ve been wanting from your banking services.
With Bluevine Business Checking, there are no monthly or hidden fees, no balance requirements or transaction limits, and you’ll earn 1.5% interest for eligible clients.BVSUP-00005 Plus, we have over 37,000 ATM locations for those times you do need to make a cash deposit or withdrawal and dedicated support to help with all your banking needs.
Small business checking, built for your needs
Unlimited transactions, live support, high interest rates, and no monthly fees. Open a Bluevine business checking account online today.
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