Top Three Payments Considerations for Grocers
Fueled by the pandemic, the entire grocery industry is evolving rapidly to offer shoppers faster, easier and safer ways to buy groceries. According to McKinsey, “Powerful trends, including new competitive pressures, technological advances, and evolving consumer attitudes and behaviors, will disrupt the grocery business from coast to coast in the next few years.”
Grocers adapt to changing consumers’ needs by evaluating payments processes and technology to ensure they’re driving a frictionless experience. Whether grocers realize it or not, payments play an essential role in all parts of the shopper’s journey. As they keep up with the rapid evolution, grocers should consider three ways to enhance their payments system.
Offer Fast BOPIS Payments Capabilities
Buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) has taken off in grocery due to the pandemic, with online grocery sales rising 4.7% from Aug. 2020 to Aug. 2021 to reach $8.6 billion. This growth is here to stay as more consumers continue buying groceries online for ease and convenience.
To accommodate the growth in BOPIS orders, grocers must make it quick and convenient for customers to order, pay, and pick up items. Customers want to enter their payment details online and have associates easily recall the information at the POS at the time of pickup. The transaction speed must also be acceptable so that shoppers aren’t left waiting at the point of sale. It’s all part of creating a seamless customer journey from start to finish.
Easily Apply Discounts and Loyalty Points
Grocery loyalty programs are a great way to incent customers who shop with a store regularly. According to Nielsen, 34% of American shoppers choose their favorite grocery store or primary retailer based on a company’s loyalty program.
Instead of issuing a key ring or ID number, there’s now a way to automatically apply discounts or loyalty points using customers’ preferred payment method. Retailers pull off this technique by storing encrypted card information with customer-associated permanent or temporary tokens. Now, the credit or debit card that a customer regularly uses becomes a convenient rewards program. Grocers can personalize rewards based on past transactions and frequency, and customers can conveniently enjoy loyalty perks from their favorite grocers.
Avoid Data Breaches With Tokenization and Vaulting
Grocers make up the number one channel for data breaches regarding the percentage of compromised accounts.
To diminish the risk of data breaches, grocers must offer end-to-end security to give customers peace of mind about paying both in-store or online. Tokenization and vaulting help to safeguard data without compromising security by switching out sensitive authentication data with format-preserving equivalents. This approach is a powerful and flexible way for businesses to protect and remove cardholder data from their systems. With tokenization and vaulting, grocers can enhance the security of data and increase customer trust.
Enhance Your Grocery Payments Offerings With OLS Today
All in all, grocers can improve their customer experience by adding omnichannel payments capabilities, building robust customer loyalty programs and securing customer data. These elements are key for grocers to deliver a compelling value proposition that increases customer retention in a competitive market. OLS Payments is here to help grocers stay at the forefront of emerging payments technology. We understand grocers’ most complex payments challenges and are driven to help you stay at the forefront of payment technology. To learn more about how we can help you provide a great customer experience, request more information today.