Is Your Bakery Losing Sales Because You Don’t Accept Credit Cards

If you’re running a bakery, you’d better know which side your bread is buttered on. Of course having a successful bakery is about passion and craft and the true love of baking, but it’s also about growing the business, innovating, and staying competitive, relevant, and profitable.

Many small businesses like bakeries start out with talented people monetizing their hobbies and skills. They may already have a fan following and customer base in the form of family, friends, and neighbors. But that’s not always enough to sustain a real business. It’s crucial to grow your customer base in the local area for starters, and build a robust brand.

If you start the business in your home, that could save money on rent, and you can deliver fresh-baked items to order. But even so, you may still legally required to be in compliance with food-safety and hygiene licensing regulations.

There’s a huge market for niche products like gluten-free, multi-grain, artisanal, or craft breads and if you get the right marketing support, you’re likely to get your piece of the pie.

Do You Really Need To Accept Card Payments?

Small business owners focus more on growing their business and expanding their customer base. They may not always take consumer behaviors and trends into consideration like they should. Cash payments are usually the norm for a business that retails most of its products in-store.

However, bakeries also cater to large parties and special events, and they may also have contracts with institutions and commercial establishments, restaurants, or hotels. They may attend trade shows, and they may offer discounts, loyalty coupons, or marked-down products. Keeping these various business options in view, it’s important to offer customers more flexible payment options.

Accepting card payments also allows professional bakers who run their own business to focus on their craft while ensuring that traffic and revenues come in too.

Benefits of Card Payments

Ensure that your customers know that you accept card payments. Partnering with a reputed card processing company helps to make the process simple, swift, accurate and safe.

Card payments are the cherry on the cake because:

• They encourage more spending, especially impulse purchases
• They allow you to tap into a larger, wider, deeper customer base
• They’re convenient and flexible, with options like Point of Sale (POS) for brick and mortar and mobile card readers when you’re out on a delivery
• In a recent survey, more than 77% of customers in the US reported use credit cards and debit cards to make purchases, with just 12% sticking to cash payments
• You can avoid the hassle of bad checks.
• Your premises and people are safer without large quantities of cash lying about
• With new formats like mobile wallets, or payments on smartphone, you can have a much wider client base, even at fairs, shows and events
• Accepting cards legitimizes your business and establishes it as more trustworthy and modern
• Card payments increase your cash flow because the funds are credited more quickly and directly into your bank account
• You can plan and strategize better for your business when your cash flow is smoother
• Credit card processors provide you with reporting and reconciliation facilities that make accounting and tax compliance easier.

For more information on accepting credit cards for your bakery, or to sign up for a merchant account, please call (888) 924-2743 or go to Charge.com.