The Payment Source Blog

Throughout the years, consumer shopping habits and forms of payments have taken a digital shift. In 2020, close to half of Canadians reported using e-commerce platforms for online purchases, accounting for 477 million transactions (see source). This shift to e-commerce has forced the growth in digital payments; but, traditional digital payments are not inclusive for all Canadians.

For C-Store owners the new year marks the perfect time to review and align your goals for the year ahead. Many will take stock in what they have learned from the previous year, reviewing where they excelled and where they can improve. But one thing is for sure the beginning of the year, with a fresh start, is the perfect time to execute on that new year’s resolution to increase your store’s revenue.

Holidays are the time of year everyone wants to feel connected with family and friends. People make an extra effort to reach out to those friends and family members whom they may have lost touch with throughout the year. During this season many Canadians will be using their mobile devices to make calls, send texts, and facetime those loved ones they cannot spend the holidays with.

In 2020, the rapid spread of COVID-19 brought many countries around the world into lockdown, resulting in many industries reducing their staffing levels and production, ultimately causing panic and decreased consumer spending (see source). A year later, lockdowns were lifted, and consumer demand skyrocketed and strong consumer spending continued through 2020 and into 2021. This inflated demand in turn put increased pressure on the supply chain industry impacting everything from material and labour shortages to lack of transportation (see source). With COVID-19 still having its effects, it seems like once again the holiday shopping season will be different this year.

The retail environment is always changing as new technology emerges, and new payment methods are offered, which makes a POS (point of sale) system that much more important to a retailer’s store’s success. A POS system not only makes processing transactions easier, it also stores valuable information, such as product inventory, pricing, and all sales data. It also can make or break the shopping experience at your store because when the payment processing time is slow, it can result in the loss of customers. That is why it is important to have the most up to date POS system to provide a seamless shopping experience.