Worldpay, the UK’s leading payments processor, has called time on queuing with the launch of Worldpay Total Mobile, a multi-user, mobile Chip & PIN payment service, providing a scalable, cost-effective way for medium and large businesses to take payments anywhere.
Easy to set up, businesses simply download the Total Mobile App onto any Apple or Android mobile device, which is then connected via Bluetooth to a Worldpay Keypad. With no formal training necessary, staff can then be freed to assist customers away from the till, offer advice and take payments immediately, personalising the shopping experience and reducing lengthy queues. Field sales teams also benefit from the flexibility to take payments from the customer wherever they are, eliminating any complexity by ensuring transactions are quick, simple and cash-free.
As the first UK mobile payment solution to be fully integrated with all sales channels Worldpay Total Mobile offers full integration with front-end applications, including ecommerce platforms. Out of stock or specialist items can be ordered and paid for at the customer’s convenience, while mobile devices can be deployed either in-store or out in the field to display and sell a full inventory of products. Real-time transaction data provides retailers with a transparent view of performance across all mobile card readers, with further consolidated reporting across all Worldpay Total products available to deliver a single view of transactions across all payment channels.
Research by Worldpay has identified long queues, low stock, and limp customer service as the three biggest factors driving Christmas shoppers away from the High Street. The research of 1,000 Christmas shoppers concludes failure to deliver the type of in-store experience consumers want has left many retailers haemorrhaging potential sales, as consumers are left to fend for themselves in over-crowded, impersonal store environments. Nearly half (49%) of the shoppers surveyed by Worldpay said they’d abandoned a Christmas shopping trip in frustration without purchasing a single item.
Dave Hobday, Managing Director of Worldpay UK said: “Mobile technology has knocked a huge hole in the bricks and mortar of traditional retail. Consumers now flit effortlessly between the two channels, and their patience wears thin quickly when they can’t get what they want, when they want it.
“Retailers in all sectors have a choice. Either embrace change and deploy new technologies to deliver a more personal, more joined up, hassle-free service to customers, or carry on just as you always have, and become a dinosaur as consumer expectations move ever further away from the service you can provide in store.”
Early adopters of Worldpay Total Mobile, available to all retailers from today, include furniture retailer Hammonds, as well as traditional High Street favourite, The Entertainer.
Ian Pulsford, Head of IT at The Entertainer, commented: “As a toy retailer, our business is heavily skewed to the two months before Christmas. That’s why it was easy to see the benefits of Worldpay Total Mobile in terms of helping us reduce queues and provide better customer service. It’s now easy for us to increase the number of payment terminals during busy periods without incurring fixed till expenses. From a financial viewpoint, the technology has distinct advantages for capital spend.
“The new payments system has already helped us cope with a particularly busy period for staff at a new store opening in Kent. As we approach our busiest time of the year, having the ability to engage with customers face to face and close a sale on the spot will make a huge difference to the service offering in our stores.”