Discover how sustainable payments can boost your business, increase loyalty and reduce costs. Learn about the most effective and technological methods to guarantee more sales and balanced financial management.

We are at a time of significant change in the Portuguese and global patchwork.

A changing consumer habits, the technological revolution and economic challenges are just a few examples of how the ecosystem in which businesses have navigated for several decades is undergoing rapid change.

All of this ends up making it very difficult for companies to keep up with the pace of change and, above all, to guarantee their sustainability on this increasingly global stage.

To support companies in this process of adaptation and sustainable transformation, REDUNIQ has developed the ESG platform Quant, a innovative tool that allows organisations to measure, compare and improve their environmental, social and governance performance.

With this solution, you can evaluate the real impact of business practices and identify concrete opportunities for moving towards a more sustainable and responsible operationThis includes the financial and digital dimensions, such as the payment methods themselves.

This is where the sustainable payments, solutions that speed up and make customer service more flexible and improve the shopping experienceIn the meantime, it guarantees more sales, a higher loyalty rate and the valorisation of your business.

What are sustainable payment practices?

When we talk about sustainable payments, we're not just referring to their impact on the environment, but also (and above all) to a transactional ecosystem that ensures good business management, customer satisfaction and an increase in sales and loyalty rates.

In order to understand what sustainable payment methods are in practice, a number of elements need to be considered. The first is to know which means of payment are most commonly used today and what the trends in this area suggest.

According to the latest Banco de Portugal Payment Systems Report, a Contactless technology has taken over the face-to-face payment universe in our country, having ended 2024 with a 56.7% share of debit and credit card transactions..

If we add to this percentage the contactless payments made with MB WAY and digital wallets, it quickly became apparent that this way of paying, in which the POS and the customer's card or smartphone don't touch each other, has become more prevalent in face-to-face transactions.

Therefore, for a shop or restaurant to guarantee more sales and more customers, for example, a sustainable payment method must be one that is aligned with the needs and transactional habits of its customers, as well as with the level of turnover of the business.

However, these days it's not enough to offer payment methods that suit customers, but also to provide them with a personalised shopping experience tailored to their socio-economic conditions.

This is where the instalment payments - such as Instalment plan with UNICREand the solutions that enable a customer pays in their home currency – DCC.

In the first case, this type of solution, which has already won over more than 400 million consumers around the world, enables a customers pay for their purchases in interest-free instalments without the merchant having to wait many months to receive the full amount of the sale, which ultimately guarantees healthier finances, more cash in hand and a higher loyalty rate.

As far as payments in the customer's home currency are concerned, this is extremely important for businesses that make a living from tourism in Portugal and receive many clients from outside the eurozone.

In addition to facilitating exchange (automatic and integrated at the time of payment) and reducing operating expenses, with this type of solution, the business can offer the customer a value-added service that ends up enhancing customer service..

Which sustainable payment methods are best suited to your business?

Bearing in mind all of the above, in order to make your business more sustainable from an economic point of view, the solution must include the installation of automatic payment terminals able to observe not only the portuguese consumers' preference for contactless paymentsas well as the enhancing your shopping experience by splitting payments and allowing foreign customers to pay in their home currency.

In addition to these three dimensions, there is another: the containment of operating costs, but how do you combine all these elements in a single payment method?

The answer you're looking for lies in one of these three TPAs:

Free TPA with Easy monthly fee

Created with seasonal and/or low turnover businesses in mind, this terminal with Easy monthly fee will allow you to receive contactless payments with national and international credit and debit cards, digital wallets (Apple Pay and Google Pay) and MB WAY.

The advantages for the sustainability of your business go far beyond accepting payments. With this free TPA from REDUNIQ, you benefit from no fees and commissions (up to €7,500 per month), no membership costs, no loyalty period and no minimum revenue requirement.

What's more, the monthly fee is adjusted to the turnover of your business - paying only what matches your operational reality and ensuring flexibility and adaptability to your needs.

TPA Smart

More robust and technological than the Easy, the TPA Smart ensures that its business keeps pace with the growing digitalisation of everyday life and offers a value-added service to its customers.

As well as allowing shoppers to pay by chip or contactless via national and international cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay and MB WAY, the Android Smart TPA is prepared to accommodate a variety of mobile applications, such as the App Parcela Já con UNICRE and PIX.

While the Parcela Já app with UNICRE allows your customers to split payments for purchases between 2 and 6 interest-free instalments, PIX gives you a greater ability to attract Brazilian customers by converting payments in Brazilian reals into euros automatically and seamlessly.

As for customers from outside the eurozone, this terminal offers the following features DCC - Currency Conversion e Tax Free (which provides greater convenience in VAT reimbursement), which respectively allow a foreign customer to pay by card in their home currency and more easily obtain VAT reimbursement for purchases made in national territory.

Soft

Digital mobility has a name: Soft.

Capable of turning your Android device into a POS, this application, when installed on your smartphone, will allow you, anywhere and at any time, not only to receive payments by QR Code, NFC, contactless (Visa or Mastercard), mobile phone number, MB WAY, Google Pay and Apple Pay, but also to benefit from PIX's DCC - Currency Conversion feature and to send the receipt by email, make remote returns and personalise profiles.

Advantages of accepting sustainable payments in your business

By starting to accept sustainable payments, your business will be able to secure the following competitive advantages:

• Financial stability;
• Increased turnover;
• Higher customer loyalty and satisfaction rates;
• Average ticket growth (average amount spent on each purchase);
• Offering a more personalised and satisfying purchasing journey;
• More agile and complete back-office management systems;
• Reduced operating costs;
• Greater flexibility when it comes to payment;
• Valuing your business in the eyes of your customers;
• Greater competitiveness against its direct competitors.