You can turn your what into a what? It’s true – with the latest technology, you can turn your smartphone into a card machine. But before we talk about how that works, let’s talk about tapping. It’s easy, right? You tap every day. You tap on your desk as you read your emails and tap your foot waiting in the grocery store line. You tap your fabulous new nails on any surface you can get your hands on and tap your way onto the dance floor when your favourite jam comes on.
Most importantly, your customers tap to pay.
As a small business owner, you’ve more than likely adopted a Tap & Go card machine into your business (and if you haven’t, this read still applies to you). To date, it’s the most effortless payment process the world has ever seen for customers and traders alike.Until now.
Let’s take that concept and make it even easier.Contactless payments are no longer exclusive to card machines. With the free iKhokha app, you can now accept Tap & Go payments on your phone.
What are Tap-on-Phone Payments?
Most modern-day phones are enabled with NFC (Near Field Communication).
In a nutshell, NFC is a subgroup of radio-frequency identification technology (RFID). RFID has been used for decades across various industries – for scanning groceries, managing resources and tracking inventory. Today, NFC technology has been widely adopted for secure transactions and data sharing.
NFC was once considered an exciting perk but has since become an integral part of close-range day-to-day data exchanges. It can be likened to Bluetooth sharing except, neither you nor the other party needs to manually input any connection details. NFC isn’t exclusive to phones: if you’ve ever used a tag to get through your office door, you’ve participated in an NFC data transaction.
Now, how does that apply to payments? When you enable NFC on your phone (if it isn’t automatically switched on, you may need to do this in your settings), your phone becomes receptive to data a few centimetres away.
So, if your customer has a bank card that allows tap payments, you can use a payment portal app and NFC to accept money directly from their card as it taps the back of your smartphone.
What is iK Tap on Phone?
iK Tap on Phone is our latest payment solution to level the playing field for South African entrepreneurs. Now, the majority of our country can start a business and accept card payments without a card machine. iK Tap on Phone is available for Android 9 and higher NFC-enabled smartphones.
iK Tap on Phone gives you the power to turn your phone into a card machine using the iKhokha app, where you can manage your business and get paid wherever you and your phone go.
Who Should Use iK Tap on Phone?
We realise that business looks different for everybody – sometimes you’re on the move, sometimes your machine isn’t working, and sometimes you’re managing multiple payments at once.
So, when you need to get paid, wouldn’t it be great to turn to the device that never leaves your side?
There are no limitations on what kind of business owners can benefit from phone card machines. Let’s look at some scenarios where iK Tap on Phone slots right in.
When your business is busy
We know the stress of seeing a long queue of unhappy-looking customers. A considerable customer expectation today is speed. If you already have a card machine, you can add another free payment solution by bringing iK Tap on Phone into your business.
This way, you can have one employee handling half of your payments and another handling the rest. Double the hustle, half the time!
When you don’t want to invest in a card machine yet
As a fintech company, we’ve had the pleasure of seeing businesses grow from the beginning right through to their current success. We know what it takes to start a business and that sometimes, slow and steady wins the race.
You don’t need to purchase an iKhokha card machine to become an iK Merchant. You can still access our payment solutions using the iKhokha app.
If you’re just starting out and want to wait for your business to grow before you get a card machine, you can use the tech you already interact with every day whilst still accessing our famously low transaction rate of 2.85% (Excl. VAT).
When you’re on the move
Who wants to leave their house when nearly every service you can imagine can come directly to your door? It’s time to take advantage of that feeling!
Delivery and mobile services are the perfect time to have a phone card machine on hand. Even if you already have a card machine, you never know when you might run out of battery (or signal).
With iK Tap on Phone, you can take your business anywhere.
By the way, this isn’t the only way you can use your phone to get paid. Check this out: How to Make Money Using Payment Links
Let’s Get You Tapping
What do you need to get started? Not much!
As we mentioned, you need an Android 9 or higher with your NFC enabled. Head to your settings if you want to check whether your phone has NFC or not.
To get trading, download the iKhokha app and follow the prompts to set up your iKhokha profile. Once your profile is good to go, you can start accepting payments via iK Tap on Phone.
When you’re ready to transact, type in the amount you’re charging and bring your customer’s card to the back of your smartphone. Wait for the tick, and boom, you just got paid!
If you’re already an iK Merchant, log out of your iKhokha app and log back in to access iK Tap on Phone AND iK Pay Link.
We have a team of fintech experts ready to get you started. If you have any questions, please email support@ikhokha.com or give us a call on 087 222 7000.
