Your smartphone can now be your point-of-sale terminal
When technology is accessible, even a small mom-and-pop store can compete with the big guys.
PocketPay, a new digital tool rolled out by leading e-wallet GCash, offers to ease business-to-consumer transactions by making credit and debit payments possible without the traditional point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
On Nov. 4, Gcash launched PocketPay, offering features similar to POS but using only the merchant’s smartphone to process credit and debit cards payments.
For years, a number of fintech platforms have been helping micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in dealing with customers who prefer payments using their e-wallets. The common method, however, requires customers to show receipts of their cash transfers, and for business operators to double-check their inbox for payment confirmations.
For a small business like Frank & Dean, a coffee shop surrounded by corporate offices in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), having a long queue of customers is part of daily operations.
Aside from the flagship café in BGC, the boutique café has also branched out to corporate spaces, setting up espresso bars at the offices of Unilever and GCash.
Frank & Dean representative Miguel Escueta says that they find digital payments more convenient and secure. Digitalization, after all, ensures smooth operational duties and monitoring of revenues and earnings.
“We find it more convenient than cash. It is safer, and there is no need to do bank runs to deposit cash sales. It is also easier to monitor with the daily reports being sent,” says Escueta.
For a long time, it has catered to a huge volume of customers using two payment methods—cash and e-wallet. But now, it has started accepting card payments.
“Having a third option [aside from] cash and e-wallet payments has been very helpful, because a lot of customers transact using credit cards, and now we can ease that process with GCash PocketPay,” says Escueta.
PocketPay spares the customer a lot of the inconvenience and reduces the risk of transfer errors. At the same time, it gives MSMEs security of payments and ability to instantly validate transactions.
All the customers need to do is tap their cards on their smartphones, and payments will be accepted via Near Field Communication (NFC).
Mynt general manager of B2B (business to business) segment Jong Layug acknowledges the financial struggles of MSMEs in accessing digital tools, especially for financial operations.
“Digital tools have to work with how MSMEs live and operate, and for many of them, that means operating on lean budgets and fast turnarounds,” says Layug.
Aside from PocketPay, GCash for Business has also introduced GCash SoundPay, a portable payments solution that accepts quick response or QR payments and gives instant voice confirmation every time a customer pays.
MSMEs can get full access to both digital tools on Gcash for Business Portal. Merchants must have a fully verified account. Then, they can download the GCash PocketPay application and enjoy zero fees until Dec 3.
As new businesses continue to sprout up and expand, simple yet powerful solutions can spell the difference between staying small and scaling up.
