Rising Payment Technology Trends in the Jewelry Industry

Payment technology has come a long way with not only helping jewelry businesses bring their storefront online and streamlining operations, but also with improving the overall customer experience at the checkout process. Jewelry businesses are finding that payment gateway integrations for POS systems are a prosperous solution for answering business challenges and improving customer satisfaction. With a payment integration, businesses can accept a wider range of payment methods, improve account reconciliations, and strengthen security—all while improving the customer checkout process. 

It is inevitable that payment technology will only continue to evolve, so we’re here to help guide you through the many different benefits of payment integrations for jewelry businesses. Keep reading to learn more about these key benefits and to get a glimpse of some rising consumer payment trends we’re bound to see more of in the future.

The Growth of Payment Technology and Rising Payment Trends in the Jewelry Industry

Making a jewelry purchase isn’t just a regular routine transaction for most consumers—it is a one-of-a-kind, unique, in-person buying experience. Historically, commercials, advertisements, and marketing efforts are geared towards alluring potential buyers into the store. Yet in recent years, the traditional jewelry buying experience has shifted. Spurred on by the pandemic, jewelry retailers needed to find ways to digitize the in-store experience — be it by setting up an online storefront, or by accepting the latest digital payment methods in-store. 

The fundamental shift from traditional brick-and-mortar to digital storefronts provided a solution that modernized the jewelry industry indefinitely. It pioneered the innovation of not only e-commerce platforms but also introduced customers to a new way of shopping online and in-store. The jewelry industry was already breaking barriers into the e-commerce world, but COVID definitely kick-started the progression. During a recent survey, results revealed that the pandemic positively impacted jewelry sales with 72% of consumers saying that they bought jewelry online while 39% said spending more time at home influenced them to buy more jewelry. When COVID transformed normal business practices for retail jewelers, these professionals adapted, and focused their efforts on shifting to online payment options across their operations. 

Elevating In-Store Payment Solutions

Although jewelry store owners are broadening their horizons with digital storefronts, industry leaders are capitalizing on premier in-store solutions. While consumer buying trends are evolving, much of the industry is still ingrained in traditional face-to-face purchasing practices. Remarkably, in a recent poll, 63% of respondents said that they prefer to purchase jewelry in-store. Cardknox has partnered with the Edge POS(point-of-sale) software that offers a leading payment solution for customer-facing purchases. Compatible with an extensive array of POS devices, jewelers are able to sync their stand-alone terminal into a seamless software system. Instead of manually entering card information at checkout and reconciling your POS on a daily basis, the Edge software will automatically forward the purchase amount to your integrated device and record the response. Additionally, it will give customers peace of mind and a greater sense of security as they can enter their pin with your customer-facing device. Through our intuitive online portal, you’ll be able to view and manage transaction history through daily batch reports in real-time—mitigating errors and improving account reconciliations. 

Along with offering a wide range of payment options, it is important to consider new ways to pay. In recent years, a key factor for the growth of in-store payment technology is actually the rise of mobile commerce. In fact, experts predict that mobile commerce will account for 54% of all jewelry transactions this year. With the exponential surge in mobile commerce, brick-and-mortar stores will have to answer to expand their digital strategies. Customers aren’t only wanting to use mobile devices to shop online, though — they’re increasingly interested in paying in-store from their phone. In 2020, the number of in-store mobile payment users in the U.S. was predicted to reach 150 million by the end of the year, which accounted for 56% of the consumer population. Additionally, 39% of consumers said they would use mobile payments more frequently if more stores and apps accommodated them. With smartphones at our fingertips, introducing mobile wallets adds another channel for your business to boost sales.

The Benefits of Payment Integrations for Jewelry Businesses

As we’ve touched upon, customer payment preferences are constantly changing. Thus, it is important for jewelers to incorporate the latest technology and to accept a multitude of payment methods, ranging from EMV and magstripe cards to mobile payments and gift cards. With a payment gateway integration, businesses can easily accept all leading payment types from one payment terminal — or on their website. In the absence of such an integration, merchants are likely to have a more tedious checkout process. For example, brick-and-mortar merchants may need to manually enter card information, which is time-consuming and can increase the possibility of errors. And, online merchants lacking a payment integration are likely to experience higher abandoned shopping cart rates due to a lengthy and tedious checkout process. Recent consumer data reported that 26% of online shoppers abandon their carts because the checkout process was too long or complicated. Integrated payment solutions save time during the checkout process while improving cash flow and minimizing errors.

