Was the outage a wake-up call for retailers?
(Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images)
In the corona crisis, not only many consumers got used to paying with a debit card. Retailers pushed the development even further by asking their customers to pay even the smallest amounts with the card. But the mass failure of card readers has created uncertainty in recent weeks. Was moving away from cash a mistake after all?
On the contrary. On closer inspection, the disaster with the failed readers shows that many merchants only took the path to card payments half-heartedly. Outdated devices that should actually have been replaced and whose software has not been properly updated have failed.
Apparently some companies saved at the wrong end and did not pay enough attention to the technical equipment and the updating of the software. This is negligent, since card payments are increasingly becoming the most important means of payment in retail.
Sure, the error in the software was caused by the provider of the card terminals. But the dealers have a share of the responsibility.
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One can only hope that the event was a wake-up call for retailers to understand the importance of investing and innovating in this area. For more and more customers, pointing out that they can still pay with cash is no longer an alternative.
Start-up SumUp helps Rossmann out of the crisis
The Rossmann example has already shown that the device failure promotes a rethink. Within a very short time, the drugstore chain introduced the mobile payment terminals from the start-up SumUp in all 2,200 branches – and thus made card payments possible again. At the same time, the retailer can react flexibly to future disruptions.
Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way how useful innovations can be – when there is a risk of losing sales.
More: Card terminal malfunctions largely resolved four weeks after the outage