Top 3 Reasons merchants are slow to Adopt EMV Cards and why they should re-think this carefully
There are over 8 million merchants in the US and less than 1/8 have deployed EMV devices to accept the chip cards. Consumers are still perplexed to see so many merchants taping up their chip devices…. Why?  Large scale adoption is more complex than the Associations predicted for a number of reasons.
Our top 3…
- Longer checkout times leading to fear of customer abandonment.
- The challenging  tip environment…salons, taxis and especially restaurants.  Even though we do not like watching our card walk off with some stranger…the alternative, walking back to the terminal, is not palatable for these businesses.  In addition, many Restaurateurs are not keen on outfitting their “new hires” and staff with these more expensive pay at the table devices.
- Large  POS  companies waited too long to certify or even develop new systems integrated with EMV technology and the specifications required by the Associations have changed. Programmers are behind and chances are certifications are still in process.
Embrace new technology! It will help you sell more, manage more effectively and grow.
At the very least, use a temporary solution…add a chip terminal as a backup. You need it at least until your system becomes EMV ready.  I have two phones so clients can reach me…and I can hear them clearly.  When it comes to making it easy for your customers to pay, why wouldn’t you have a backup?
Let’s face it, we are one of the last countries to embrace the chip; we should have been the first! It is time to adopt new technology not only for the added security and possibility of increased chargebacks, but to improve your approval rates.  By the way, you could be losing business right now due to your non-EMV device.
Other countries took years to adopt and embrace EMV as I suspect it will take ours.  All of us need to train, educate and adapt to the ever-changing payments space.    This may mean your customers may have to leave their card in the slot for an additional 20-30 seconds, however, it is a more secure form of payment and a worthy investment for any business.
Would you like to capture more of your customers’ information at the Point of Sale?
