The leaves are turning, the air is getting cooler, pumpkin spice is flowing and Christmas music is playing everywhere! These are all signs that holiday shopping season is fast approaching. Are you ready? Is your business ready? In this month’s edition of Shop Talk, we’ll help you get ready. Al speaks with Patrick Wiltshire, Director of Core Payments at Moneris about the release of our newest POS terminals Moneris Go and Moneris Go Plus just in time for those holiday sales.
The leaves are turning, the air is getting cooler, pumpkin spice is flowing and Christmas music is playing everywhere! These are all signs that holiday shopping season is fast approaching. Are you ready? Is your business ready? In this month’s edition of Shop Talk, we’ll help you get ready.
Al speaks with Patrick Wiltshire, Director of Core Payments at Moneris about the release of our newest POS terminals Moneris Go and Moneris Go Plus just in time for those holiday sales.
Also in this episode:
Links of Interest
Chapters:
Al Grego:
Coming up on Shop Talk.
Patrick Wiltshire:
Having a wireless option allows merchants to open up an extra lane whenever they wish, and that's something that we refer to as line busting. But essentially, if the lines at the registers or at the cashes get a little bit too long, you can easily open up a new line to get your customers checked out as soon as possible.
Al Grego:
Hello everyone. I'm Al Grego.
Dave Daga:
And I'm Dave Daga.
Al Grego:
And this is the November 2022 edition of Shop Talk with Moneris.
Welcome to Shop Talk podcast, Dave.
Dave Daga:
Thanks very much, Al. It's great to be here.
Al Grego:
Yeah, it's great to have you here. Now Dave, the reason I invited you on this month is that you're the creative director at Moneris.
Dave Daga:
Yep, that's right.
Al Grego:
And your team has been very busy these past few months.
Dave Daga:
Yeah, we have.
Al Grego:
Would you like to share what you've been up to?
Dave Daga:
Well, mostly we've been working on our new television commercial, and it's part of a bigger campaign that we're executing.
Al Grego:
Oh, nice. That's exciting.
Dave Daga:
Yeah. As campaigns go, yep.
Al Grego:
Your team's come up with a really great concept. I've had a sneak peek and it looks great. I especially love the messaging.
Dave Daga:
Yeah. Our merchants are the reason we exist, so we want basically to shine the spotlight on them and tell their stories. Their successes is our success, as we know, and we're sincerely proud to be their partners.
Al Grego:
Well, I think that sincerity comes through in the commercial.
Dave Daga:
Hey, I'm glad.
Al Grego:
So if someone wanted to see the commercial, where could they catch it?
Dave Daga:
All over the place, right now. It's on sporting events, professional sporting events like MLB, NHL, NBA. They're also on The Weather Network, and digital ads are going to be popping up on feeds in all kinds of places. And if you're really keen, you can hop onto the Moneris YouTube channel and check them out there.
Al Grego:
Oh, sounds good. I'll post a link to that in the show notes. So once again, great work.
Dave Daga:
Hey, thanks. Yep. Bye. I got to say it's team effort and it took a lot of people and all of us are very excited to see it out there.
Al Grego:
Perfect. I'll keep an eye out. You know what else is exciting if you're a small business owner?
Dave Daga:
What's that?
Al Grego:
Holiday shopping season.
Dave Daga:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's busy season for sure. It's getting there.
Al Grego:
Yeah, while busy is good, you don't want to go into this season unprepared.
Dave Daga:
Yeah, take it you got some great advice on how to prepare.
Al Grego:
Well, I don't, but my guests this month too.
Dave Daga:
Oh, yeah? Who've you got lined up?
Al Grego:
Well, first I'm going to speak with our own Patrick Wiltshire. He's a director of Core Payments, about the latest and greatest Moneris POS terminals that have just been released in time for the holiday shopping season.
Dave Daga:
Nice. Moneris Go, Go Plus, really slick and great tech.
Al Grego:
They are. Then we'll have our regular visit with Sean McCormick, who will share some stats about chargebacks.
Dave Daga:
Chargebacks. Always a concern for merchants.
Al Grego:
And finally, we have Angel Zou returning to the podcast this time as our expert on gift cards.
Dave Daga:
Gift cards. Yeah. Still one of the best ways for small businesses to sell their products and services, cut through all the noise and clutter, and compete with the big merchants.
