As SMBs start the new year, they’re looking for simplified payments technologies to grow.
This is analyzed in the report Tapping The Payments Opportunity In SMB Retail, a PYMNTS and American Express collaboration, which looks at how SMBs are focusing on cash flow management and cost control, with six in 10 investing in new tools, including 23% that are adopting marketing tools and 20% deploying payment transaction systems.
For the holiday selling season that recently ended, retail SMBs retailers invested in tools that take the friction out of the buying process. The report notes that almost four in 10 (39%) of U.S. retailers focused on making post-purchase tasks like fulfillment or shipping easier, nearly as many (37%) invested in technology for inventory management and sales forecasting, and 34% streamlining checkout experiences.
On the B2B side of their business, retail SMBs are equally keen to explore tech that improves accounts receivable, particularly as they apply to cross-border transactions and unified platforms that help small and medium businesses do more with less profitably.
In response, “Eight in 10 FIs believe their digital payment solutions are very or extremely effective in addressing friction points of cross-border B2B payments. Some 93% are very or extremely willing to add new technologies that make B2B payments feel more like business-to-consumer (B2C) payments for corporate customers.”
That news needs to reach SMB owners. As the report states, “U.S. SMB owners and financial decision-makers cite access to a wider range of products and services (43%) and supply chain diversification (35%) as some of the top business benefits of cross-border B2B spending.”
Yet 27% pointed to the complexity of processes as one of the top obstacles when making cross-border payments. “When asked about the attributes that SMB owners and financial decision-makers are looking for in a cross-border payments solution, nearly half (48%) said transparent fees and rates, on par with a simple user experience (44%).”
See the Report: Tapping The Payments Opportunity In SMB Retail
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