How To Benefit From Students Who Love Online Shopping

With the new school year fully underway, merchants all across Canada have been given a new opportunity to welcome new customers into their stores. Those customers, of course, are students. With so many of them needing school supplies, clothing, food and just about everything else that a young person could want, Canadian business owners should be doing all they can to welcome students into their places of business.

As we often report, here on the Canadian POS Corporation Blog, the acceptance of credit cards and debit cards is a hugely important part of increasing one’s client base. Canada has proven itself to be a worldwide leader in debit card usage. But is this true for the student population? How many members of our younger generation use credit or debit cards to pay for their purchases? Well, perhaps the answer is found in the popularity of online shopping.

It’s a phenomenon, by the way, that is incredibly popular worldwide. In fact, earlier this week, DNAIndia.com revealed the findings of a recent survey conducted by Vivekanand Education Society\’s Institute of Management Studies and Research (VESIMSR). “57% of the students prefer to do shopping online with 90% of them want to recommend it over traditional shopping on account of reasons like time-saving and vast options available online,” says the site.

So what does such a finding really mean? The way we see it, although students may not have as much disposable income as those who are working, they still enjoy shopping nonetheless. And with so many of them using their laptops, tablets and even smart phones to complete their online shopping excursions, merchants from all over the world need to be prepared to offer their goods through this popular medium.

What that also means is that merchants need to be prepared to accept payments online. And, for the most part, that means accepting credit card transactions. You don’t just have to take our word for it though. On Medium.com, Lucy Wang writes that in 2012, the Oregon-based SheerID company conducted a survey of college students worldwide to discover their online shopping tendencies.

The survey found that 77 percent of the respondents shopped online within the 30 days prior to taking the survey. This is compared to the 64 percent who answered the same way to a survey taken a year before. Needless to say, such findings reveal that online shopping is on the rise. And Wang lists a number of reasons as to why. And not surprisingly, convenience tops the list. “Convenience is king,” writes Wang.

According to a Northwestern survey, “respondents cited convenience as a main reason for choosing online shopping over traditional shopping. The Evanston campus’ distance from shopping malls, the nearest of which is Westfield Old Orchard Mall 4.2 miles away, makes traditional shopping all the more difficult for students who do not have cars on campus,” she writes.

Is it not worth providing this type of convenience to your customers? After all, if you want students to be a big part of your customer base, selling your products online is practically a must. And that makes accepting credit cards a must as well. Luckily, Canadian POS Corporation is here to help you. We can provide you with a new top-of-the-line POS terminal within three business days. Give us a call today at 1-877-748-2884!