Where consumers go, businesses follow. Over the last several years, everyone’s been trending cashless – even the historically cash-heavy parking industry. Luckily, technology preceded the movement and plenty of solutions are available to help businesses easily transition to cashless, digital payments in the parking lot.
Once upon a time, cash was king.
But over the years, people started noticing how tedious it was. It had to be held and managed, requiring everyone’s constant attention. It would never RSVP – it would crash the party unannounced, and sometimes, disappear without a trace.
The growing power of cashless transactions.
Cashless operations offer a boon of benefits for consumers and businesses alike. By reducing cash payments, operators create safer, more hygienic operations, boost productivity, shrink slippage, and promote digital payment channels that deliver real-time operational and customer insights.
And now – 5 payment systems for cashless parking operations.
Mobile point-of-sale technology.
Often used for event parking, mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) technology is designed to attend to the attendant. These devices allow operators to accept cashless payment options, boost credit card utilization, and promote NFC (ApplePay / GooglePay) and EMV (tap-to-pay) transactions.
Parking reservations.
Parking reservation platforms, such as SpotHero or ParkMobile, allow customers to reserve and pay for parking spots in advance. Integrations between a business’ reservation provider and its mPOS technology unleash prepaid validation, protecting operators and deterring customers from invalid / duplicate pass usage.
QR code signage.
Currently optimizing the transient parking space, QR codes offer a contactless payment method that requires minimal effort from the consumer and minimal effort from the business. The consumer simply scans a QR code to pay for parking – with no app to download. On the operational end, there’s no overhead – no machinery to install, no cash to manage, and no electricity or WiFi is required.
Parking payment analytics.
Transactional parking data is rich in its potential. By monitoring parking payments, a business can glean a better understanding of revenue while gauging operational effectiveness, speed of ingress, availability of parking spaces, staff performance, and customer behaviors / preferences.
Parking payment processing.
Payment processing goes hand in hand with digital payment tools. In choosing a payments provider, operators should opt for solutions that offer secure payment processing at simplified rates.
Parking ecosystems, like ParkHub’s proprietary platform, offer subscription-based solutions that apply directly to each businesses’ needs, paving the way to safer, simpler, and more profitable parking operations at numerous types of destinations and operational processes.
Consumers are proving that cash is no longer king. Businesses are quickly adapting in suit, allowing technology to reign.