Small Businesses Reluctant in Switching to EMV Card Readers

News
Jeremy


EMV card readerAs the mobile payment industry continues to grow, small businesses of all industries need to get on board and upgrade their credit card machines. A deadline has now been set in place. As of October 1, 2015, any small businesses that are not EMV card reader accessible are prone to fraud and loss of sales.

EMV is the secure technology that will be used to allow card readers to accept micro-chipped credit cards. The set of card reader specifications have been determined by Europay, MasterCard and Visa, and all the needed aspects are included in order to ensure the successful data exchange between payment terminals and payment chip cards.

Though the deadline is less than a year away, there seems to be a lack of concern and urgency among merchants in updating their current systems. The retailers appear to be waiting until the cards come into their own, personal stores before taking the steps to offer the new terminal technology.

While waiting for there to be real demand seems reasonable, the fact that so many merchants are waiting until the big boom may risk their chances of receiving the new software on time. Companies that sell the new EMV equipment will most likely be unable to keep up with the sudden and rapid demand down the road.

Businesses are underestimating or simply unclear of the great amount of preparation and effort it takes in order to put the system together. Not only does the technology need to be ordered, accounted for financially, and set up, but businesses will also have to spend an adequate amount of time in the training of their employees on how to use the new equipment.

On the flip side, some small businesses just don’t see a need for the EMV terminals for their own companies. The businesses recognize that other, larger companies are bound to experience fraud, but they don’t believe that they themselves are at any risk. Those small businesses would be wise to realize that they are not any different than the larger brands.

The reality is that the majority of small businesses will choose to just wait until their current card readers become obsolete or cease working, which is a risk they will have to live with. Only time will tell what consumer reactions will be toward the new systems.

To learn more about how PayAnywhere can help you prepare for EMV, visit www.payanywhere.com.