BluePay Blog

According to historians, the first check was invented in ancient Rome, around 352 BC. It took a couple thousand years for the concept to really catch on, with checks enjoying their heyday during the 20th century.  Despite the advent of faster, cheaper, and more secure payment options, checks remain surprisingly popular. According to the Federal Reserve, Americans write nearly 17 billion checks annually — with an estimated payment volume of $26 trillion.

Topics: ACH/eCheck Payments, Small Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments

While you may know how to tailor your customer experience to millenials and all generations that came before them, there’s a new demographic on the scene - Gen Z. And, they don’t shop the same way, so you’ll need to make some changes to your retail experience if you want to win them over. Here’s what is different about Gen Z. 

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, Small Business Tips

In the U.S., the three-month stretch from June 21 to September 23 is when:  Kids are on summer vacation  Companies scale back their hours  Employees take their holidays  This is why we don’t normally associate the summer months with “business.”  But, it’s not like people stop spending money. In fact, summer is the second most active season of the year for consumer spending (after winter and its numerous shopping holidays). 

Topics: Fun Posts, Small Business Tips

Depending on whom you ask, anywhere from 50 percent to 90 percent of new businesses fail within their first few years.  The exact reasons why vary from startup to startup.  Below are six of the biggest money mistakes entrepreneurs make when trying to get their new businesses off the ground.  Avoid these pitfalls, and you could dramatically increase your chances of long-term success.

Topics: PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Small Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments

Although it sounds more like something out of a science fiction novel or movie, facial recognition is gaining ground as a technology for identify verification. If you have an iPhone, you may already be using this biometric method.  Rather than entering a password, your smartphone recognizes you from a scan of your face that it took when you first used it. From there, many more apps have integrated the facial recognition technology. 

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, Mobile Payments, Payment Technology, Payment Trends

What do you do when:  Your App Store brings in $11 billion annually?  You’ve sold more than 2 billion phones worldwide?  You’re company’s valuation exceeds $1 trillion?  The answer is simple.  You go into mobile payments, of course. That’s precisely what Apple did with the introduction of Apple Pay — a virtual wallet that allows users to link credit cards to their phones, whether they’re shopping:  On an e-commerce site  Within the App Store  In-person at a retail store

Topics: Payment Technology, Payment Trends, Consumer Education

The last thing any online or in-store retailer wants is for their customers to abandon their shopping carts. That means a lost sale in the present and the potential for lost sales in the future if the customer decides to not return. However, some retailers have been so accustomed to controlling the transaction process that they have lost touch with what their customers want out of a checkout experience. 

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, Mobile Payments, E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Small Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments, Payment Trends

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a broad set of guidelines that govern how organizations should handle credit or debit card information.  It doesn’t matter how large your organization is — or whether it’s a for-profit business or charitable foundation. If you store, transmit, or process payment card data of any kind, you must become (and remain) PCI-compliant. 

Topics: PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention, Small Business Tips, Getting Started with Payments

The in-vehicle payment market is considered relatively new with some of the first mentions of its potential in 2017 when researchers started tracking this business segment. The first signs of this new payment method appeared in 2016.   Current and Projected Growth Now, according to research firm Technavio, the global in-vehicle payment services market is set to increase by over 195% during the period from 2017 to 2021.

Topics: Due.com Partner Posts, Mobile Payments, E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology, Payment Trends

May 5-11 is National Small Business Week. BluePay honors the hardworking SMB owners that are the pillars of our communities - not just this week, but throughout the entire year. In today’s post, we provide 6 essential ways you can market to new and existing customers without breaking the bank.  The golden age of print, TV, and radio was extremely lucrative for America’s largest brands. They had the advertising budgets to reach massive audiences, which helped them defend their market share.

Topics: Small Business Tips