Where Merchant Services & Technology come together!

October is the deadline to make sure you have the proper equipment in place to accept the new generation of payments through EMV Smart Card Technology!
ARE YOU PREPARED?

What is EMV?
EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa. EMV chips are also called SmartCards or Chip Cards. The card looks just like the cards we are used to today, however a small microchip or “Chip” is embedded. It’s a more secure way of accepting payment.

In early 2012 Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express all announced their EMV migration plans for the US. Since that announcement, many card issuers and banks moved forward in creating cards with EMV technology. EMV will carry a “Liability Shift” to the merchant in the case the transaction takes place from a non EMV environment.

Mobile applications (not websites) are now intertwining with various forms of Electronic Payments and becoming an essential tool businesses need to succeed. The adoption of mobile devices is growing at a rapid pace and is changing the way customers find you. Studies show, within the next two years you may well see more people coming to your website on a phone or tablet instead of using a traditional computer, with a potential 1.82 billion mobile devices in use by the end of the year. THIS YEAR, an estimated 780 million people will use only mobile devices, not owning a laptop or desktop computer. 94% of smartphone users access local information from their smart phone apps and 67% of those stated they would not work with a business which was not “mobile friendly”.

Features available: Event Calendars, Communication with Push notifications, Restaurant Menus or Inventory Lists, GPS Coupons, QR Coupons, Loyalty Programs, Social Integration, Shopping Cart, Payment Gateway Connection, One Touch Calls, Gives customers multiple ways to reach you, Analytics.

Some more information about a few features in particular:
Social Media Integration is a huge advantage, it’s the new word of mouth and necessary for your business to survive!
With App share, customers can market your business for you and you can offer them an incentive to do so.
Downloading the app may also come with an incentive and can catapult your app to going viral. Push notifications are often stronger than emailing as customers have to see it before they can unlock their phones.
Geo-fencing allows you to virtually put a fence around your competitor. If your customer goes inside that perimeter, a notification will come up on their phone that will entice them to come back to your business with a special, etc.

Kendrick Hudson handles all mobile applications for Mersatech and can be reached at kendrickhudson@gmail.com