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Accounting software firm Xero has joined the ranks of firms enabling contactless payments.
From today, it's offering a new feature allowing small businesses to accept all forms of contactless payments, including credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and digital wallets.
Tap to Pay on iPhone sees payment taken instantly via payment software Stripe and sent straight through to the bank as well as the Xero accounting app.
Xero's general manager for payments Peter O'Malley said cash flow was critical to small businesses but they needed help to cope with so many methods, cut administration costs, reduce late payments and match what consumers wanted.
This month, new research by Xero revealed a mismatch between the way consumers prefer to pay and the payment options offered by small businesses.
For Aotearoa consumers, card payments remain the main way to pay, with 86 percent using credit or debit cards to make payments. A quarter of New Zealanders use Apple Pay or Google Pay to make payments.
Yet only two in five small businesses provide credit or debit card payment options to their customers and clients, and just 17 percent offer mobile payments.
The May survey of 1005 New Zealand adults and 508 small business leaders found more than a third (38 percent) of consumers were frustrated when their preferred payment option was not available.
O'Malley said Tap 2 Pay should help small businesses retain customers and attract new ones.
"Importantly for small businesses, 22 percent of those consumers would actually walk away and take their business elsewhere [if they can't use their preferred payment option]."
O'Malley said getting paid was "absolutely critical" to small businesses. But, for many, keeping up with payment methods and the technology demanded by consumers was "not exactly their core business".
Tap To pay would allow small businesses to focus on running their company, he added.
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