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Prepare your business to accept tourist payments seamlessly

Prepare your business to accept tourist payments seamlessly

In July, the Euro reached parity with the Dollar, which means the two currencies exchanged at a 1:1 rate. The last time that happened was in 2002, at the beginning of the Euro’s existence.

The new exchange rate means that American tourists travelling to 19 European Union countries accepting the Euro get a 15% discount on purchases relative to a year ago, according to CNBC.

It’s now up to your business to accommodate these tourists and stay ahead of your competitors. Let’s take a look at our top tips to make the most of this year’s tourist season:

Minimising foreign currency exchange rates

It is often difficult for small businesses to get paid in foreign currencies. International payments can be challenging due to their complexity, which results in roadblocks to growth.

When foreign exchange rates fluctuate constantly, consumers can have difficulty deciding what to buy, especially when they’re paying in a foreign currency.

The solution is to enable multi-currency support payments so your customers won’t have to experience this. Using a payment provider that supports a dynamic currency converter (DCC) service, you can offer your customers the ability to pay in their local currency. DCC gives international cardholders the option of paying in their own currency at the point of sale (POS).

The benefits of using DCC for your business are twofold. First, there’s transparency regarding the exchange rate for your customers and no additional exchange costs. This gives them confidence in their purchase; it’s convenient and empowers them to control their spending. Second, by using DCC with a trusted provider, your business unlocks new revenue opportunities while incurring no FX risk.

Work with a payments gateway that facilitates foreign currency payments

One of the downsides to getting paid in a foreign currency is that small business have to bear the cost of getting paid in foreign currency. Moreover, SMEs cannot benchmark and guarantee profitability in new markets because banks have opaque fees and charges. Because of this challenge, it’s important they partner with a payments gateway like TRU Connect that provides transparency about their transaction costs.

With TRU Connect, small businesses can support foreign currency payments in an affordable and sustainable manner as your business will receive a share of the revenues instead of the card schemes and issuing banks. This way, we help reduce formerly prohibitive costs of doing business across borders, so your business is able to reach its full potential.

In addition, TRU Connect is a solution fully compliant with all the payment regulations while offering a secure and trustworthy experience for your customers. In addition to paying in their own currency, customers are offered the option to pay with alternative payment methods like eWallets – Google and Apple Pay or other prefered payment methods like cheques and bank transfers.

Using the right tool for buyer behaviour insights

Consider using DCC-enabled terminals for your in-store sales when partnering with a payment gateway. These systems automatically identify international Visa and Mastercard card types so that they can guide your customers through the payment process more efficiently. ​​Moreover, they display both currency amounts in order to make it easier for your customers to compare the two.

You should share these key details with your customer to help them make an informed decision about accepting DCC:

  • Currency and amount in local currency
  • Amount and currency of DCC
  • Exchange rates available at the moment
  • Mark-up percentage
  • A clear displayed option to “Select Currency”
  • An easy way for the customer to accept or decline
  • Adding country flags to a touch screen for DCC

With 24 years of experience in international payments, Trust Payments can help you receive payments in 76 global currencies. Get in touch with us to find out how we can support you.

Want to learn more about our DCC solution? check out our handy guide below:

Security statement

Security is our top priority at Trust Payments and we strive to ensure that all data is kept secure at all times We keep all customer data safe with AES256 encryption, SSL Certificates, and a minimum of TLS1.2, between your website and our datacentres.

Our systems are scanned quarterly using the Qualys PCI Platform, an independent Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) and approved vendors – Omnicybersecurity (UK) & Forgenix (US) – to ensure compliance with the security requirements of the card schemes.

We follow a number of rigorous security procedures on a daily basis including, but not limited to, continuous monitoring of our perimeter, dark web monitoring, and internal checks to ensure that CIA triad is maintained at all times.

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