New research reveals that more than 2.5 million small businesses in the UK don’t accept credit cards. And they’re missing out on a massive amount of sales.
Paying by card is the number one choice for most people in the UK, with 64% saying they would prefer a business that solely accepted cards over one that only accepted cash. Despite this, almost 2.6 million Small to Medium Enterprises (“SMEs”) across the country still don’t accept card payments.
Card payments important
The research also showed that a massive 81% of respondents would choose to shop more locally if they could be sure the businesses took card payments.
Less than 50% of people living in the UK carry less than £10 in cash on them at any one time. Furthermore, just 13% said that they use a cash machine once a month. The age-group that say they would most like to always pay by card are those between 40 and 44, with 73% preferring card-only to cash-only businesses.
Major economic contribution
More than 5.7 million small businesses are major contributors to the UK’s economy, but despite this not all of them are utilising available technology in the best way. Not being able to take card payments in 2018 is a significant disadvantage and is undoubtedly holding many SMEs back.
A company called Square arrived in the UK in March 2017 aiming to help bridge this chasm between cashless customers and businesses that only deal with cash. They have launched various advertising campaigns to help and encourage small businesses to understand the very real benefits of accepting card payments.
Businesses benefit
The initial advert features real small business owners from across the country and was designed specifically to encourage more traders to get on board with card payments.
An example of a business benefiting directly from a better understanding of card payments comes with Plum Duff Bakery. This UK-based business initially only took cash for the first 45 years but started taking card payments in January this year for the very first time.
The owner, Ian Moore, said: “After serving customers for so long, I was a bit wary about technology and if I’m honest a bit stuck in my ways. I’m not technologically minded so the prospect of taking cards was a bit daunting. I realised though that Plum Duff needed to join the 21st Century. It was so easy to set up – even for someone who’s not technologically minded like me!”
Switching from cash only to card and cash sales means the company is no longer missing out on sales because people could only pay with cash. If you’d like advice on how to maximise your sales, or how best to adopt technology new to you, please contact the team at Turner Little. We have many years’ experience in helping people to start businesses and can offer advice across a broad spectrum of financial and business topics.
About Turner Little
Founded in 1998 in Yorkshire, UK, Turner Little is a specialist UK and offshore company formation, banking and corporate services provider. Our services include company formation, UK and offshore banking, asset protection, credit correction/repair, trademarking and trusts. Other services include Internet services, mail forwarding, wills and probate. Turner Little’s vision is to offer the best possible service, together with market leading products
