Payment Methods That You Should Have To Help Your Business Grow
When you buy something, either online or offline, you will have to choose between different types of payment methods. Maybe you prefer using an app on your phone to scan the QR code that the store provides. Or, perhaps, you are the type of customer who pays in debit cards, credit cards, even cash. My point is you will always have several ways to pay for what you buy.
But why does every business bother to have many payment methods? Does it affect them?
How will different payment methods affect business?
My answer is yes. It will affect the company so much. Having more than one payment method is a must for business nowadays. If you have more than one payment method, you can accommodate every customer’s payment preference.
Let’s say you only receive a credit card payment, and it’s the type of payment that your loyal customer prefers. On the other hand, your business is growing, and new customers are starting to come. The new customers may choose another payment type, such as e-Wallet or QR Code. To give the best service to your customers, you can provide different payment methods that your customers prefer.
Payment methods also can affect customers’ behavior
Believe it or not, payment methods also affect your customers’ behavior. Your customers always want a convenient transaction. When they are trying to buy your product, but you don’t have the payment methods they prefer, they can cancel the transaction. The more payment channels you have, the more trades you can accommodate because customers prefer different payment methods. Some of them may like to use a credit card, but others prefer a debit card.
Payment methods that customers prefer
To give the best service to the customers, it’s important to know what type of payment they prefer. Data from Midtrans in 2021 shows that there are three types of payment methods with the highest average number of purchases:
- Direct Debit
If you’re familiar with BCA Klikpay, that is direct debit. It’s easier nowadays, though. You can make payments online without using a token. Airlines often use this payment method since the amount of money you need to pay is quite big.
2. Transfer bank
It’s almost identical to the direct debit method. You use this payment method to pay a large amount of money. When you need to spend millions of Rupiah, it’s hard to use an e-Wallet like Go-Pay or OVO. Transfer bank is convenient to use because that’s where most of our money is.
3. Credit Card
Like direct debit and transfer banks, people also use a credit card to pay something that costs quite much. However, credit cards are often used to buy something like fashion items in a significant amount.
We use those three payment methods to pay for things that cost a lot of money. I know it because I tend to do the same, too. No wonder they have the highest average number of purchases. However, a high number of purchases doesn’t always mean that they are people’s favorites. Data from Midtrans shows three types of most people’s favorite payment methods; and two of them are different from the ones I have mentioned above.
- Go-Pay
Go-Pay has gained popularity for the past few years! It’s convenient to use and you can use it everywhere in your daily life, such as paying for food, groceries, delivery, and everything else. People use Go-Pay to purchase things that don’t cost them that much money. This also applies to some similar payment methods, such as QRIS. Payment methods that use QR Code are an essential part for any merchants.
2. Credit Card
A credit card is quite versatile to use. You can use it for big or small purchases. That is why this method has become everyone’s favorite. And also, most stores provide a credit card payment system. A credit card allows us to purchase things from other countries without a single problem.
3. Transfer bank
Transfer bank is still our favorite payment method to use in every purchase we make. Even though there are Go-Pay and similar methods, we can’t really give up on transfer banks. This is one of the must-have payment methods since bank account is where most of our money is.
The problem and the solution
Technology is growing, but unfortunately, not every business has adopted the new technology, especially in finance. I witness some problems that merchants still face regarding this new payment technology. Many of them still use a manual transfer bank rather than a virtual account. As a customer, I would prefer a virtual account for convenience. A virtual account will show the amount of money you need to pay automatically. You can also save the number, which means you’re only one click away from making a transaction.
Many merchants still do the manual way. Their finance needs to record every transaction manually, which can cause a human error. Meanwhile, if you use a virtual account by Midtrans, every transaction will be registered automatically in the Midtrans dashboard. The only thing merchants need to do is download it.
The other problem is many merchants only team up with one bank for credit card payment because they feel like that is the only bank that works well with them. Even though it’s not a significant problem, it can affect their business. Imagine if this one bank has a problem with its system; the merchant can’t receive any credit card payment from their customers.
On the other side, if you have multiple acquiring when one of the banks is down, you still can receive other credit card payments. Also, it gives you more chances to get a special festive promo from several banks. It will attract your customers as well!
The good news is that people are getting more familiar with payment gateway these days. There are a lot of payment gateway services available, and the term of payment gateway isn’t that foreign anymore for them. But, as this is a new technology, people need more time to feel secure in shifting from manual to online payment.
Midtrans provides several solutions for payment methods. To receive a few payments from different banks, you don’t have to open multiple bank accounts if you’re using Midtrans. Midtrans’s payment gateway will allow you to only open one bank account and receive different payment types because Midtrans has collaborated with many banks to provide payments.
A payment method that has the potential to be popular in the future
I would say that Indonesia is a bit slow in technological development. For the next few years, QR Code payment will be more popular. People will use GoPay, QRIS, or ShopeePay more than today. I’m pretty sure that those payment methods will shift the popularity of bank transfers.
On the other hand, direct debit is the payment method that people will stop using. People want to be more efficient and straightforward. Meanwhile, direct debit is no longer efficient to use because it needs more time to proceed. It isn’t like a credit card, e-wallet, or QR Code that only needs seconds to finish the transaction.
Also, Paylater is an attractive payment method that you should consider. Many e-wallets offer that type of payment to give more convenience. This method has a chance to be more famous in the next few years.
Payment methods grow along with the technology. It will become more modern and seamless in the future. Every business needs to be aware of this situation since customers are also adopting the technology. When the demand for a specific payment method gets higher, maybe it’s time to shift to the modern way.
