Someone walks into your store, looks around at a few things, picks up something and heads to the register. On their way up, they see a sign, stop, look around and then place their item back on the shelf and walk out without making a purchase. What caught their eye? What deterred them from making a purchase? And what did they look around for after seeing the sign? What did you do wrong?

If you’re a small business owner of a convenience store, you may have asked yourself these questions, but it’s likely you know the answers already. The customer saw the sign in the front which read “CASH ONLY” - as in cash payments. They looked around for an ATM and noticed you had one in the corner. However, this was an off-brand one, meaning they would likely pay a fee to withdraw money and suddenly, those treats they were purchasing didn’t seem worthwhile, so they returned them to the shelf and left. This is not every customer obviously.

According to CNBC, as of 2019, 3 out of 10 adults say they make zero purchases using cash, so roughly 7 of those remaining 10 make purchases with cash. Doesn’t sound like much, but let’s do some math on that. If you have 100,000 customers per year who spend $10.00 on average when visiting your store, you have projected revenue of $1,000,000. Now if 3 of 10 or 30% won’t make purchases with cash as you require, of that projected million you would have earned, you now have lost out on $300,000.

Now, why would someone let the off-brand ATM deter them from making a withdrawal to purchase the items they came in for? Well, in addition to the fees that consumers will have to pay for withdrawing their own money, there’s always the thought of fraud through the use of skimming devices that are strategically placed in some ATM’s which are not monitored like the ones found at your local bank. This makes one feel uneasy when it comes to using the off-brand ATM and after considering all of that, they may feel safer visiting another small business with more payment options. This is strictly a view from a consumer’s perspective.

I personally won’t shop at a store that doesn’t accept card payment options, even if there is an ATM in the store. I’m only one person, but there are many others who feel this way as well and that could be a business boomer for you to obtain that 30% of consumers who won’t spend cash. If the cost is a factor, consider how much more revenue you’d have if you have 30% more consumers doing business with you.

Just a thought…stop only accepting cash payments and accept credit card payments. Give Cloudswipe a try…