Al Grego:
Yeah. So let's kick things off with my chat with Patrick.
Speaker 4:
Interview.
Al Grego:
I'm joined by Patrick Wiltshire. He's the director of Core Payments at Moneris. Patrick, thank you so much for joining me today.
Patrick Wiltshire:
Thanks for having me, Al.
Al Grego:
So you've been busy the last couple of months, basically launching the new Moneris Go products.
Patrick Wiltshire:
That's right. Recently launched a New Moneris Go Plus, which is a wireless terminal. Extremely powerful, nice colorful screen, and looking forward to seeing it out on the field with our merchant base.
Al Grego:
And just in time for the holiday shopping season. Speaking of which, why should merchants care about this product and how do you think it would help with the holiday shopping season?
Patrick Wiltshire:
Well, one thing to consider in the holiday season is the volume of shoppers that are going to be in physical locations at the retail locations. Having a wireless option allows merchants to open up an extra lane whenever they wish, and that's something that we refer to as line busting. But essentially if you know the lines at the registers or at the cashes get a little bit too long, you can easily open up a new line to get your customers checked out as soon as possible.
Al Grego:
Yeah, because you're not tethered to the register. You can walk along the waiting line and take people's payments that way.
Patrick Wiltshire:
Exactly. That's it. You know, can either open up a new lane or you can take payments from any location within the store. So that allows your clerks or your store employees to give a more personalized shopping experience to the customer. So there's many benefits of having a wireless option in your retail locations.
Al Grego:
Are there any other benefits to the Moneris Go suite of products right now?
Patrick Wiltshire:
Yeah, definitely. First of all, it's tied into our Go platform, which provides merchants with a unified experience in terms of the payment solutions that they offer, whether it's online or in store, Go enables that seamless unified experience that our merchants can benefit from.
Al Grego:
Yeah, that's what we were talking about earlier in this year when we were talking about omnichannels. This is what you're talking about, especially during the pandemic, a lot of merchants had to get online in order to continue selling and to compete with other merchants. But now that things are opened up, it's still important to have that online presence because people are used to shopping online. But for those who want to come into your brick and mortar store, it's now more of a seamless experience.
Patrick Wiltshire:
Yeah, that's correct. One of the results of the pandemic was that a lot of consumers learned how to shop online out of necessity.
Al Grego:
Absolutely.
Patrick Wiltshire:
Consumers that probably wouldn't have chosen that option in the past got to discover that option due to the pandemic and realized all the benefits of it. I mean, what's better than shopping at home?
Al Grego:
Let me tell you, yeah. I'd rather do my Christmas shopping from home than go to a crowded mall, for sure.
Patrick Wiltshire:
And there's some people, although the restrictions have lifted, there's some people that are still uncomfortable with being in the masses. So having that online presence is extremely important to the success of your holiday season.
Al Grego:
Well, you know what, that reminds me of last week. I went into one of those Halloween stores to pick up a costume. Very last minute, I'll admit, but I couldn't believe the massive lineup around the store, people waiting to pay. I walked right out because there was way too many people in there. So I can't imagine how long it would've taken to get through that lineup. I guess with a wireless device, it could have gone up and down the lineup and maybe check people out a little quicker.
Patrick Wiltshire:
Yeah, that's it. Exactly. You know, you look at stores, typically they have a few different lanes or register set up and having a few extra PIN pads in the back office that you can bring out anytime you have a large lineup gives you that flexibility to get people checked out as soon as you can, so...
Al Grego:
Any other tips for the holidays?
Patrick Wiltshire:
I did want to make one suggestion, perhaps in the e-commerce space. So for merchants that operate online and have a website, always a good idea to try to get your customers to place their orders as soon as possible. So perhaps some sort of promotion would be beneficial. And that is to avoid any shipping delays that you might experience during the holiday season.
Al Grego:
Yeah, that's a good tip. You definitely don't want to wait last minute if you're ordering stuff online.
If a merchant decided they wanted one of these new devices, typically how long would it take to get one?
Patrick Wiltshire:
We can basically ship out a device within a day or two and have it at your location in a day or two, obviously depending on where the store is located. But we're relatively quick when it comes to providing the hardware.
