Merchant Processing Solutions Inc.

Is Your Business Ready for the Holidays?

You need to have your plan in place NOW!

Aside from festive displays, sales galore and fulfilling dreams, there is a serious part of the holidays for smaller merchants. Several studies indicate that small retailers bring in about between 10 - 25% of their total annual sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So how can the average small merchant get his fair share of that business? 

Here is our suggested Christmas Checklist for Merchants:

• Make sure you have the right technology capturing your sales AND the customer information so you can use this over the next year to stay in contact with you fan base. If you already have a POS System that captures customer data, have you used that to create a HOLIDAY Campaign to bring in all your customers from the past year and beyond?
• Make sure your customers can get to your inventory; whether your store is OPEN or CLOSED. Update your website to include your inventory to allow busy customers the chance to buy when THEY NEED TO! Make sure they can pay with NO problems online at anytime! 
• Consider getting set up with your OWN Mobile Application. This will keep your "raving fans" always connected and engaged in your business. You can push Promotions, Discounts, Rewards Programs and more out to your App Members
• Make sure you have a back-up device to capture sales (Mobile, Website, etc) if due to whether or demand your primary device fails. NEVER LOSE A CUSTOMER BECAUSE YOUR PAYMENT ACCEPTANCE DEVICE IS DOWN. 
• Make sure you check into last years sales and notes to find out how many cash registers you needed open, along with staff and when they were needed. DON'T MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS WAIT ON A LONG LINE! THEY WILL LEAVE AND BUY ELSEWHERE!
• Make sure your Payment Acceptance Devises are SECURE! Are your terminals PCI COMPLIANT and have a secure PASSWORD? This is the time of the year more than any other when SCAMMERS bring in bogus/stolen cards to steal from you! If you are still "swipping" cards you will be unable to dispute ANY CHARGEBACK you get after the holidays. Remember, your customer have 180 days to dispute a credit card purchase - for any reason. If you are still not PCI Compliant and someone does a "chargeback" on their purchase, you will NOT be able to fight the return of that money to the customer. Check with your processor and find out if you are PCI Compliant before losing your hard-earned money! 

We hope this list will help you consider your HOLIDAY MERCHANT PREPAREDNESS! Call us for any help with the above! 

Merchant Processing Solutions Inc.

954-938-2420