How the Pandemic Changed Cash Flow of Small Businesses

Small businesses have always been first hit by economic changes. The pandemic making maintaining cash flows for small business owners irregular is the most recent example. A report by JP Morgan Chase revealed that many businesses were affected primarily because consumers cut their spending. So pandemic-related relief programs had little effect on cash balances.. The restaurant, retail, personal services, repair and maintenance, and construction industries were the most severely hit. According to a small business study by Mastercard in 2020, over one-third (38%) of small business owners said that they experienced cash flow issues because of late payments and slow processing times for cash and checks. 48% of small business owners said that their business was just one missed payment away from closing down.

The Businesses That Suffered The Most

The most impact was seen in businesses with lower cash reserves at the time the pandemic hit. Even though some businesses, like repair and construction, were deemed essential in many localities, customers refrained from in-person contact as much as they could. So businesses that did not have an option to function online suffered drastically.

The Changes That Business Owners Made

One common change, however, was the shift to contactless payments. In fact, over two-thirds (67%) of small business owners agreed that the pandemic pushed them to upgrade to e-pay solutions. 81% of them said that it improved customer satisfaction levels. This has set in expectations amongst customers of all kinds, to be able to pay for products and services using their preferred payment methods digitally.

While the trend is on the rise, maintaining a cash flow is still quite a task for most vendors due to the slow payment processing by banking systems. What such business owners need is an easier way that’s convenient to adopt, implement, and use. They need a payment solution that empathizes with them and helps them with their fund-related challenges.

A New Wave Of Change

Fast Forward to 2022, the US is seeing many apps and tools come to the rescue. Unsurprisingly, online card payments saw an increase of as much as 60%, while the use of cash and checks reduced by 34% and 24% respectively in comparison to other payment methods.

We at ScanPay have joined to support vendors, individual contractors, handymen, home technicians, and small business owners with this new change.. ScanPay is an app that answers cash balance concerns by allowing you to accept and receive instant payments from your customers. We have designed it keeping in mind the difficulties and inconveniences in receiving your payouts in time to maintain steady cash flow and expand your enterprise.

All you gotta do is download the ScanPay app from Google Play Store or iOS App Store, register with your mobile number OTAC, verify your business, and your account is activated within 24 hours.

Once activated you can simply generate and send an invoice of the amount you must receive, with even a service fee or a tip for your extra efforts. Just create an instant QR code that your customers can simply scan using the built-in camera applications on their mobile phones. Yes, you heard that right, your customers do not need to download the ScanPay app or sign-up with ScanPay at all. The QR code takes them to their preferred payment options to complete the transaction and you take home the bacon in dollar bills.

The Big Difference

Payment processing takes anywhere from 3 to 5 business days to credit your payouts to your account. With ScanPay, it only takes 3 to 5 minutes - Yes! you get paid instantly. If you're running a small service enterprise of your own and want updates on payments collected from your team, you can even set up a group account and get notified instantly when your team members receive the payments. You don’t even have to collect payments on their behalf or make your customers wait at their doors while your team members wait for a confirmation from you. This spares you the time to focus on expanding your enterprise or up-skilling instead of focusing on accounting. You don’t have to pay any contract, subscription, or registration fee, only a 2.89% + 20 cents transaction fee for every payment received from clients.

Next, simply cash out your funds with the virtual or physical ScanPay Visa® Debit Card. You get both! The card fetches you a flat 1% cashback on all transactions done with them in-store or on e-commerce websites. All you gotta do is activate your physical debit card for the first time on your ScanPay app. What’s more? It’s loaded with a bunch of security features so that your funds are safe, and you are not liable to transactions that you may have not initiated.

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