Using technology to improve the customer experience
By Karen Cox, Moneris
Payment processing is a crucial element for successful business operation. It needs to work when you need it to work, wherever you are. Just as we manage our personal lives with mobile technology, businesses can also leverage the sophistication and simplicity these devices offer for commerce.
Smartphones and tablets are shaping the new payment and retail environments with 46 per cent of businesses expected to be using tablet-based mPOS technology by 2019. So, what does this mean for jewellery retailers?
With mPOS, sales associates are equipped with an intuitive mobile payment app on either a smartphone or tablet, coupled with a compact and secure PIN entry device for all methods of card acceptance. This means they can bring the POS to the customer instead of having a customer follow them across the store to a standard POS checkout. Not only can a sale be completed anywhere, mPOS can also manage inventory, customer identification and discounts—to put it simply, the register goes wherever the associate goes.
Leading payment processors develop solutions that support the latest payment innovations and that can evolve from and adapt to future technologies. Faster, easier and more convenient transaction processing with an mPOS can help jewellery retailers foster more effective and efficient operations, while helping you to enhance cash flow and access real-time sales reporting. The business efficiency of mPOS can also help streamline the hardware and software needed to run the business, reducing overhead.
Additionally, today’s mPOS solutions can accept mobile wallet, contactless-tap (including wearables like the Apple Watch), debit and chip card payments—functionality that allows consumers to use their preferred method of payment no matter where they are shopping.
The flexible integration of payments with leading mPOS technology enables you and sales associates to focus on providing continuous and enhanced customer service. Mobile payment solutions allow retailers to focus on the costumer experience while speeding up the check-out process, instilling consumer confidence, remembering your customers’ shopping patterns, and in turn, increasing the potential for repeat business.
Securing Valuables
Luxury retailers invest in high-ticket merchandise. In order to protect themselves against fraudulent card transactions, the acceptance of secure payments is crucial. Jewelllery retailers that opt-in to using an mPOS solution should only consider those that support full EMV-chip and PIN acceptance versus magstripe only. This will protect them from Chargebacks and instill confidence in their customer base. EMV-chip and PIN is a global data security standard in the payment industry and a function that consumers have come to expect.
In addition to EMV, jewellery retailers should ensure their solution uses other layers of data security. The secure card acceptance device should never allow cardholder information to leave the device unprotected. This means that before the cardholder’s information is transferred through the mobile payment application, a lock or encryption is put on it to make it unreadable to anyone but the secure payments processor. Once this information passes through the mobile application, it safely decrypts upon arrival at the payment processor for authorization. No exposure to card data means limited risk.
With an mPOS from the right provider, both jewellers and their clients can be confident in that their personal information is secure.
MOBILE DEVICE ATTACKS
According to David Greenham, the senior manager of the Richter Advisory Group in Toronto, most new smartphones has some security measures in place, such as encryption and the ability to only install apps from trusted sources.
“However, some Apple users circumvent the restriction of installing apps from trusted sources, which is called ‘jailbreaking’,” he says. “Jailbroken phones can install apps from untrusted sources, and these apps often contain malicious software, which could steal the user’s contacts, or intercept out-of-band online banking authentication text messages.”
In the context of healthcare, Greenham says, jailbroken devices can be exposed to patient information, putting the confidentiality of the information at risk. “In addition, tampering of medical devices is a threat to patient safety.”
Insulin pumps, pacemakers, defibrillators as well as other medical devices are remotely accessible and could affect patient safety if compromised.
In May 2015, TrapX Labs, a deception-based cybersecurity firm, released a report containing information on investigations performed at three hospitals. The report detailed Medical Device Hijacking, or “MEDJACK”. Medical devices affected include blood gas analyzers (BGAs), picture archive and communications systems (PACS), as well as X-ray equipment.
Business Management Ready
It is important for any retailer to maximize their strengths in all areas of their business. This can be accomplished with a comprehensive business management application paired with integrated payments, all running on a single mobile device (smartphone or tablet).
Payment processors offer integrated applications that not only allow for the acceptance of payments, but also provide merchants with full inventory management, customer tracking and electronic receipt capabilities.
These tailored software applications are designed to help retailers compete in market and grow with their business while helping jewellery retailers to focus on day-to-day operations and their customers’ needs.
Karen Cox is the vice President of payment and retail solutions at Moneris.
