As Edinburgh’s Fringe festival draws to a close, it looks set to be another record-breaking year. Last year alone there were nearly 3,400 shows put on across 300 venues with 2.5 million visitors. And this year is set to be even bigger. There’s no doubting of the boost to the city’s profile and economy that the festival provides, and more and more payments are being made by card.
Nowadays it’s pretty much a given that in order to stay competitive your business needs to accept card payments. Being able to take card payments is better for businesses and customers alike. Let’s take a look at the key benefits:
It’s official – debit and credit cards are now the preferred method of payment in the UK. Last year consumers used debit cards 13.2bn times, while the number of cash payments fell 15% and that trend continues through 2018. Businesses are expected to provide for card payments and face the prospect of losing customers if they don’t.
Over the past few years, card readers have become so ubiquitous that the vast majority of us now pay for most things with a debit or credit card, rather than paying with cash. Ever since chip and PIN technology was introduced in 2004, credit card readers have gradually taken over. The total number of card readers in the UK is now estimated to be around 2.2 million, and the number is still growing.
Nowadays card readers are so commonplace you may not even remember the last time you visited a ‘cash-only’ business. Even if you do, perhaps at the time you thought how outmoded it seemed not to have a digital or card payment option. Maybe you didn’t have cash on you, so had to abandon the transaction altogether…