This month, Wendy from Orange Grove luxury candles and bath products based in New Zealand is in our Customer Spotlight. Orange Grove was born in a real orange grove in Kerikeri, Northland, NZ about six years ago and we’re now located in another happy orange grove in Christchurch. Two years ago – when Covid and chronic arthritic pain made running my photography business impossible – I did a pivot and turned my previous hobby of soap and candle making into a small business. Soon after, I opened an online shop. I produce luxury candles, natural skin and bath products, all
How eco-friendly is your business?
It seems like everyone is talking about sustainability these days; whether it be world leaders debating how to tackle climate change, supermarkets making paper bags more readily available or even schoolkids learning how to grow their own veggies. One thing is for sure, if your business is eco-conscious it is guaranteed to look good to your customers. Stripe recently announced a partnership with car manufacturer Toyota, who are working to help local repair shops reuse specialised equipment needed to service vehicles. Toyota partnered with Stripe Connect to help make business transactions of these high-value items simple and easy, and enabling
Keep your business ‘appy
Whether you’re a small independent business, a franchise or a side-hustler, it’s likely that you’re using apps and other digital methods to keep that cash flow coming. It could be anything from updating Instagram, creating invoices in Xero or sending out an e-newsletter to your thousands of adoring subscribers through Mailchimp. Gone are the days when you’d have to sit at your desk and work from a laptop; modern business is much more about utilising the multitude and diversity of apps that are available to do business on-the-go anywhere, at any time. That means you need access to everything as
Customer spotlight: Peter from Wire Industrial & Marine
Welcome to the first of our customer spotlights. This month we’d like to introduce you to Peter from Wire Industrial and Marine based in New South Wales, Australia. I first started to use PayNow when PayPal shut down its credit card payment solution for use by tradies. When looking for a solution, I came across PayNow. PayNow has been a breath of fresh air. You don’t realise what a pain in the neck other payment systems are until you deal with a professional operation like this one. I have two business avenues where I use this payment solution. I’m a plumber by
Create instant payment links
We’ve been hard at work developing a new feature for our PayNowlink app. If you haven’t come across PayNowlink, this is PayNow’s sister app that allows you to send anyone, anywhere, an online link to process a payment. Once your customer clicks it and enters in their payment details, the job is done. In a world where the pandemic has taken so many sales and transactions online, this is the ideal way to safely process payments without worrying about in-person meet-ups. Previously this link expired after 24 hours but now this this limit is no longer the case. The link can now be
Announcing PayNowlink
The team at PayNow are continuing to develop easy and affordable payment solutions for all of our customers. We are pleased to announce our latest app PayNowlink which allows you to send your customer a link to pay online for anything, in a single tap! This is a global payment solution accepting visa, mastercard, amex, applepay, googlepay and more, in 135 currencies and in 14 languages. How does it work? Download PayNowlink to your device. Then connect the app to your new or existing Stripe account. The app allows you to generate a link in one tap then email, text or message it to your customer. Your customer then pays online and the transaction
Cash Flow Equals Business Success
Many people believe that profit equals success in business, but in fact, it’s good cash flow management that will keep your business running effectively in the long term. Maintaining enough cash flow will allow you to have enough working capital to operate through the quiet times and will influence your future spending decisions and the direction of the business. Despite this fact many business owners do not monitor the cash flow of their business closely enough to weather the tough times and plan effectively. The first thing any business owner should do is create a cash flow forecast. This will
Digital and mobile payment trends in 2020
As a society we are continuing to transition from physical cash to various digital payment methods. As this develops many new trends will appear and disappear. From a business perspective it is highly convenient to collect payments via digital or mobile technology instantly when a product or service is sold. It provides a fast, secure, encrypted and is very convenient for the customer. Security in the area of digital and mobile payments is a key priority for all parties. Consumer and business convenience must go hand in hand with creating secured authentication of payments. The presences of machine learning is
Why social media is important for small business
Despite the popularity of social media channels many businesses remain without a social media presence. For some this may be a purposeful decision and for others it may be a lost opportunity. Social media channels provide a unique and often low-cost way to connect with existing customers and reach out to new customer networks. It isn’t just about a constant stream of sales and special giveaways but an opportunity to communicate your expertise and interact with your clients in a meaningful way. Here are our top 5 social media tips to help your small business successfully engage on social media.
How should your business accept card payments?
