If you’re looking for a great way to lower your credit card processing fees, Celero Choice is your solution! Let’s discuss this breakthrough program, first launched during the pandemic, and the benefits you’ll see as a business owner. 

What is Celero Choice? 

Over the past few years, credit card issuers have steadily increased the rewards given to card holders, and this has caused more people to reach for their card instead of cash while shopping. While this is great for the consumer, it has unfortunately pushed the cost of merchants accepting credit cards higher and higher. Many merchants are shocked at how high their bill is each month but we’ve developed a way to prevent high processing costs. 

Celero Choice is a cash discount program that enables businesses to add a non-cash service fee to all purchases made via credit card. 

How It Works

Here’s how Celero Choice works: Your customers are given the choice to pay the bill balance “as is” using a credit card or accept a discount in exchange for paying with cash. For any non-cash payments, a small service fee is added to the purchase cost. With cash discounting, you’re able to let the customers help pay for the rising fees related to rewards cards. It’s perfect for merchants who frequently transact small ticket items, such as gas stations, coffee shops, and fast food restaurants. By encouraging customers to pay via cash, this program helps to eliminate many processing fees altogether.

Why You and Your Customers Will Love It

This simple process is legal, beneficial to merchants, and appreciated by customers--you’re giving them more choice (it’s in the name, after all). Many consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the high processing fees charged by credit card companies. Surveys have shown that 80 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t think twice about paying a $1.00 fee on a $25.00 transaction for the convenience of using their credit card. A majority of consumers are understanding of the plight of small to mid-sized businesses when it comes to the costs of accepting credit cards, as well as other costs of doing business.

When it comes to setting up cash discounting at your business, Celero Choice couldn’t be easier. We’ll handle the set-up, in-store signage, and employee training. All you have to do is sign up, go about your normally scheduled work, and start saving money. While this won’t completely eliminate your monthly credit card processing fees, Choice will significantly lower your bill. Many merchants that implement this program see their fees drop below $50.00 a month, even if their prior fees were several hundred or even thousands of dollars!

Contact Us 

Are you interested in learning more about Celero Choice? Contact us today for additional information and guidance on getting started!  

Before we launched as a company, co-founders Kevin Jones and Jeff Brown made it Celero Commerce’s mission to equip community banks and their armies of small and mid-sized merchants with technology offerings previously reserved for large banks and enterprise-level businesses.  

We’ve stayed true to that mission, as many of you have seen in the software allied under our BANKMAX Compass. Compass is a suite of tools designed to help you, our community bank partners, acquire and grow commercial relationships while driving your non-interest income.  A key element of Compass, in addition to features like friction-less merchant onboarding and lead management, is an underwriting tool called Celero Confirm.

We realized that our liability-holding agent banks needed all the help we could give them with regard to underwriting. The world of electronic payments moves at much greater speed, and the risk comes at you fast. Confirm is an automated underwriting tool that keeps you not only agile, but secure, too. You’ll underwrite the majority of your new merchant deals quickly, while remaining compliant with all major card brands, sponsor banks, and industry regulators. 

Integrated with Compass, Confirm is just another great example of how we believe in our community bank partners. With the right tools for the job, we know you can do anything.

Your lawn is one of the first things people notice when visiting your home. For many Americans, having a lush, green, well-landscaped yard is absolutely essential to creating that “dream house.” In this article, we’ll take a look at five success tips that can help your business stand out in this ever-popular industry.

1. Create an Online Presence

In 2021, people need to be able to find your business online. These days, it’s the first place most of us look when in need of a service. You want to be sure that anyone in your area who searches for “landscapers near me” will see your business pop up. Even if you do great business through word-of-mouth and have survived with a minimal presence online (or none at all), putting time and effort into building your online presence will attract new clients who wouldn’t have heard of your company otherwise. In addition, your website and social media channels present a great opportunity to build your brand. Utilize them as a place where clients can get to know not just what you do, but who you are. What are your values as a business? How can clients expect to be treated? Are there past clients who can attest to this using testimonials? Your online presence should build your brand, and vice versa.

