Running a small business can be chaotic – it’s a balancing act of mastering your marketing strategy, gaining sales, cash flow management, settling bills, issuing invoices and chasing payments. 

But thanks to new and emerging technology, it’s now possible to unlock hidden value for your small business with no extra work involved – just by switching to card payments. So if you’re a small business owner who hasn’t taken a close look at the ways you make your business payments in a while, now is the time.

But how does paying by card add value to your business? The Deloitte ‘Paytech Revolution’ report released in early 2018 outlined the key benefits:

• Added value through rewards on all your payments
• Optimised cash flow
• Increased speed and efficiency
• Security

B2Bpay is a new payment solution that is a rewarding way to pay and take advantage of all these benefits for your small business. If you still process most payments using EFT, cash or cheque, you’re leaving valuable rewards on the table every time you pay your bills. Research increasingly shows card is king for small business in a rapidly digitising economy.

Customers prefer card

In June 2018, the ATO released the findings from its research into how 1,049 Australian consumers are paying. The findings weren’t surprising for one of the world’s most cashless countries – the research revealed only one in five Australians still prefer using cash for purchases.

This nationwide trend is the most pronounced in young people – so if your small business targets customers who are under 35’s, you need to remember that this group carries the least amount of cash in Australia. Going cashless means it’s a lot easier for this group to spend more money with you

Key ATO research findings

• 10% of consumers carry no cash at all
• 30% carry limited cash and expected to use electronic payments for most transactions.
• 19% carry some cash but will use it only if electronic payments aren’t available
• 27% said they carry some cash and use a combination of ash and electronic payments

The ATO research also revealed that people prefer the convenience and security going cashless offers, in that it removes the need to withdraw cash and carry it around, as well makes record keeping a lot easier with everything recorded electronically.

When it comes to convenience, new payment technologies are having a big impact. Tap and Go is reducing the time it takes to make a transaction even further than regular card payments, and B2Bpay consolidates payment across multiple cards onto one screen to make reporting easier for tax time.

According to the ATO assistant commissioner, Matthew Bambrick, 86% of businesses believe that most customers expect to be able to pay via electronic means.

“This research indicates that the trend away from cash will only gather pace. This is more than a passing fad. This is the way of the future,” said Bambrick.

He states that the end result will be more people carrying little or no cash at all.

The Reserve Bank of Australia 2017 Consumer Payments Survey data supports this – over a decade, consumer payments by cash have fallen from 70% in 2007 to 37% in 2016.

Cashless Rewards Your Small Business

Going cashless offers multiple benefits for your business:

• Card rewards on every transaction, including ATO payments when you use B2Bpay
• Speed and efficiency, for you and customers
• Security – no need to keep cash on hand secure
• Record Keeping & Visibility – Accurate, real time reports on your desktop
• More Customers – every year more Australians choose to use card payments
• Reliability – pay and be paid your monthly, quarterly or annual bills on time, every time.