Al Grego:
So depending on when you're listening to this podcast in plenty of time for holiday shopping season.
Patrick Wiltshire:
That's right.
Al Grego:
Now, where can we learn more about Moneris Go products?
Patrick Wiltshire:
I would suggest going to moneris.com, and from moneris.com you'll have the option based on what kind of product you're looking for to accept payments. All your options will be available at moneris.com.
Al Grego:
Thank you so much, Patrick, for your time today.
Patrick Wiltshire:
Always a pleasure. Thank you.
Mat Belanger:
At Moneris, we empower merchants to keep doing business their way, while we handle the payment processing our way. What way would that be? The safe way. The always connected way. The awesome integrated tools to help you make more money way.
We know your business never stops, so you deserve products that never stop working. That's why we are committed to providing our merchants with a payment partner that works just as hard as they do to make every sale.
Moneris.
Speaker 6:
Hey!
Mat Belanger:
Proud partner of small Canadian business.
Speaker 4:
By the numbers.
Al Grego:
I'm joined by Sean McCormick. He's the head of Growth Strategy at Spendscape. Sean, thank you for joining me again this month.
Sean McCormick:
Thanks for having me as always, Al.
Al Grego:
So we're kicking off the holiday shopping season this month, and I thought we'd take this opportunity to revisit a subject that we talked about back in January, and that is chargebacks. Now, we just got some fresh data last week on chargebacks. Can you share your big takeaway from this report?
Sean McCormick:
Yeah, chargeback average transaction size is up across a few different categories. And the thing to remember about chargebacks is fraudsters operate like a business, Al. The larger the purchase, the greater the potential return for the bad guys, which is why merchants need to exercise caution when it comes to sales that might seem too good to be true. So, increase in average transaction size of a chargeback, up substantially in these three categories.
Department stores. Average transaction size of a chargeback is up 119%-
Al Grego:
Wow.
Sean McCormick:
... between January 2022 and September of 2022, versus the same period one year prior.
Also up substantially, specialty up 48%. Again, that's the average transaction size of a chargeback. Examples of specialty would be antiques, bikes, jewelry, sporting goods...
Al Grego:
Big ticket items.
Sean McCormick:
Bigger ticket items, exactly.
Entertainment chargebacks are also up 44% year over year for that period, January to September. Entertainment being things like amusement parks, bowling alleys, movie theaters. So those are actually smaller transaction sizes, but maybe the frequency of those types of transactions is a little bit higher.
But when you think about the opportunity for the bad guys, they want to make the most money possible, generally, on a chargeback, which is why department stores up 119% year over year. You can buy big ticket items at a department store that you can't necessarily buy at an antique shop or many sporting goods stores.
Al Grego:
Mm-hmm. Now, we talked about chargebacks back in January, so you can refer to that if you want to learn more about that. And in March we talked about fraud prevention. So if you want to learn about how you can prevent that kind of fraud from happening, check that episode out. But in terms of just some quick tips that we might have for our listeners today to prevent or at least mitigate chargebacks, what would you have?
Sean McCormick:
Yeah, just being able to identify the warning signs. So monitor your transactions on a regular basis and look for suspicious behavior. And what I mean by that is unusual amounts, unusual transaction amounts in quick succession, large purchase, like unusually large purchases, are also worth a second look. Avoid taking card details over the phone or by mail and manually entering them as there are no protections here.
And another one, return fraud can be a problem over the holiday season. Clearly display your return policies and contact information so your customers are informed and not surprised when they have exceeded the return period that you're going to accept that item back into your store.
Al Grego:
All great tips. Thank you so much, Sean.
Sean McCormick:
Thanks, Al.
Speaker 4:
Ask an expert.
Al Grego:
I'm joined by Angel Zou. She's a product specialist here at Moneris. Angel, thank you so much for coming back on the podcast.
Angel Zou:
Hello. Thank you as well.
Al Grego:
So, we're kicking off the holiday shopping season and you're a product specialist and your specialty is gift cards. I know that one of the biggest challenges our smaller merchants have, obviously, is to cut through the noise, to stand out from all the bigger companies that obviously monopolize a lot of holiday shopping. And gift cards is a great way to do just that. So you're here to give us your top five tips on how business can use gift cards to increase sales?
Angel Zou:
That's right.