2. Invest in Eco-Friendly Equipment & Practices

Environmental responsibility weighs heavily on the modern consumer’s mind, especially when deciding which company to hire for a big, ongoing project. Clients want to feel like they’re making the best decision for themselves and for the environment. Investing in greener practices doesn’t mean going solar overnight; simply making incremental changes over time demonstrates a clear commitment to the environment. For example, you could go paperless as a company by switching to a mobile field service management software like RazorSync; replace old vehicles with more fuel-efficient ones; or purchase office supplies made from recycled materials. There are a variety of ways, big and small, to show your client base that you care about the environment as much as they do.

3. Hire the Right People

If you’ve taken the time to build a great business, you want to ensure that field workers, who serve as the face of that business, are embodying the values and practices that make it great. You could have the most efficient and expensive equipment in the world, but one unkind field employee will still lead to bad client reviews. Seek friendly, motivated, strong-minded individuals whose vision for the business matches up with your own. Employees, too, will appreciate your efforts to create a positive company culture. You’ll enjoy a greater sense of shared commitment and comradery when you’re hiring the right people for your business.

4. Learn from Others

Smart companies know the importance of staying on top of trends and current best practices. Even if you know you’re the best of the best, never stop learning! Your training should be an ongoing process throughout the life of your business. Check out trade association meetings or manufacturer’s training events. Network with other landscapers in your area to hone your skills and see what local clients are demanding. You can learn a lot from the competition, whether it’s a new field technique or a better way to manage things at the office.

5. Enlist the Help of Field Service Management Software

Field service management software like RazorSync makes the hardest parts of running your business – like managing field workers and processing customer payments – seamless. From GPS tracking to automatic billing to QuickBooks integration, RazorSync provides everything you need to run your lawncare and landscape business like a well-oiled machine. Invoice clients in seconds, right on the job site; track field workers via GPS in real time; and cut down substantially on paperwork. Visit https://www.razorsync.com/ to request a free live demo.

Ever since we started Celero in 2018, we’ve made it our mission to continuously evolve and expand—from adding new payment solutions every year to releasing our very own gateway, Celero Connect. Now, we’re thrilled to announce the latest addition to Celero’s growing portfolio: CashierLive, a cutting-edge software platform for retail and point-of-sale.

CashierLive represents everything that we love at Celero: making life easier for small business owners, selling the latest and greatest payments technologies, and providing best-in-class service to our partners. CashierLive delivers all that and more with their smart POS software, designed for businesses across virtually every industry. Features include inventory, reporting, customer relationship management, and much more. The best part is, it’s all bundled together in one easy-to-use platform, which can be accessed anywhere from multiple devices.

With this latest partnership, we continue to expand our range of solutions and empower our employees to sell even more high-tech products and services. We know that our team members, and especially those in client-facing roles, will love CashierLive just as much as we do!

To learn more about this exciting addition to the Celero family, please visit www.cashierlive.com. #PoweredByCelero

Streamlined system represents the latest in bundled solutions from Celero, reaffirming the company’s commitment to small and mid-sized businesses nationwide

This past quarter marked the launch of one of our more significant innovations for merchants nationwide. We are proud to announce the release of Celero Connect, an omni-channel payment gateway designed to help manage and grow businesses on a single platform. The move marks an exciting new chapter for our company, its 40,000 merchant partners, and its 150 financial institution partners.

“Celero Connect is the most versatile and user-friendly payment gateway on the market,” said Celero Commerce Chief Technology Officer Charlie Berard. “Our focus has always been on enabling our merchant partners to grow sustainably and with ease, and we’re thrilled to now offer an all-in-one solution to the many challenges that they face on a daily basis.”

The Celero Connect platform offers a full range of payment processing and business management capabilities. It represents the future of payments, where cards can be accepted anywhere through virtual terminals, mobile phones, E-commerce, EMV, and contactless payments. Going far beyond card processing, Connect also gives merchants easy access to real-time reports, enhanced data, a customer vault, and much more.

The release of Celero Connect follows a period of rapid growth and success since the company’s launch in 2018. “Celero was created to help small and medium-sized businesses compete and win in the marketplace, which we do by delivering highly intuitive software and payments solutions,” said company co-founder and CEO Kevin Jones. “With the launch of this software, we’re one step closer to becoming the most recognized name when it comes to all-in-one, bundled solutions for small business.”

