Today’s guest blogger is First Data’s small-business subject matter expert, Barbara Roeber. Below are her timely tips to get your point-of-sale ready for the holiday rush.

Plan ahead at the point of sale

• Accept the right mix of payments. Customers don’t want to present payments at a store or restaurant only to find a business doesn’t accept their card or check. Adding a PIN pad peripheral to a store’s existing system can be an inexpensive way to accept this increasingly popular form of payment, and accepting contactless payments can help speed up the checkout process.
• Upgrade point-of-sale and other equipment. Find the right point-of-sale system for your business to create greater flexibility in accepting payments, lower infrastructure costs, decrease customer wait times and make transaction processing more reliable and secure.
• Invest in a wireless terminal. Farmers markets and other events may take you away from a power source and communication line. Use battery-powered 3G wireless terminals to accept cards from virtually anywhere without creating a paper trail of sensitive card information.
• Electronify checks. If you accept checks online or at the point-of-sale, a system that predicts fraud and electronically processes the check can save you time and reduce the risk of accepting a bad check. Additional benefits include quick insufficient funds notification, enhanced security, reduced paper consumption and faster access to funds.
• Simplify data security (PCI DSS) compliance. Increased traffic and more transactions can also mean more opportunities for fraudsters. Reduce your liability by choosing flexible, terminal-agnostic data security solutions. For example, First Data’s TransArmor solution works with your system regardless of your point-of-sale hardware, card association or acquiring relationship and also effectively removes payment card data from your environment while allowing access when needed (e.g., returns or loyalty program tracking).

Online and mobile opportunities

• Start selling online. Launching an online store doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. Some websites even offer a one-stop shop that makes it easy to accept online payments and increase your competitive edge.
• Follow up on online interest. If customers abandon an online shopping cart without completing a purchase, send them an e-mail reminder and inform them that online transactions are just as secure as in-store purchases.
• Use social networking. Social networking sites like Facebook present a huge opportunity to expand gifting programs to new channels. The First Data eGift Social solution can help you build your brand and increase sales by allowing people to send “real-life” gifts to friends and family. You may even be able to use an existing gift card program to create your own application.
• Go mobile. Mobile devices have become much more than phones and schedules. There are free and low-cost options to help small businesses send SMS (text message) notifications and marketing messages to customers who opt in.

Throughout the store
 

• Offer gift cards and order early. Gift cards offer a variety of ways to build your customer base, from creating additional foot traffic to generating brand awareness while increasing same-store sales.  Last holiday season saw gift card activations rise 2.1 percent, according to First Data’s 2009 Holiday Gift Card Performance Report. But don’t wait – you may need to place your gift card order in summer or early fall to guarantee receipt before Thanksgiving.
• Suggest creative giving ideas. Create gift card displays with ideas to personalize gift cards – such as an electronics store gift card paired with a new game system or a cookware gift card paired with cookie cutters and a holiday cookie recipe.

Extend the holiday season

• Implement a loyalty program. Compete with larger companies by implementing affordable, tailored loyalty programs that encourage frequent visits and purchases. A loyalty program that works with an existing gift card program and/or point-of-sale system can be simple and help track customer preferences and provide you with year-round opportunities to market to customers.
• Create incentives. Encourage customers to purchase gifts at your business and come back after the holidays by offering incentives – for instance a $10 gift card for those spending $100 or more at your business.
• Encourage customers to reload gift cards. Offer a bonus for customers who reload their gift cards after redemption – for instance a free drink with a $25 reload or a $5 bonus on a $50 reload—to keep customers coming back for more!