In such a highly competitive field as commerce, where the number of clothing stores is growing like mushrooms after rain, it is crucial to stand out to attract more customers. Fashionistas are those people who carefully monitor the latest trends and who can fully appreciate such a trending payment method as cryptocurrency. Therefore, we suggest you learn how to start accepting crypto payments in your store and what advantages and disadvantages this entails.
Key points:
- Crypto payments are a trend of recent years, missing which you deprive yourself of a clientele.
- Despite the many advantages, it is still necessary to consider the disadvantages of cryptocurrencies.
- NOWPayments provides payment tools for both online and offline stores.
Pros and cons of accepting crypto by clothing stores and boutiques
It is very important for business owners to weigh every step they take correctly. After all, one wrong step can be the starting point for a number of problems. Therefore, we recommend that you weigh the pros and cons before introducing something new to your store. Let’s start with the disadvantages of crypto payments for business and then sweeten the pill and talk about all the advantages. Looking ahead, there are much more advantages here.
Volatility.
Surely everyone who has encountered cryptocurrencies has noted for themselves their insane volatility. Someone has mastered the tools of volatility management and made it work for themselves. Someone chose to stay on the sidelines and just watch. The choice is yours.
No guarantees.
Each user is personally responsible for their savings. There are no regulatory mechanisms here, so in case of theft, it will not be possible to prove anything and return the money. There’s hacking, phishing, and all the other attempts to gain control by malicious means. Therefore, it is recommended to study how not to fall for the traps of scammers.
Regulatory uncertainty.
Government agencies are wary of cryptocurrencies. Many countries have imposed restrictions on its use, and violators may be fined. For this reason, business owners are advised to carefully study the legal regulation of cryptocurrencies in their jurisdictions.
Problems with scalability.
Up to a certain point, digital money really works at lightning speed. But sometimes, due to network congestion, crypto transactions can take much longer. In this path, we mean such market giants as, for example, Bitcoin or Ethereum, whose networks sometimes fail to cope with incoming demand. But, firstly, the developers of these cryptocurrencies are in the process of solving scalability issues. Secondly, there are cryptocurrencies whose speed is really rocket-fast.
Global availability.
Every year more and more users enter the crypto sphere. According to TripleA research, there are more than 300 million users, with more than 100 million in India and more than 27 million in the US. Moreover, more than 18,000 merchants accept crypto for payment. Just imagine how many customers go to your competitors just because you are not ready to accept crypto payments.
Cheap international transfers.
As a merchant, you are certainly interested in making more profit from your business. And naturally, you are familiar with the merchant fees that you are required to pay for accepting each credit or debit card transaction. These fees can sometimes reach up to 4%. With cryptocurrency, you pay only to the crypto payment provider with which you cooperate. And often, this fee is several times less; for example, NOWPayments charges competitively low fees — from 0.4%. Moreover, even offline store owners can reduce their costs. After all, there is no longer a need to spend huge amounts of money on the installation and maintenance of PoS terminals. With NOWPayments, you can accept cryptocurrency via a virtual PoS terminal and exclude an entire expense item.
No inflation.
Cryptocurrencies are not tied to a single currency or economy, so their price reflects global demand and not, say, national inflation. But what about the inflation of cryptocurrencies themselves? As a merchant, you can be calm, for the most part. The number of coins is limited, so the available amount cannot get out of control, so there is no inflation. Some coins (for example, Bitcoin) have a limited total supply, others (for example, Ethereum) have an annual limit, but in any case, this approach restrains inflation.
The speed of international transactions.
For companies that want to expand their borders and attract foreign customers, crypto payments are exactly what they need. Cryptocurrencies allow you to instantly send and receive money around the world. After all, if there are no intermediaries, then the transaction processing time is reduced. Unlike bank payments, cryptocurrency payments are completed within a few minutes or even seconds.
No chargebacks.
If you have been in the business field for a long time, you have probably encountered various fraudulent schemes. Chargeback fraud can cripple even the most prosperous business. In the case of the crypto and its irreversible nature, malicious actors simply lose their trump card.
Privacy.
It seems that traditional financial institutes receive too much personal information from us: name, address, phone number, financial history, and so on. If you are against such monopolization, then cryptocurrency is here to help. After all, with crypto payments, you do not need to disclose any personal data, which by the way is also more secure.
Peer-to-peer payments.
Cryptocurrency is the currency of the people. For transactions with digital money, there is no need to trust funds to banks that can freeze your account at any time. Payments are received directly to your wallet, access to which is at your sole disposal. No one can reject or freeze a payment. You are your own bank.
Accepting crypto in offline store
Accepting crypto payments offline is even easier than accepting a VISA or MasterCard. After all, for this, you do not need to install and maintain expensive equipment. With NOWPayments, you can easily set up the acceptance of cryptocurrencies via our virtual PoS terminal:
- Log in to your NOWPayments account.
- Navigate to the “Store Settings” section.
- Enter the address of your payout wallet.
- Generate an API key.
To issue an invoice:
- Indicate the purchase amount.
- Choose the cryptocurrency you want to be paid with.
- Generate a QR code.
- Allow your customer to scan a QR code and complete the payment.
Accepting crypto in online stores
At NOWPayments, we understand that customer orientation is the key to success, so we provide you with various tools for accepting crypto payments:
- You can integrate one of the plugins if you already have a store on one of the CMS solutions. Plugins for PrestaShop, Magento 2, Shopify, Shopware, and others are available.
- Just a few lines of code, and you are able to accept cryptocurrency on any platform, application, or website. Our crypto API offers instant payment notification, as well as several payments per order.
- You can make your life much easier by creating crypto invoices. The concise form of the invoice allows you to significantly simplify the payment experience of your customers, thereby providing you with more chances that customers will pay for the goods.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency has established itself as the most convenient, fast, and cost-effective payment method. However, every coin has a downside, so we highly recommend that business owners weigh the pros and cons before they start accepting crypto for payment. If you decide to accept crypto, NOWPayments is here to help.