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Consumers’ choice: Shopping for expedited financial services
- Behshad Hastibakhsh
Today's consumers engage in repetitive shopping patterns, as they visit brand-name retail stores and select familiar products. The weekly shopping lists often include bill payment next to bread, milk, and other grocery items. The choice of preferred retailers and subsequent product purchase decisions depend on many factors, such as the quality of in-store offerings, customer service, money saving opportunities, etc. Consumers' shopping patterns are often shaped by multiple opportunities in the selection of retail destinations and purchase products. While consumers have the ultimate choice on how to spend and manage their hard earned dollars, retailers add new products and services to create one-stop shopping destinations and expand their customer base.
In this competitive environment, convenience stores, groceries and other retailers realize consumers' purchasing power and the need to offer expedited financial services as a complement to traditional products and services. The search for new innovative solutions leads to the introduction of self-serve kiosks for the delivery of expedited bill payment and financial services. These kiosks are often deployed at stores in neighborhoods with a high concentration of low-income, ethnic and cash-paying consumers whose growing needs for access to last-minute financial services cannot be met by conventional banking institutions. By adding expedited financial services, retailers secure the competitive edge, increase in-store foot traffic and generate additional recurring revenue. Innovative self-serve bill payment solutions enable retailers to differentiate themselves from the competition, and free up their sales staff to concentrate on cross-selling / up-selling and address complex customer service related issues.
To fulfill high thresholds of customers' expectations, retailers enter into strategic partnership with turnkey bill payment solution providers, such as TIO Networks, with core competencies in real-time processing of financial transactions.
Meanwhile, customers benefit from the availability of a wide array of in-store products and services in neighborhoods across the United States. Millions of US households, who until recently have been marginalized due to insufficient and non-existing banking relationships, are now empowered with the benefit of access to cash-based financial services.
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