How to select the right payment provider for your Franchise

No matter what your franchise having the ability to take payment by card is extremely important because ultimately generating an income and delivering a profit is what every business wants to achieve.

With new payment methods being used in the UK now it is important that you promote a solution that future proofs your franchise and also provides you and your franchisees with as much management information as possible.

The card payment market

Card payments in the UK are on the rise, growing by 17% annually it is now imperative for all business including franchise to accept cards.

In 2012, 100 million transactions were missed by UK businesses because they didn’t have the facility to take card payments and with the overall contribution of franchising to the UK economy is £13.7 billion there will undoubtedly be some missed sales in the franchise sector.

A report from YouGov reveals that shoppers spend more when using their plastic, spending on average £64 on their cards at small retailers in contrast to £20 in cash and with 36.3m contactless cards in circulation in the UK the rise in card and contactless payments is set to continue.

It can be confusing when it comes to selecting the right payment provider for your franchise as there are many different payment providers and solutions out.  This is why we have put together this guide on what you should consider when selecting a provider:

1.      Variety of payment options -  There are a number of payment options available including:

a.      Physical Terminals –Depending on the type of franchise you operate you may require a physical terminal. There are 3 options available:

                                          i.     Corded – If your customers only have one place that they can pay for your goods or services and you do not need to be able to move around with the device then this solution would be for you.

                                         ii.     Mobile/GPRS and Wireless - If your franchise falls outside the traditional retail setting, maybe you have employees out on the road or run a restaurant or café where you have tables outside you may want to look at a mobile or wireless option so that you staff can collect payment on the spot.

b.      Online Hosted Form – This is where the payment provider makes a payment page available to you that can match your brand. When your franchisees customers purchase on their website they will enters their payment details into this form negating the need for you to store customer card data.

c.      Shopping Carts and Content Management System plugins - There are a number of shopping carts and plugins out there in the market place these include: Magento, Zencart, osCommerce, WooCommerce and Joomla. Make sure your payment provider has this capability and importantly make sure they don’t charge you a premium to have access.

d.      Mail order / telephone Order – If your franchisees take orders over the phone or via mail order then they will need to have facility to take card payments without the customer being physically there. For security reasons these need to be treated differently.  

2.      Genuinely competitive rates – The costs can differ greatly between payment service providers. Have a look at set-up fees and costs per transaction and remember when making a comparison to compare like for like because if it looks too good to be true then it probably is.

3.      Watch out for fees – It is important that you as a franchisor understand your payment options and what each service provider charges as it can often be hard to find. All of these will impact your cashflow and it is not always clear to see and can include:

a.      Card processing fees

b.      Transaction fees

c.      Discount rate

d.      Commission

e.      Gateway fees

f.       PCI compliance fee

g.      Other fees such as annual service charge, monthly fees and set up fees

4.      Management reporting facilities – Accepting payments is only one part of the service your provider should be giving you and your franchisees. After cash, data is your second most important asset and a good payment service provider should be able to give you the reporting and administration tools to help you and your franchisees to not only manage your service but be able to make informed decisions based on the analytical transactional data it provides.

In Summary:

One size does not fit all, each franchises requirement is different shop around to find a provider that can offer you the services that are best suited to your business at a cost that will not heavily impact your business.

NetPay is a leading payment services provider focused on delivering great value and absolute cost transparency, backed up by exceptional customer service and support from the UK 24x7.