So, you’re out at one of your local markets ordering some boerewors rolls and chips when you suddenly realise you don’t have any cash on you. Market stalls don’t often have card machines at their disposal either. Now, you’ve got to be inconvenienced and rush over to the nearest ATM (which we know is not something that is not always accessible at a market) while your food gets cold……Or do you? No, that is no longer a problem, with the Snapscan app. You just have to have your smart phone with you , which we know with the wprld today our smartphones are always on us.
The app is completely free to download for iOS, Android and Blackberry 5, 6 and 7. And an easily navigable interface makes payments as easy as scanning the QR code, punching in the amount and your pin, and pressing the pay button. What’s more, while Snapscan Standard Bank are partnered, customers are able to use any Master Card, Visa credit cards and debit cards from any bank to transact using the app. Do you have to have a Standard Bank account for Snapscan, no you do not, you’re not excluded from benefiting if you’re in business with another bank. That’s what makes it so amazing is that it really and truly caters to everyone. Another nice feature is that with every purchase done using your SnapScan QR code you as the merchant will receive an sms notification so if you not at the store or market or wherever yo may have your code is setup you will still be able to keep track of how sales are progressing.
With regards to privacy, Snapscan is completely secure. On the app itself, your card is protected by a pin code that you get to choose during the set up process and you only have to put your card details into the app once wen you set up your account and your card details are never passed onto or shred with the merchant. While externally, your card’s details are encrypted on the Standard Bank servers to prevent hacking.One of the more exciting implementations of Snapscan has been in the car park industry in Cape Town. People in the city are now able to pay car park marshals using the app. As part of a partnership with Street Parking Solutions, all marshals in the City Bowl district now carry Street Parking Solution and SnapScan bibs. This is great for the parking marshals as well as they no longer have to ensure they have readily available change on them at all times and having to have the safety risk of standing with large amounts of cash on them on the streets for many hours at a time. We definitely all need to think of safety first these days.
Everything about SnapScan is designed to make paying for things (and accepting payments) really, really simple. However Kobus Ehlers, co-founder of Snapscan, has this to add: “We still have a long way to go. SnapScan is aiming at places where there is a real payment problem, rather than just trying to compete with card machines.”Snapscan is proving to be a significant innovation for the way small businesses are run in South Africa, and growth is expected to continue with the developers now looking at moving over into major retailers in South Africa, but they have advised that they will do this slowly, with Ehlers and the team introducing new features in the months to come. Have you downloaded Snapscan and are making use of it at your businesses or local market?
Sound off in the comment section below, we would love to hear how it has transformed your business!