Safe shopping required: a guide for small businesses in the age of hygiene

Familiar with the term ‘green washing’? This has long been a practice of many businesses when it comes to sustainability. By promoting products as sustainable and responsible products, they lure more consumers to buy them. Unfortunately, there are no (or too many, depending on your interpretation) certifications that truly set products apart across all dimensions. This creates a difficult playing field for both businesses and consumers. How can we ensure sustainability requirements are met? How can we actively promote a product? With the rise of hygiene as the new sustainability, more firms are looking at how to position their products. This is also translated into the set-up of stores to ensure safety and hygiene.

Payments need to be safe and contactless

For store owners, this means that a contactless payment becomes a necessity. Some owners already shifted towards payment terminals that support the use of contactless payments, while others still use older devices. By shifting towards contactless, shoppers can safely conduct their payment. Broadly speaking, there are two options that a shop owner can consider.

Card machine that supports contactless

There are card machines that support contactless payment. Shoppers simply hover their card above the reader and the payment is completed. The same holds for the use of a phone that has Apple Pay or another payment method.

QR codes

Across Asia, this is already a common method of payment. After the products you want to purchase are scanned, a QR code is shown to the shopper. This can be scanned with a smartphone and the desired payment method can be selected. When customers are used to this method, it can be fast and safe. Often, innovative payment solutions such as the one from SumUp can support both.

Flow management

The payment process can be seen as a necessity. All else is optional: customers can simply walk into the store and explore it for some time on their own. To ensure safety standards can be adhered to, flow management can help store owners understand their environment. With cameras or Bluetooth trackers, shop owners can identify the typical flows through the store.

Increased safety and revenue

This not only allows to improve the safety of the store but also increases the revenue. It helps to identify the products that consumers are looking at the longest, allowing them to be placed more strategically. This will help boost sales. Besides that, you can consider putting products next to each other when they are often purchased together. This will make the average visit time of a customer shorter and allow for more people to flow through the store. Enough reasons to explore the power of flow management!

Get more from payments

Interested to learn more about safe payments without the need for contact? Wondering how QR codes and payment links can boost your sales and customer satisfaction? Try some of SumUp’s options.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of Econotimes