Mobile Readers Take Off for Small Businesses

More retailers are embracing card readers that attach to mobile devices.

August 30, 2013

CHICAGO – Tania Ruiz is making the switch. Owner/chef of Tomate Fresh Kitchen, she will soon jettison her traditional card reader in favor of a mobile card reader that attaches to her smartphone, Medill Reports Chicago reports.

Her customers, the vast majority of which wanted to pay with credit or debit cards, drove the change. “I wasn’t able to sell my goods to them. I lost that business and it was a large amount,” said Ruiz.

An August survey from BIA/Kelsey showed 40% of small and medium businesses now use a mobile card reader, such as PayPal Here and Square, at their point of sale. An additional 16% will move to mobile payment readers within a year.

“The data reveals professional and home and trade services are embracing mobile in a big way, with service providers essentially becoming walking point-of-sale terminals,” said Steve Marshall, director of research at BIA/Kelsey.

Robert Wolcott with Northwestern University’s Kellogg Business School Innovation Network pointed out the flexibility mobile payment readers offer businesses—and customers. “The impact over time will be to vastly expand the number of ways people can pay each other,” he said. “It also creates more choice regarding the technology platforms on which businesses and consumers can move money.”

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