Most businesses today take cash and credit cards and have been doing this for some time. However, many Americans are going cashless. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, debit cards are now more used than cash. And even for in-person transactions, cash is down to being used only 35% of the time (O’Brien 2019 Findings from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice). COVID-19 has also been accelerating the demand for electronic and contactless payments.

Is Physical Money Going AwayNow more than ever, consumers want to use Apple Pay, NFC contactless payments, and other electronic touchless means for their POS purchase. Some customers who want to use their fancy smartwatch to pay may pass by a merchant that is not equipped to handle the transaction.

As a savvy business owner, you want to be ready to take as many payment types as possible. Choose a POS system that allows all of your point of sale devices to support PCI and PA-DSS standards, RFID chipped, Apple Pay, and NFC contactless payments. You also want a system that is fast and secure.

Many customers want to use a POS eCommerce website to make purchases for in-store, curbside, or delivery. So you want to be sure that you have a system that can take POS payment curbside and at customer’s homes if you’re going to offer delivery.

One of the POS related questions most asked is how to be ready for the future. When selecting a POS system, you want to choose a cloud-based system that will support the latest payment methods and also dynamically update for the future. You should also pick a point of sale system that supports all of the leading payment partners to give you the lowest processing fees.

Being able to accept payments at your POS terminals around the store is essential. But also select a POS system that lets you take payments curbside, at trunk shows, and when your delivery drivers are at a customer’s home.

For now and the foreseeable future, you still want a POS machine with cash drawer like the ACID Series L. There are many advantages of POS machine that is tablet-based too (like for curbside, delivery, around your store and for trade shows.) When you think about how to set up a POS system, you want to take into account all of your needs. With a powerful cloud-based system like ACID, the features of a point of sale terminal that has a cash drawer attached are not different from those of the ACID tablets that you can use on the go.

The writing is on the wall for cash payments. But for now, the best strategy is to have a cloud-based system that accommodates all of your customer’s needs and is robust in handling multiple payment types now and into the future.

Reference: O’Brien, Raynil Kumar and Shaun. “2019 Findings from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice.” FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF SAN FRANCISCO, 26 June 2019.