More foot traffic, more sales, more returns. The busiest time of year for retailers is approaching, which means there’s less room for error and more need for maximum productivity and efficiency. Fortunately, the latest POS technology incorporates a variety of solutions that can take the burden off of merchants and help them stay organized. Don’t stress this holiday season; here are some ways you can utilize your POS system to manage a hectic schedule and encourage sales.

As we discussed in a previous post, gift cards are actually a quite lucrative asset to the holiday season. However, there is a drawback to gift cards, which is that they are prone to many different types of fraud. With gift card sales going up now in time for the holiday season, it’s important to understand some of the ways that they are used fraudulently. See our list below:

This year’s holiday sales are estimated to surpass $1 trillion, which is pretty exciting news for retailers. Unfortunately, though, the holiday season has historically proven to be fraudsters’ favorite time of year, and this year in particular brings with it additional security threats. Read up to learn how you can ensure a successful holiday season with as little fraud as possible.

As much as we don’t want to admit it, our decision-making process is not just based on logic and facts- we actually rely on our emotions quite heavily when making decisions. Research from neuroscientists backs this up: people who have brain damage that reduces their ability to feel emotions have severe difficulties making decisions. This necessary and subconscious process of experiencing emotions when making decisions is especially true among consumers. In fact, research shows that 90% of purchasing decisions are made subconsciously.

Fortunately, this means that merchants have an incredible ability to increase sales by creating a retail experience that generates the right emotions among customers. Below are some emotions that have been proven to increase sales, and some techniques to instill these feelings in your customers.

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As it is, consumers tend to be cautious when shopping; they want to get the best value, and they don’t want to feel deceived by the merchant. When you move the buying experience online, shoppers are even more careful. Without the transparency and reassurance of in-store human interaction, it becomes even more important for online merchants to understand the psychology behind buying, so their e-commerce sites are designed to encourage purchasing. Below are some common psychological insights, and how you can address them in your online shop:

When customers aren’t happy with a purchase, they have two options: they can choose to request a refund from the merchant, or they can file a chargeback with their card issuer. While customer dissatisfaction is not pleasant for any business owner, it’s inevitibility means that merchants should plan ahead to ensure that customers will ask for a refund rather than file a chargeback. Chargebacks frequently pile on extra fees, and in the case that you need to dispute one, it will be a time-consuming process and quite often will fall in the customer’s favor, even unfairly.

Merchants can prevent these disruptive chargebacks by having a customer-friendly return policy in place. Keep reading to learn how you can create a return policy that makes it easy for customers to reach out to you first when they’re dissatisfied with their purchase.

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Having an online shop can be an important tool to grow your business. Unfortunately, though, e-commerce fraud rates are growing and many customers are aware of this. If the customer does not feel that the website is reliable, they will likely not feel comfortable entering sensitive card data. In order to maximize sales and grow your customer base, it’s increasingly important that you set up your storefront in a way that people will trust. Here are some tips to help shoppers feel at ease:

If you’re a small business, the bad news is that you may have to be extra vigilant in protecting yourself against cyber attacks. While we often think that hackers target the biggest companies, research from 2016 found that more than half of small businesses reported being a victim of data breaches in the past year. Below are some reasons why small businesses are bigger targets, and what you can do to protect yourself.

For many years, people have been predicting that cash will disappear. With the majority of U.S. and Canadian consumers reporting to use cash at least some of the time, though, it’s unlikely that cash will ever be eliminated completely, at least in the near future. However, as consumers’ interests change and technology advances, it’s becoming clear that the public is quickly preferring the ease of card or digital options when making payments, and in fact, 20% of people report that they no longer even carry cash.

Millennials have major spending power. They are spending $600 billion per year, and by 2020 they’re expected to make up 30% of all retail sales. With that in mind, it’s important to consider what millennials’ spending preferences are.

While advancements in consumer and merchant fraud protection are constantly improving, the nature of e-commerce makes it more difficult for retailers to avoid fraud. These “card not present” transactions are a bigger risk to merchants, and often times the bank will hold the e-commerce merchant liable for chargebacks. Fortunately, there are many steps you can take as an e-commerce business to prevent losses due to fraud.