It is generally accepted around the world that most business will offer the option to pay for goods and services using a credit or debit card of some kind rather than handing over cash. Refusing to accept card payments could be costing you customers as the concept of a cashless society grows in popularity. The electronic funds transfer at the point of sale (EFTPOS) payment system has been around for many years and largely remains unchanged. What is changing is the number of options available to your business for accepting and processing EFTPOS transactions. Accepting card payments has numerous benefits
How to Succeed at Working from Home
Working from home has become the unexpected norm for many around the world since the outbreak of COVID-19. According to a United States study, Owl Labs 2019 State of Remote Work report, remote workers are not only happier at work, but they’re 13% more likely to stay at their current job for the next 5 years than their onsite counterparts. However, this report does not take into account the circumstances surrounding a global COVID-19 pandemic. So, when you’re being forced to work remotely how can you make things work. The team at Paynow for Stripe have assembled some of our top tips for successfully
Why COVID-19 is leading to a rise in mobile payments
The recent worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world in more ways than we could have ever imagined. One of the early trends emerging from the situation is a reduction in physical cash being used to make purchases and an increase in global mobile payments. The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises that COVID-19 can be spread through small droplets from the nose and mouth that can land on objects and are passed on when another person touches these objects then touches their own face. As a result of this information many businesses are moving all transactions to contactless mobile payments so that
Customer Spotlight: Jet Resin Jewellery
After getting a bead making kit for her 13th birthday Sophie had found her passion – making jewellery! In her teens she made all kinds of beaded necklaces, earrings and bracelets for her friends and family. In her last year at school she was introduced to resin, a composite style plastic, that can be moulded into any number of shapes and forms and is incredibly strong. This began Sophies continuing creative experiment with using resin to produce unique pieces of jewellery. How did your business journey begin? At first, I created a small amount of jewellery pieces and attended small local
Updating your Business Plan
A new year, and in fact a new decade in this case, brings about a great opportunity to start fresh in your business. Updating your business plan allows you to refocus on your direction and priorities in the post-Christmas period. This will allow you to start the year with momentum and clarity on what it is you will achieve. Use any new insights to form your revised business plan. Here are a couple of areas of your business plan to review and update: The numbers Review the sales results for the last 12 months and compare these to the forecast
Maximise the Holiday Season Sales Opportunities
As the holiday season fast approaches people start planning purchases and preparations for celebrations with family and friends. This time of year presents a great opportunity for businesses to increase sales, attract new customers and increase market brand awareness. Facebook reports that 1 in 5 people start planning their holiday season purchases as early as October 31. So as a business owner you should be planning now in order to maximise sales opportunities during this time. Here are some things to consider: Content calendar: There are a number of significant dates during November & December that may present sales opportunities
‘Restricted’ Stripe accounts
PayNow has recently become aware that some of our awesome customers are getting this message after signing up and using our app once: ‘This account cannot currently make live charge. If you are customer trying to make a purchase, please contact the owner of this site. Your transaction has not been processed.’ If this is you, please continue reading to find out how to solve the issue. In certain circumstances Stripe restricts accounts if the business is deemed high risk or they just need more information, such as bank account details or verifying addresses, to allow payments to be processed
What happened with Stripe in 2019.
Stripe describes itself as, “a global technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet”. A recent report from Forbes states that Stripe is now valued at $35billion and will continue to grow in this booming market and expanding industry. Stripe’s mission is to grow the GDP of the internet, making it easy for companies everywhere to start, run and scale their business. The company has made some market leading announcements this year via continued expansion across the globe, the launch of chargeback protection, Stripe Corporate Card, Stripe Capital and Stripe Billing in Europe. They have supported many businesses in the implementation of
Tips for planning your Christmas marketing
With Christmas fast approaching have you got your marketing plan ready? Every decent marketing consultant will tell you to plan early to gain maximum traction and leverage over the Christmas holiday season. This is one of the biggest shopping periods every year that just cannot be missed. In 2018 shoppers in the United States spent over $1 trillion on Christmas gifts. Shoppers in the United Kingdom topped 2 billion pounds in the same period. At PayNow we have assembled our top tips for your Christmas marketing this season. OPENING HOURS Update all of your Christmas opening hours on all marketing touch points to keep
Why accepting cash is costing your business money
It is no surprise that the speed, ease and convenience of card payments is overtaking the traditional cash payment method in many parts of the world. A 2017 survey conducted by The Reserve Bank of Australia showed that for the first time credit and debit cards — especially of the “tap and go” variety — had overtaken cash payments in Australia. Many other countries are mirroring this trend. Sweden is by far the country with the biggest uptake of cashless payment technology with only 15% of payments involving cash in 2018. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons
Customer Spotlight: Adora Ceramics
5 years ago Sally left her demanding marketing job to pursue her love of ceramics and create a minimalist lifestyle away from the city. Ceramics had always been a hobby and it took over 12 months to decide that a change of direction was required. Once the decision was made Sally began her transition from executive to artist. How did your business journey begin? After many hours of contemplation, I realised that the fast-paced city life was no longer for me. I attended a weekend arts festival on the outskirts of the city and discovered a whole community of people