Help Merchants Adjust Their Business Model in the Face of COVID-19 Shutdowns

Merchants are counting on you to provide the guidance and expertise they need to pivot their payment acceptance strategies and maximize revenue.

covid-19-recovery

Now more than ever, merchants across almost every vertical are counting on us to provide them with the guidance and expertise they need to pivot their payment acceptance strategies and maximize revenue. As a savvy software developer, you can use this time to solidify your standing as a trusted advisor to those merchants, one who is capable of providing value-added services and solutions to them right now that help them maximize their revenue.

Given the need for proper social distancing measures, card-not-present and NFC contactless payments are exploding. As more and more products are being purchased curbside or delivered to homes, ISVs are uniquely positioned to help merchants transition to what, for many of them, is an entirely new way of doing business.

Educate merchants on their options.

Whether it’s providing merchants with new solutions for mobile and online ordering, or helping them understand how to properly use the solutions they already have, now is the time to make sure merchants are up-to-speed on:

  • Online payment acceptance solutions.
  • Virtual terminal access for mail and telephone orders.
  • NFC contactless payment acceptance.
  • Email invoicing.
  • Mobile payment acceptance and more.

By embracing an omnichannel approach to payment acceptance that includes all of the above, both you and your merchants will be better positioned to adapt to changes and pivot as necessary to ensure your continued success.

Simplify payments in these complicated times.

Learning new technologies (not to mention entirely new ways of doing business) can be an overwhelming prospect to merchants who are already dealing with an excessive amount of stress. By offering merchants simplified solutions for online, mobile, and contactless payment acceptance, we can help flatten the learning curve for merchants accustomed to more traditional methods of payments. Meanwhile, we can help merchants more readily prepare for the future by embracing payment methods that are only increasing in popularity like those made with mobile wallets.

Drive profitability with data.

With what business owners are currently facing, every dollar counts. That means giving merchants the ability to access and understand their data is more critical than it’s ever been before. For this reason, you’ll want to partner with a payment processor who offers best-in-class reporting that allows merchants to manage their customers, employees, and inventory, if you haven’t already built that reporting functionality into your software yourself.

Remain committed to payments security.

The reality is, cybercriminals are aggressively exploiting the coronavirus outbreak. As a result, credit card fraud is skyrocketing. As more and more merchants establish or increase their ecommerce presence, we need to help protect them from these fraudsters. How? With secure gateway access, the latest PCI-compliant payment solutions, end-to-end encryption and tokenization, fraud reduction tools, and anything else we have at our shared disposal.

A new world for merchants and for us.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated new ways of doing business for our merchants and for ourselves. By providing merchants with the solutions, expertise, and support they need to compete right now, we have the opportunity to create “stickiness” with those merchants for years to come. The sooner we all seize upon that opportunity, the better the outcome will be for ISVs, payment technology companies, and the merchants we serve.

For more details on how NAB is uniquely positioned to help you get payment acceptance built into apps more quickly than ever before to meet merchant demands, email ISVpartners@nabancard.com or visit https://www.northamericanbancard.com/partners/isv.