As many as 2.6 million UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are putting themselves at a ‘serious competitive disadvantage’ by failing to accept credit and debit card payments, a new study suggests.
The research, which was recently highlighted in Global Banking & Finance Review, suggests that many small businesses are missing out on revenue by relying solely on cash payments and failing to embrace alternative payment options.
According to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the average British consumer typically only carries an average of £32.54 in cash on their person at any given time.
As the BRC’s figures suggest that ‘one average transaction’ is typically worth £18.42, experts have argued that many small retailers are limiting their customers to purchasing no more than one product per visit if they only accept cash.
Meanwhile, recent research from elsewhere suggests that card payments have now overtaken cash payments as the primary method of purchase in the UK as of last year, suggesting that many SMEs who only deal in cash could be alienating their customers completely.
Kennedy Zvenyika, Managing Director of finance provider GIC Capital, said: “Small businesses in the UK are in constant competition with larger organisations and because of this, they need to take advantage of every opportunity that they have at their disposal.
“They should also recognise the merits of making it as fuss-free as possible for customers to buy from them by offering the facilities for card payments as well as more traditional payment methods, such as cash.”