The USA's Shift to the Brave New World of EMV Card Reader Technology

In this article, you’ll learn:

• Why an EMV card reader is a modern-day necessity

• How EMV readers provide optimal security

• How the SumUp Air Reader has proven itself in the marketplace

The USA's Shift to the Brave New World of EMV Card Reader Technology

Cash has become expensive to create and control. It has few useful security features, and it takes far longer to tally up at the end of a day’s trade than cards do. Cash abdicated its kingly throne years ago, and digital payment technologies are evolving at a full throttle.

Global payment services are remarkably convenient for shoppers, and falling behind on electronic payment technology can cost a business a significant chunk of its profits. Affluent and low-wage shoppers need to be served equally well, and an EMV credit card reader achieves precisely that.

Its ground-level processing fees and transport-friendly design makes it a practical solution regardless of your profit margins and the mobile nature of certain business models. The mobile boom means that almost two billion new devices were shipped in 2016 alone, and the business world needs to catch up.

Contemporary EMV Reader Technology

With devices becoming economical to manufacture and use, “good enough” is no longer good enough — your terminal should compete against the most sophisticated emerging technology available. It’s now possible for even the smallest companies to carry pinnacle devices without breaking a sweat over their expenses.

Chip technology relates to the computer chip on Europay, Mastercard, and Visa cards. It was deployed to lend security to shoppers and vendors alike. It protects against fraud by cutting back on replication and counterfeiting. Chip data also prevents criminals from getting away with transaction number theft.

Chip cards can be processed the old way: through traditional, hard-wired swipe machines, which are sluggish, heavy, and immobile. In contrast, a SumUp EMV card reader fits into the pocket, is feather-light, and can be taken wherever there’s a mobile phone signal.

SumUp’s card terminal uses Bluetooth technology to connect to its app on your mobile phone. Your client can choose whether to swipe, use a chip, or pay with their phone, and you receive their payment within a day or two.

The Air Card Reader makes use of your mobile phone’s buttons, which makes it even lighter than its UK predecessor. It’s compatible with Android and iOS and lets you straddle the shift to EMV chip technology without adding unnecessary expenses.

A mobile EMV terminal needs reinforced hardware if it's to travel successfully, so SumUp Air is made with only first-class components, insured by a year’s warranty. It prepares you for the mobile payment revolution, which could dominate the market in as early as 2018.

In 2016, the mobile payment users rose to 37%, a number that’s expected to increase to 50% in 2017 and 69% in 2019. The only economical way to manage the exodus is by preparing while the chip shift is still occurring.

Stop Paying the Earth

Traditional swipe terminals are expensive, generally adding a massive batch of fees related to everything from startup costs and termination to invoicing. A low-cost swipe machine could cost you between 3% and 4% per transaction, whereas a premium EMV card reader cuts away fixed fees entirely.

SumUp, the best in its class on U.S. soil, also comes without paperwork and termination fees. At 2.75% of every transaction, it’s among the most economical terminals in its class, with no monthly costs or delivery fees. The app and reporting tools are free too.

Support is provided via telephone and email at no extra cost to you. What’s more, if you’re feeling unsure about the migration to EMV, your EMV terminal is neatly wrapped up in a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Your Analytics, Your Way

In today’s data-dominated society, no business can remain at its competitive peak without analytics to help it adjust. An EMV card reader is your ticket to the profitable world of small data. This gives your marketers and bookkeepers a wealth of information to process to keep your company ahead of the herd.

Your payouts are automated, glitches are rare, and the application evolves with the SumUp team, who regularly improves stability and device compatibility. EMV credit card terminals can be updated without hardware changes, which keeps you up to date with changing consumer behavior.

The Liability Shift

The EMV card reader has taken the U.S. by storm. It’s the technical standard for an excellent reason: The liability shift now holds retailers accountable for all credit card fraud that happens in their establishments so nobody can afford to lag behind. The shift was made in 2015, but other countries around the world have already migrated. For nations like Australia and Canada, the EMV chip revolution has proved to be highly effective at preventing fraud.

