Setting up a small business is a great way to put your entrepreneurial skills to the test as well as to pick up tools and lessons that you can use to eventually grow your company. Being a micro- or small enterprise owner is a rewarding challenge, but you must also be prepared to face fierce competition and thus, find ways to set yourself apart from other budding entrepreneurs.
The good news is that you don’t have to face this challenge alone. There’s a wealth of resources that you can depend on to enrich your knowledge about the business that you’re setting up, plus there are budget-friendly technologies that you can use to make your day-to-day operations more efficient. Maya is the leading payment gateway in the Philippines, one that offers multiple solutions to enterprises of all sizes. These make it easier for your customers to pay for your products and services while they’re shopping online or purchasing at your physical store. In particular, Maya offers 3 services that will benefit owners of micro- and small businesses. These are:
Maya Digital Invoice
There are many downsides to not having your own website, and one of these is needing to rely on older technologies to send invoices to your clients. Creating invoices from scratch and sending them one-by-one to your customers is an unsustainable practice that can take up so much of your time. Also, any delays in customer interaction can prevent you from making a good impression on the people who bring their business to your store.
Although having your own website is highly recommended, you don’t need one just so you can access cutting-edge technology for making and sending invoices. Maya Digital Invoice allows you to keep transactions going even though you have yet to set up your business website. The digital invoice function accepts and processes payments made using VISA, MasterCard, JCB, WeChat Pay, and of course, Maya. With it, you can send digital invoices or payment links through email, chat, or SMS and allow your customers to pay using their credit, debit card or e-wallet
Aside from sending invoices and accepting digital payments, Maya Digital Invoice has other features that will prove to be quite useful as you build your brand. You can customize invoice templates so that they are aligned with your branding. What’s more, Maya Digital Invoice uses world-class security standards and protocols, so you can rest assured that the transactions made using Maya are safe and secure.
Maya Checkout Plug-ins
Maya also has a lot to offer tech-savvy business owners who have decided to set up an online shop before investing in a physical store. If you have an ecommerce website, you can use a Maya Checkout Plug-in, a payment solution that will make it easier for your online customers to pay for their purchases. Maya has plug-ins for online shops that are hosted on Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, and these plug-ins can be seamlessly integrated into your website in just a few steps.
Adding a Maya Checkout Plug-in to your online store lets you enjoy plenty of benefits that can propel your business forward. Because your main store is online, your location does not limit you from accommodating customers from different places. However, you need to make sure that your website is capable of accepting payments from customers who may be used to paying through different channels. This is where the Maya Checkout Plug-in rises to the occasion. The service allows your business to accept payments made through VISA, MasterCard, JCB, WeChat Pay, GCash and Maya. Your customers can choose from a wide variety of payment methods so they can complete their transactions instantly. This means that they have fewer reasons to postpone their purchase or abandon their cart.
Just like other Maya services, the plug-ins make use of real-time authorization, and all processed transactions are settled the next business day. Maya Checkout Plug-ins are PCI-DSS compliant and implement Full 3DS support. They abide by world-class security standards to protect the integrity and privacy of every transaction that goes through it.
Maya QR
Many new entrepreneurs are finding their footing by setting up online stores where they can get in touch with their customers. That’s not to say, though, that every business owner has the means or know-how to maintain an online shop. Many micro- and small business owners have owned brick-and mortar stores for years. If you’re in the same situation, you can still use Maya to your advantage, as we also offer a way for enterprises to accept payments made through QR codes.
Using Maya QR will help you leverage cashless transactions by allowing you to accept digital payments from in-store shoppers. Just sign up as a merchant for a Maya QR and you will receive a free kit that comes with a feature phone. You can display your QR code and ask your customers to scan it using their Maya app whenever they want to pay for their purchases digitally.
You can also use your QR code to accept payments from online buyers, you can send it over chat, SMS or even post it on your social media account. Just make the QR code available on all your online channels and digital platforms so that your customers can easily scan it to settle all their online purchases from your shop.
There are more than 1 million registered businesses in the Philippines, and of this number, 89% belong to the micro-enterprise sector and 10% belong to the small enterprise category. It’s not unlikely that your business ideas overlap with that of other micro- and small business owners near your area. Give yourself an edge over the competition by utilizing modern tools that will allow your business to provide safer and quicker transactions and better customer service. Check out Maya today and see for yourself how this service can be your partner in growing your micro- or small enterprise.
