Visa Brings Card Acceptance to SMB Smartphones

Visa introduced new ways to help small businesses manage payments via smartphone.

The capabilities are for the company’s Visa Pay, Visa Accept and Visa Direct offerings and are designed for small businesses in emerging markets, according to a Tuesday (June 30) press release provided to PYMNTS.

“Financial institutions, wallet providers and platform partners play a critical role in helping small businesses participate in the digital economy,” Rubail Birwadker, senior vice president and head of growth products and partnerships at Visa, said in the release. “With Visa Pay, Visa Accept and Visa Direct, we’re helping partners expand acceptance, speed up payouts and deliver trusted payment experiences for their business customers all through their smartphone.”

Visa research showed that 99% of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) use at least one digital finance tool, and 85% said it has helped their business. With around half of the world’s 1.3 billion unbanked adults using smartphones, “the opportunity to expand digital access is significant,” the release said.

With Visa Accept, small businesses can turn “a smartphone into a card terminal, allowing microsellers to accept card payments through a Visa debit or prepaid account, no extra hardware needed,” according to the release.

Visa Pay links wallet providers and payment apps to the Visa network, letting users pay with credentials and solutions they already use, the release said.

“Visa is also using smartphones to make it easier for small businesses to pay others through Visa Direct, its real-time money movement platform for payouts,” per the release. “With Visa Direct embedded in banking, FinTech and business platforms, an SMB owner can use their phone to send fast payouts to staff, contractors or drivers, issue customer refunds or incentives, and move funds across borders to eligible cards, bank accounts or digital wallets, often in minutes, using the same simple experience they rely on to get paid.”

The launch of the new offerings comes as retail moves from “a brick-and-mortar storefront to an anywhere, anytime experience,” PYMNTS reported last month, citing research showing that 48% of consumers worldwide make purchases via smartphone.

But while big-box giants race to lock customers into walled app ecosystems at huge expense, SMBs can win the mobile game without huge IT budgets.

“Not only are mobile websites cheaper than apps, they also allow SMBs greater opportunities to gain new customers and avoid excluding large customer segments that are unable or unwilling to download apps,” the report said.