Small Business is Optimistic — But Is It Ready For EMVs?

Shopkeep is a cloud-based technology company  used by more than 18,000 different small businesses, to keep track of things like payroll, inventory, etc. They are also prone to surveying their customers and compiling the info in what they called their “ShopKeep Small Business Index,” or SSBI They just announced the release for their survey for the second quarter of 2015, and the good news is that “survey respondents reported their highest revenue and optimism to date.”

That optimism undoubtedly fueled by the SSBI’s identification of an average year-over-year increase in sales revenue of 23.1%, representing a staggering 11% increase from Q1 2015.

Particularly of interest to readers of this blog and newsletter, is that according to ShopKeep’s CEO, Norm Merritt,  the parameters they used for this quarter’s findings “addressed public policy, hiring and payments technology – which all stand as large influencers to business operations for merchants across America for the remainder of the year.”

Upcoming EMV Deadline

Their survey stressed that “with the upcoming EMV deadline, business owners should make it a priority to understand the new chip and pin cards.”

And indeed, the SSDI indicates this is happening: “Currently 62% of small businesses are prepared to accept EMV chip cards in advance of the October 1 fraud liability deadline – a strong improvement from previous quarters. When asked why they will be ready, small business owners provided valuable insight, such as improved security, future-proofing their businesses, and already fully prepared with necessary hardware through ShopKeep and other providers.”

And yet, this is in direct contrast to an article appearing on the Consumerist website at the same time, which refers to a Wells Fargo report which took a different survey of more than 600 small business owners, and concludes “that more than half of those who accept point-of-sale card payments are unaware of the requirement to change to EMV chip card technology.”

The Wells Fargo Report

The Wells Fargo report said that “business owners reported a variety of reasons for not making the shift by the October deadline

Reasons for Not Making the Shift

• 48% feel that upgrading their payment terminal will not impact their business.
• 46% do not want to pay for the costs associated with upgrading.
• 41% are not concerned about the liability shift in the case of fraud.”

“The survey findings show us that we have more work to do,” said Debra Rossi, head of Wells Fargo Merchant Services, in a statement. You can begin the work right away or, even better, maintain the head start you already have thanks to AVPS.

If you need to upgrade for EMV cards, add Visa Checkout to your webpage for an easier (and more secure) customer interface and purchasing experience, or anything else,   

As the ShopKeep report says, “The EMV transition also serves as a catalyst for merchants to upgrade their business technology to accept new and upcoming payment types, including contactless payments.”

Let AVPS help catalyze your fall, your holidays, and the seasons beyond that. Payment technologies will keep changing — and through it all,  we’ll be right here.