Al Grego:
All right. So why don't we get started? What do you have for number five?
Angel Zou:
We have replacing traditional marketing off social media and ideas. And the whole point of that is because it's not easy to track. You don't know when you're using social media, let's say Twitter, Facebook or otherwise, what is your ROI? How well did it work? Did it actually bring anybody through your doors? It's hard to measure that. With gift cards, you can guarantee that there is another customer that that'll be walking back in, whether it's the person that bought it for themself or the friend or family that they gave it to, and Moneris also has a proper reporting on any liabilities as well as how your gift cards were used during this time.
Al Grego:
Okay, perfect. So you're right, with social media posts, sometimes it's hard to gauge how much of that engagement actually leads to sales, but with a gift card, first of all, that's free money. So when you give somebody free money, they're going to spend it and you'll know that they've used it because they're bringing it into your store to use it.
Angel Zou:
Of course.
Al Grego:
Perfect. What's the number four?
Angel Zou:
Very closely related to that is when you have your marketing budget that you use for social media, you'll probably also have some for your physical marketing, whether it's flyers, whether it's coupons, things that you give out at marketplaces or even on the street during the Christmas market. But nowadays, everybody gets flyers. They get tossed into the recycling right away. But what if you hand out gift cards? That's like a special present on its own and that invites customers directly into your store. So again, very clear return on investment. You literally see people walking in holding a card in their hands, and know it worked.
Al Grego:
Great idea. I mean, again, instead of a flyer, a gift card is free money, it's got your logo, you could have your contact information on it, I guess. And when they bring it in to spend it in your shop, you know it worked.
Angel Zou:
Yes. Our gift cards are customizable on the front and back. So a lot of people, what they will do is customize a front with more of a picture, make it very pretty, and on the back they have all their contact information as well as the terms and conditions. They don't compete for a space. It's more than enough.
Al Grego:
I love that idea. Well, what do you have for number three?
Angel Zou:
Number three, do not refund cash. Give them store credit in the form of gift cards. And this applies to just about any store that people will do a refund in, whether it's retail, services, or even food locations. You can still give them a refund in the form of a gift card. And that confirms that this person will likely come back because they want to spend that money.
Al Grego:
Great way to keep a refund in store is to use gift cards as refunds. Great. What about number two?
Angel Zou:
Number two, thank your loyal customers, especially during holidays. Give them a $5 or $10 gift card toward their next purchase of any number over your threshold, let's say, $100.
And you can say, "Enjoy this discount on me. Share with a friend or family on your next purchase or just for you to come back, and thank you for being such a loyal customer."
Al Grego:
Yeah. And correct me if I'm wrong, your gift cards can be any amount you choose, correct? And they're also reloadable, is that true?
Angel Zou:
Yes. The gift cards do not come preloaded, so you can choose to put any number you want on it. And of course we have the reloadable functionality, so if you want, you're more than welcome to make it reloadable for your customers and they can use it once and then reload it again, give it to someone else and continue the present.
Al Grego:
Can't wait to hear what the number one is. Go.
Angel Zou:
Number one is a pretty unique one. So it's for food businesses around schools, a unique situation, but quite creative. Parents, instead of giving your kids cash that can be lost, give them a reloadable card and they can use it like a declining lunch card at local restaurants. And it's even better if you're at a food court or small plaza where you can have multiple of them linked together. And so the same card that you have can be redeemable for any of the locations in that area.
Al Grego:
Oh, that's interesting. That's a creative way to solve that problem.
Angel Zou:
Yes.
Al Grego:
What would you say to the merchants who think maybe they're too small and are afraid of having to order a minimum of 1,000 or 500 or whatever to get started?
Angel Zou:
I completely sympathize with the numbers that will be scary if you are a smaller merchant, first time starting out. And for smaller merchants who never had gift cards before, Moneris currently has a promotion going on where you can order as minimum as 50 cards.
Al Grego:
50.
Angel Zou:
Five-zero. And we're also waiving the set-up fees, to make your life a little bit easier. And the whole point is so that during holiday season, you'll be able to have a couple cards on hand to try it out. Does it work for you? And if not, you haven't really lost anything. And if it does, then that's a great start and you can come back and reorder. Now your life is even easier, because of our work and everything's already done.
