As we make our way into 2018, new top trends in the payment acceptance industry are beginning to surface. 

It's important for business owners to stay on top of these payment trends in order to accept payments the best way possible. 

Here are International Bancard's top payment acceptance trends of 2018: 

Customer changes - As new generations begin to become more active in the marketplace, it's important to embrace the way that they pay and interface with your business. This includes the "dreaded" millennials. However, by looking at, and adjusting your payment acceptance solutions, you'll be including a brand-new market to accept payments from. 

When it comes to millennials, keep in mind that they are early adopters of emerging products. Therefore, they are more likely to use emerging payment methods such as mobile wallets, mobile payments and P2P payments. In fact, more than 50 percent of millennials are likely to use payment methods like Apple Pay or Google Wallet.

More than just millennials, as new features become available, your customers are going to shift in the way that they want to make their payments. In fact, now more than ever, customers prefer plastic over paper with 75% of consumers preferring to pay with a credit or debit card over cash.

Ability to pay anytime and anywhere - New equipment and technology makes it easy for businesses to accept payments around the clock, from any location.

• Tablets - Tablet payments allow you the option of having a comprehensive POS system that you can take anywhere. Tablet solutions can help manage your business including features to help you track inventory, balance your books, and supervise employees. Plus, tablets are more portable than a larger POS system, allowing you accept payments anywhere you go. 
• Mobile - Mobile payment acceptance solutions continue to be more popular than ever with businesses. Mobile payment acceptance solutions open up selling opportunities that you may have never considered in the past. You can  hold a pop-up shop or reduce register lines. Mobile payment systems help you sell anywhere, anytime.
• Online payments - Accepting online payments has never been easier. With simple integrations, you don't have to be a technology whiz to accept online payments. Often payment processing companies have easy-to-use programs to help you accept payments online no matter your experience level. 

Security - One of the most important top trends continues to be security and the ability to accept payments safely. In fact, Data Breaches were up 37% in 2017 costing businesses in the U.S. millions of dollars. 

The two easiest ways to protect your business from data breaches and fraud is to become PCI compliant and accept EMV chip cards. Your payment processor should have programs in place to help you accept payments the safest way possible. 

There are many other ways that you can protect your business and your customers' credit card data including updating your procedures and educating your employees on how to identify fraud. 

Luckily, International Bancard is the expert when it comes to protecting your business from fraud. We continuously educate businesses on fraud prevention. We are also always monitoring accounts to ensure that fraud does not take place. There is nothing more important to your business than your customers and we are here to keep you both safe! 

User Experience - Another trend that has come about in 2018 is not something you would usually hear when it comes to payment acceptance and more so on websites or phone apps. User Experience - or UX - has become a front runner in payment processing in 2018. Both customers and business employees want to use technology that is seamless, not complicated or clunky. 

This trend has become dominate in new payment acceptance solutions - from sleek tablets to online payments. Users want something that is easy and has great features. 

When your customers have a good experience, they are more likely to come back! 

Offsetting Fees - When your business accepts credit cards, it is impossible to escape the cost and fees that come with it. While some merchant services companies may say they don't have any fees, the cost of credit card acceptance is usually hidden somewhere else. In fact, there are fees that are out of a merchant service company's control - like assessment fees.  

However, businesses now have the ability to offset their credit card processing fees by implementing a surcharging or cash discount program. While it may seem complicated, cash discount and surcharging programs are very simple - payment is made with a credit card, a small service fee is automatically applied to the sale amount.

The small service fee helps a business offset their fees, virtually eliminating the cost of accepting credit cards. 

International Bancard's cash discount and surcharging program - InBalance - is easy to implement and provides all the tools a business needs to be compliant and successful. Participating in InBalance is the easiest way to lower your credit card processing fees. 

When you operate your own business, it's always smart to take a step back and look at your payment acceptance solutions to make sure you are accepting payments the best way - not only for you, but for your customers too. Just like in any industry, payment technology is always changing and you don't want to get left behind. 

At International Bancard, we make it a point for business to accept payments the best way possible. A simple update to your equipment may save you hours of time and pain that you didn't even know you were experiencing. 

Contact one of International Bancard's Certified Payment Professionals to discuss your payment acceptance solutions and how we can get you up to speed in 2018!