Another benefit of payment integrations is the added layer of security they provide. Unfortunately, there comes an even greater risk when you are dealing with luxury and brand-name goods. Since jewelry merchandise can bear a high price point, it poses the risk for fraud and chargebacks. With the added risk, ensuring that the customer’s card information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands is crucial. According to recent data, 30% of chargebacks are associated with purchases made using stolen credit card information. In a card-not-present environment, the risk is even higher, with recent data showing that 79% of all card fraud incidents in 2020 occurred in card-not-present channels. Choosing a safe and secure payment gateway offers a safety net for unwanted hackers by encrypting card information for each unique transaction.

Jewelry businesses can capitalize on untapped business opportunities by embracing innovative technology in order to meet new consumer demands. Especially when handling such large transactions, it is imperative that companies find a payment processing solution that delivers a safe, reliable, and seamless checkout experience — in-store and online. Here are some of the advanced solutions that Cardknox offers for jewelry businesses:

• Integrations With Leading Industry POS Software, Such as The Edge: We have partnered with The Edge to provide state-of-the-art payment processing software optimized for jewelry solutions. This powerful and intuitive system is designed to minimize friction while delivering a streamlined checkout experience.
• Improve the Checkout Experience for Customers In-Store: Manually entering a customer’s credit card information can be burdensome and prone to errors. Integrating Cardknox with your POS system gives you the ability to quickly accept payments on a wide range of sleek customer-facing terminals and PIN pads. 
• Improved Account Reconciliations: With an integrated system, transaction information is synced with the point of sale system. This makes it easier for business owners to monitor cash flow, generate reports, and ensure their records are accurate and error-free. You can enjoy instant access to your transaction history with Cardknox’s intuitive and user-friendly Merchant Portal.
• Ability to Accept a Wide Range of Payment Methods: Cardknox’s payment integration allows merchants to accept a broad array of payment methods all from one terminal device or through their online site or hosted form. In a recent survey, 66% of participants say they used mobile wallets. With the rise of mobile wallets, this is the perfect response for key players to meet evolving consumer buying preferences.
• Improved Security and PCI Compliance: Our advanced tokenization and built-in online fraud screening allow you to collect payments with ease while securely storing user card information and minimizing chargebacks. Our 3-D Secure technology allows you to make swift payments while providing an additional layer of security by authenticating the cardholder’s identity and analyzing key data points in real-time. Optimized for in-store channels, our EMV processing solutions allow you to safely authorize card-present transactions. Additionally, you’ll be covered with end-to-end level 1 PCI-DSS.
• Online Payment Processing Solutions: As of a 2021 survey, more jewelry businesses than ever before (82%) have a functioning website. Gateways like Cardknox allow merchants to create an omnichannel experience. Cardknox can be integrated with existing online storefronts, or merchants can customize their own hosted PaymentSITE form and embed it in a web page or use it as a standalone page, or send it out via its own unique URL for invoice collection.

The Future of the Jewelry Industry

Although the jewelry industry suffered losses due to the pandemic, fortunately, we’ve seen a big uptick in jewelry sales over the past year. In fact, as of this past September, jewelry sales were up by 55.3% year over year. At a time when jewelry sales are poised to continue to climb, jewelry store owners will benefit greatly by delivering personalized customer journeys across multiple checkout channels in order to meet evolving consumer demands. 

Industry leaders and professionals are staying ahead of the game by adapting to groundbreaking online and in-store payment options across their operations. It is crucial for jewelers when it comes to choosing the right payment processing provider that can intuitively upgrade and elevate your digital marketplace as innovative technologies continue to expand. Contact us today to learn more about our premium features for the jewelry industry.