Al Grego:
Well, that's a nice manageable number, 50. And to be clear, that's 50 fully customizable cards, like you can create whatever design you want, correct?
Angel Zou:
Yes, fully customizable, front and back, in color.
Al Grego:
Excellent. Well, thank you so much, Angel. Those are some really great tips. And again, coming into the holiday season, I feel like smaller merchants can take full advantage of some of these tips to stand out and maximize their business.
Angel Zou:
For sure.
Al Grego:
Okay, well thank you very much, Angel, for your time today.
Angel Zou:
No problem. Thank you, too.
Speaker 4:
Save the day.
Al Grego:
I'm here with Ella Urquhart, she's the events manager for the Events and ESG team at Moneris. Thank you for joining me today, Ella.
Ella Urquhart:
Thanks for having me again, Al.
Al Grego:
We've got a pretty packed calendar, so why don't you get us started.
Ella Urquhart:
Yeah. So from November 8th to 9th, Moneris will be sponsoring the BC Craft Brewers Conference at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster.
Al Grego:
Cool.
Ella Urquhart:
You can get tickets for that at bccraftbrewersconference.com.
Al Grego:
Great. What else you got?
Ella Urquhart:
On November 10, Moneris is hosting a webinar with Visa called Back to Basics: Buy Now, Pay Later. We'll have Kip Macartney, director of Emerging and Value-Added Services at Moneris and Rey Saeidi, head of Consumer and Loyalty Products at Visa. And they'll be covering the basics of buy now, pay later, as well as its benefits for your business and your customers.
Al Grego:
Okay. And where can people register for that one?
Ella Urquhart:
You can follow along on our social channels for the registration link.
Al Grego:
Perfect. What else you got?
Ella Urquhart:
Also, from November 10 to December 6, eCommerce North Innovator Challenge will be hosting their holiday challenge. Early stage startups have the chance to grow their network, build and scale strategy, and pitch for a chance to win one of five $1,000 grants.
Al Grego:
Amazing. And where can people learn more about that?
Ella Urquhart:
They can visit ecommercenorth.ca.
Al Grego:
All right. What else do you have?
Ella Urquhart:
On November 30, Moneris will be joining MasterCard for Startup Canada's StartupChats to discuss exploring e-commerce and online payments and selling online. This is a live Twitter chat that will take place at 12:00 PM and you can follow along or join in on the discussion by using the hashtag #StartupChats.
Al Grego:
Great. Anything else?
Ella Urquhart:
Yes. Our chief financial officer, Winnie Leung, will be presenting at the FCI CWI Women in Leadership Conference. Her session is called Finding Your Framework for Learning. And you can register for the event www.fci-cwi.com.
Al Grego:
Okay. And last but not least, it's that time of the year again, isn't it?
Ella Urquhart:
It is. Moneris will be sponsoring the annual Distillery Winter Village, and that is running here in Toronto from November 17 to December 23.
Al Grego:
Excellent. Thank you so much, Ella, for your time today.
Ella Urquhart:
Thanks for having me.
Al Grego:
And that's all we have for this month. I hope you found this episode informative.
Before we sign off, remember season 3 of Yes, We Are Open is happening right now and this season is better than ever. Here's a little teaser for this season.
I have a question for you. What do the following businesses have in common? A cannabis store, an athletic wear brand, dog biscuits, a tech startup, a travel agency, hairdressers, a kids' dentist, and a manufacturer of sound booths?
Of course, the answer is they all have stories of struggle and perseverance to tell, and they're all coming up on season 3 at Yes, we Are Open podcast. Episode 1 drops Monday, October 3. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 6:
Let's go!
Dave Daga:
If you haven't already, you can subscribe to this podcast and Yes, We Are Open wherever you get your podcasts.
Al Grego:
If you'd like to support this show, share this podcast with your network or review us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And finally, if you have a payment-related question you'd like to submit to one of our experts, you can email us at podcast@moneris.com.
Dave Daga:
And don't forget to join us again next month for more expert insight and data to help you grow your business.
Al Grego:
Thank you so much for co-hosting, Dave.
Dave Daga:
Any time, Al. Thanks for having me.
Al Grego:
On behalf of Dave, myself, and the rest of Moneris, thank you for listening to Shop Talk. Talk again in December.