£58 billion!
That’s the total spend on all credit and debit cards in the UK in April 2017, the most recent figures available at the time of writing. Credit cards accounted for just short of £17 billion, whilst the debit card spend was boosted by the growing acceptance of contactless payments.
Overall our growing love affair with the card as a form of payment has resulted in a 6.8% year-on-year rise in card spending. Partially thanks to the contactless element, this translates into a 12% increase in transaction numbers.
What does this mean for business? Well for a start it makes it far easier for businesses to move away from cheques and cash and towards card payments. The old arguments about cards and businesses which accept cards being the preserve of the few now simply don’t hold sway. So much so, that this writer was surprised recently to be asked for a cheque in payment. Luckily the request came in advance, saving a round-trip to retrieve the cheque book from its secure drawer.
Quite simply, card payments are convenient for both customers and businesses. More importantly, they speed up the receipt of funds for the business. Particularly so in businesses which have traditionally relied on the service/ invoice/ cheque payment route. Simply sending out the invoice and waiting for the cheque to arrive in return could easily take up a couple of weeks; and by the time bank clearing has taken place and funds are available for use the original service is a distant memory. Secure card processing generally delivers cleared funds approximately one week after the appointment.
The growing acceptance of cards as a means of payment has also brought further benefits, particularly for those businesses such as health providers which rely on an appointment system. Taking card details at the time of booking, whether on the phone or online, tends to concentrate the mind and that means that clients are far more likely to turn up for their appointments. Particularly so if the health practice operates a ‘no-show fee’ system, charging clients who fail to turn up a percentage of the overall fee.
Adding a further service such as sending out SMS text messaging or email to remind clients of the appointment also helps to ensure that clients either turn up to their appointment or cancel well in advance. It can be all too easy in a busy life to forget the date or time of an appointment so scheduling reminders acts as a handy aid memoire.
When it comes to health services, anything which can boost attendance numbers is welcome. Both in the public and private sectors time is of the essence and resources are stretched. Those who fail to turn up to appointments not only jeopardise their own treatment plan, they also block or delay the chances of treatment for others. So the hidden cost is far higher than simply having a team of health professionals sitting and waiting for a client who has either forgotten or has no intention of turning up.