By Haley Brengartner, Product Manager, Emporos
Merchant services – also known as payment processing services, credit card processing, merchant account services, and point of sale (POS) payment services – is an essential yet often misunderstood aspect of the payment ecosystem.
Every business that accepts credit card payments uses merchant services. However, these services can take many different forms, offered either as a series of individual components or as one unified service.
Due to the many different components involved, merchant services can seem daunting, resulting in many pharmacies miss out on cost and time savings. Let’s explore what merchant services is, why it matters, and what options are available.
What Is Pharmacy Merchant Services?
Merchant services is a payment-related service offering that enables a business to accept credit card transactions. It requires several different components including payment processors, gateways, devices, and reporting tools, all of which must work seamlessly. Each component may be contracted via individual vendors or be offered as a unified service managed by one vendor.
Why Does Merchant Services Matter for Pharmacies?
Credit cards are the most commonly used payment type1. For pharmacies, the ability to process credit card transactions ensures healthcare is accessible to patients and that the business remains competitive in the market.
Pragmatically, given the choice between two pharmacies, consumers would likely prefer the one that accepts the most forms of payments – making merchant services an operational necessity. Altruistically, patients should have as few roadblocks as possible to access the medications needed to care for their health.
What are the Key Components of Merchant Serices?
Merchant services consists of five key elements offered individually or as a unified package. When working together, these five components act as a well-oiled machine, processing credit card transactions with ease. But without proper integration, these elements can lead to inefficiencies, higher costs, and operational headaches.
These components include:
- Processing: The backbone of the payment system, responsible for routing transactions between the customer’s bank and the pharmacy’s bank.
- Gateway: Connects payment devices to processors, ensuring secure data transfer.
- Devices: Hardware, such as card readers or POS systems, used to capture payment information.
- Reporting: Tools for tracking transactions, managing finances, and ensuring compliance.
- People: The vendors and support teams involved in troubleshooting, managing, and optimizing the system.
What’s Better: Unified Merchant Services or Separate Contractors with Individual Vendors?
Unified merchant services is becoming increasingly popular, offering cost and complexity benefits for businesses. Instead of requiring the pharmacy to negotiate, contract, and liaise with separate vendors, they can simply work with one provider who handles all these aspects on their behalf, at a better price point.
What Are the Benefits of Unified Merchant Services?
Unified merchant services consolidates all components under a single provider, offering a variety of benefits, including:
- Cost Savings: Unified services eliminate overlapping vendor fees, ensuring pharmacies aren’t overcharged for transaction processing.
- Simplified Vendor Management: Managing multiple vendors can be time-consuming and error-prone. With a unified provider, pharmacies have one point of contact for all merchant services needs, from troubleshooting to system updates.
- Enhanced Efficiency: Integrated systems mean less time spent reconciling data, troubleshooting issues, and navigating complex workflows. Staff can focus on clinical tasks rather than operational distractions.
- Improved Reporting: Consolidated reporting tools provide pharmacies with actionable insights into their payment operations, helping them make data-driven decisions and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.
- Seamless Integration: Emporos’ unified platform integrates with other pharmacy systems, enabling smoother operations and reducing downtime.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Emporos has been at the forefront of pharmacy commerce for over 20 years, offering modern, safe, and simple solutions. The Emporos’ Merchant Services offering bundles payment processing, gateway, devices, reporting, and vendor management into one low-cost, easy to manage solution.
With Emporos, pharmacies can:
- Save Money: Reduce transaction fees and vendor costs.
- Streamline Workflows: Eliminate the inefficiencies of managing multiple vendors.
- Reduce Risk: As a PCI DSS version 4.0 level 1 service provider and SOC II Type 2 certified, pharmacies can rest assured all patient payment data is safe.
- Gain Peace of Mind: Trust Emporos’ experts to handle all aspects of merchant services.
- Focus on Patients: Spend less time and energy managing payments and more time on the patient experience.
- Improve Contracting: Working with Emporos allows you to consolidate contracts among payment processors, gateways, devices, and reporting tools into a single agreement.
Emporos is revolutionizing merchant services for pharmacies, providing a unified, efficient, and cost-effective solution. Don’t let fragmented systems and high fees hold you back — request a demo today to learn what opportunities exist for your pharmacy.
Merchant Services Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- How do I know if I’m paying too much for merchant services? Emporos can conduct a free cost analysis of your current merchant services setup and identify what savings opportunities exist.
- Who do I contact to learn more about Emporos Merchant Services? If you’re a current customer, reach out to your Account Manager. Otherwise, you can request a conversation with us here.
- Can I use Emporos Merchant Services without switching my entire POS system? Yes, Emporos offers flexible solutions that can integrate with your existing systems.
- What sets Emporos apart from other merchant service providers? Emporos is the payment expert, focusing exclusively on pharmacy commerce. With deep roots in the payment landscape stretching back over twenty years, we have the knowledge and partnerships to ensure you’re getting the very best.
- How quickly can I implement Emporos Merchant Services? Implementation timelines vary, but Emporos’ team will work with you to minimize disruption and get online quickly. Typically, it takes customers 2-4 weeks to have merchant services up and running, including contracting and hardware shipping.
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