In the U.S., compliance is the best way to avoid liability costs.

When you accept credit cards, each card insertion generates a one-time code, which is then used to approve payment. This means the only way to process a card is by inserting it, effectively eliminating fraud.

As it stands, two-thirds of in-store fraud involves counterfeiting, making EMV credit card terminals the best way to manage risk. U.S. retailers have struggled to get their providers to offer chip processing capabilities.

Existing point of sale (POS) providers have been resistant to the chip shift due to their confusion about charges. Vendors can’t afford to lose their place in the race any longer, and an excellent (POS) provider who develops its technology with the market instead of behind it is a much-needed asset.

SumUp is such a provider, so when you migrate, you’re not merely buying an EMV card reader. You’re investing in a long-term business relationship that gives you the competitive edge while your consumers evolve.

Keeping Your Lines Moving

Some chip terminals are still absurdly lethargic. Given that this technology has existed for two decades, this is a symptom of poor company management and not of EMV's capabilities.

If your terminal is causing a lag in lines and slowing down your deliveries, you own a veritable fossil-of-a-reader, and your provider is failing you. An adequate EMV terminal should process payments faster than your tellers can handle cash.

MasterCard’s Chiro Aikat said, of chip technology, “this is the biggest thing that has happened in terms of consumer experience since the past 25 to 30 years.” It's thus supposed to make your point of sale simpler and quicker, and your clients should be delighted by your service.

Air: The Wave of the Future

SumUp’s new EMV reader is a meager 7cm x 7cm, with a width of 2.5 cm. It lets you pre-save items for better stock control and makes your sale history available through its application.

It supports some wireless printers and can plug into devices that aren’t Bluetooth-enabled. Near Field Communication is also supported. This wireless technology exchanges data between devices as long as they’re held close together.

SumUp has performed exceptionally well on major review sites, both regarding its app and the hardware itself. Its pricing model is transparent, and merchants are free to cancel the service at any point.

The company also holds a portion of payments in a reserve account as a fraud prevention strategy when necessary, which gives businesses a solid foundation for their security policies.

Cards Accepted

Expect to have your card reader up and running in a matter of minutes. It supports an array of debit and credit cards and is certified by regulators including:

• American Express ExpressPay

• MasterCard PayPass

• Visa ADTV and Ready

• MasterCard TQM and TIP

How it Works

During a migration to EMV, the market tends to become somewhat fuzzy because client uncertainty reigns. The U.S. transition is happening slowly, so to weather the shift, you need an EMV credit card reader that tells your buyers whether to use a chip or magnetic strip.

Each card and transaction can vary, but ultimately, all chip transactions will entail the insertion of the chip.

Full Speed Ahead

Even some third world countries have migrated to chip technology and mobile payments. The USA is well behind the rest of the world when it comes to banking, but this has its benefits:

No U.S. merchant needs to adopt new POS technology as though it’s The Great Unknown. There is a wealth of experience to refer to in countries such as Switzerland and the UK, who have already adopted the EMV reader as an industry standard. The switch to chip has entailed so few glitches that Sweden’s cash transactions accounted for a mere 20% of all retail sales in 2015.

Emerging markets are starting to ban large notes, which means cash-oriented markets will soon be extinct.

In this day and age, in which rivalry is extreme and the evolution of competitive edge happens in a flash, it’s become increasingly important to prepare and adopt new technology ahead of your industry.

SumUp is more than a mere terminal: it’s a payment partner, and one who has proved its mettle through constant, reliable innovation.

In Summary:

The shift to EMV is inevitable. As modern merchants, we must embrace the EMV reader technology for our customers, our security and our competitive purposes. SumUp offers not only a card reader, but a full-blown service to satisfy all your payment needs, making it one of the best readers on offer.