Increase Small Business Revenue by Going Mobile

Entrepreneurs who refuse to take business on the go are missing huge opportunities. Markets, fairs, and festivals represent big business for many business owners. Though more entrepreneurs are jumping on the bandwagon, many are limiting themselves by accepting only cash payments. Contrary to popular belief, accepting mobile payments does not require expensive equipment or technological prowess.

Mobile technology puts power in the hands of business owners. With simple tools, smartphones and tablets become point of sale systems. Use these to increase business reach and give sales a boost from indoor and outdoor venues. Once restricted to summer months, festival and market season is now year-round, with indoor venues offering the opportunity to shop in comfort while avoiding mall crowds.

PayPal is the king of mobile payment systems and the company goes the extra mile to accommodate business owners on the move. While most competitor products accept only debt and credit card payments, the PayPal Here mobile processing system allows customers to use their mobile PayPal accounts for payment. PayPal is working on a Bluetooth device called Beacon, which will integrate with an existing POS system and automatically connect with a customer mobile PayPal app.

Square is an excellent choice for businesses that do not regularly process mobile payments. It does not require a merchant account or contract and there are no monthly fees. Square creates a direct link to the business bank account and accepts all major credit cards. GoPayment from Intuit also has a pay-per-transaction option. Both GoPayment and Square impose a 2.75 percent transaction fee. GoPayment also automatically syncs with Intuit Payment Solutions software including QuickBooks, simplifying financial reporting.

PayAnywhere does not have any setup charges, monthly fees, or minimum monthly sales requirements. The PayAnywhere reader and app are free and simple to use and the company offers a 2.69 percent per-transaction pricing plan. Competitor Phone Swipe charges the same per-transaction fee and offers a free app and reader, helping entrepreneurs to keep overhead costs low.

Business owners who want to travel light should consider the Flint Mobile system. All they need is a mobile device with a camera. The merchant uses the camera to scan the credit card number for fast and easy payment processing with no extra hardware required. Flint Mobile also has invoicing capabilities and automatically syncs transactions and integrates with QuickBooks. Merchants can download the Flint Mobile app at no charge and there are no fees for check or cash transactions. Debit card payments have a 1.95 percent transaction fee and the credit card transaction fee is 2.95 percent.

Dwolla is similar to Flint Mobile in that it does not require additional hardware. It is like PayPal Here in that customers log into an app to select from a list of approved vendors for payment. Dwolla does not charge monthly fees and each transaction costs only 25 cents, resulting in the cheapest mobile payment system available. Merchants receive payments directly in their accounts and can monitor these via their tablets or smartphones through Dwolla’s online kiosk. With these and other tools, it has never been easier for small business owners to accept mobile payments.

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*Photo Courtesy of Sludge G via Creative Commons License