How paytech can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in post-lockdown hospitality
By Mark Walker, Head of Sales – Ingenico Enterprise Retail
After weeks of shut doors and takeaway orders, hospitality venues reopened to customers back in July, once they had provided they could enforce social distancing measures and keep their customers and staff safe.
Keeping customers safe in the post-COVID-19 “new normal” requires both staff and customers to take a considerable amount of ongoing extra care during service. What’s more, even after ensuring there’s plenty of space between customers, and staff are following the appropriate hygiene procedures, there’s still measures hospitality venues can take to ensure optimal cleanliness and maintain the positive customer experience.
Contactless and APMs in a post-COVID norm
Contactless is a first-choice method of payment for consumers today. It’s vital that hospitality establishments ensure they are prepared to accept contactless or alternative payment methods (APMs). In doing so, it ensures staff members and customers don’t need to handle cash, which can act as an infection vector. What’s more, providing a variety of payment methods doesn’t just come down to preventing the spread of COVID-19, but the need to deliver excellence within the hospitality industry.
And the fact is, hospitality is evolving due to the rise of home delivery services, which has been particularly utilised during this pandemic. Venues that have never offered delivery before are now utilising services such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo or have implemented Click and Collect so that their restaurant can still be used to serve takeaway and delivery. But to make the most of these offerings and offer the best, most successful service for their customers, they need to have the right technology in place.
This is because when it comes to payments, customers have gradually been shifting away from cash and towards contactless payments anyway – COVID-19 has simply accelerated this move. This is because, due to the convenience of online payments, same-day delivery and 4G making sure anyone can make a payment on their smartphone absolutely anywhere, consumers are continuing to demand quicker and more convenient ways to pay.
However, the good news is you don’t need to know it all. By partnering with a payments provider with years of experience in delivering fully managed in-store, mobile and omnichannel payment solutions, that are secure, scalable and reliable, you can offload the task of catering to all your customers in the way that suits them best.
Using contactless to remain contactless
Any hospitality establishment that wasn’t already onboard the contactless train before the pandemic should think about getting on now. This payment method has gained increasing popularity since its introduction. In fact, research by Trade Association UK Finance has found that 1 in 3 transactions in the UK are now made by contactless, with 82 million of 99 million debit cards currently in circulation having contactless functionality. That’s a third of all payments in the UK, with debit and credit cards now a more popular payment method than cash. And as customers demand smarter, more integrated solutions all the time, the benefits of providing contactless will continue long after the risk from COVID-19 is gone.
Another method worth bearing in mind is an integrated mobile omnichannel solution. By equipping waiting staff with smart connected handsets, this will enable them to better respond to queries, take payments anywhere, and identify the consumer wherever they are in the sales journey to provide a gateway to loyalty programmes and their benefits.
By introducing connected handsets, merchants can enable customers to order without even needing to interact with waiting staff, providing even further protection for customers and staff within hospitality.
But to make the most of these benefits, merchants need a smart, flexible, easy-to-use device. There are solutions that remove the need for queues and give servers the mobility and connectivity they need to provide a truly omnichannel experience that enables diners to order, dine and make payments without ever putting other customers or their servers at risk.
To learn more, visit www.ingenico.co.uk/omnichannel.