Contact your relationship manager to learn more about what Celero Connect, now available to all of our FI partners, can do for your merchants. 

Although contactless payments have been around for years, they’re just now starting to gain major traction in the United States. The hygiene concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have caused many consumers to embrace contactless payment methods, but it’s important to remember that contactless isn’t a temporary fad. Let’s discuss the remarkable technology behind these payments!

The Basics of Near Field Communication 

Contactless payments are made possible thanks to Near Field Communication (NFC), a short-range wireless technology that enables two devices to remotely communicate with each other. Similar to Bluetooth connectivity and WiFi, NFC works by sending information via radio waves from one NFC-compatible device to another. The device transmitting data, most commonly a smartphone or credit card, is classified as “NFC active” and the device receiving data, usually a payment terminal, is “NFC passive.” In order for these devices to communicate with each other, they need to be held within 4 centimeters of each other. 

Modern-day NFC technology was born from Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which was patented in 1983. Even after RFID was introduced to the world, it took a few years for it to be picked up and tweaked into the NFC technology we know and love today. In 2004, Nokia, Philips, and Sony joined forces to create the NFC Forum, a non-profit dedicated to bringing NFC technology to people around the globe. Without these three influential companies banding together to spread the word about this technology, it’s likely that contactless payments and other NFC-enabled functions wouldn’t be as developed as they are today. 

The Future of Payments 

Before the pandemic, contactless payments were slowly gaining popularity in America. Fast forward to 2021, and this payment method is quickly becoming the preferred option for many consumers. Despite the slow adoption in the United States prior to COVID-19, countries like New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Phillippines, and many European countries have been using and loving this payment method for years! The world is going contactless for a multitude of reasons: 

• Hygiene: Contactless payments are more hygienic. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly recommends utilizing contactless payments whenever possible since it will help prevent the spread of disease. 
• Security: Simply put, contactless payments are significantly safer than the outdated magnetic stripe payment method. In order to complete a contactless transaction, a unique one-time code is generated and sent to the payment terminal. The code doesn’t contain any card information so even if it’s compromised, hackers aren’t able to make any further purchases using it. 
• Faster: While chip payments are just as secure as contactless payments, they take longer to process. To be exact, contactless transactions take about half the time of a chip transaction. 

Contact Us Today

Offering contactless payments improves your checkout experience significantly. Contact us today to learn about our contactless solutions designed for merchants!

Due to the quickly shifting needs of businesses, consumers, and regulatory agencies alike, the payments industry is constantly evolving. Let’s discuss some of the incredible innovations you should be on the lookout for! 

Changes to In-Store Purchases 

Due in large part to the pandemic, 2020 saw in-store transactions drop 3 percent. While this doesn’t equate to the permanent decline or death of brick-and-mortar shopping, in-store payment methods have been forced to adapt to increased hygiene concerns associated with the virus. There’s been a sharp decline in cash and check usage and a significant increase in debit and credit card payments. It’s unlikely that consumers will phase out cash and check payments entirely, but it is clear that the preference toward digital payment methods is increasing. Because of this, it becomes increasingly important for businesses to employ safe, reliable, and easy-to-use credit card processing devices. More often than not, customers will want to pay with their card, so having the right payment hardware is imperative to the success of a business. 

Up in the Clouds 

Cloud technology isn’t a new concept throughout much of the world, but it’s certainly making waves in the payments industry. With the increasing popularity of online shopping, businesses need a convenient and safe way to accept payments from their customers. Cloud-based payments run on a network of remote servers, offering enhanced data security, lightning-fast payment processing, and superior reliability. Due to the pandemic, many consumers are opting to swap out in-person shopping for online shopping whenever possible. Cloud technology is playing a huge part in helping businesses keep their revenues flowing during this challenging time. 

Growth of Mobile Wallets

In the past year, there’s been an explosion in the popularity of mobile wallet apps. In 2019, the mobile wallet market was valued at approximately $1,094.75 billion. By 2027, it’s estimated that this value will balloon to a staggering $7,784.90 billion! Many Asian and European countries have been embracing the cashless lifestyle for years, but adoption has been relatively slow in America. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the widespread adoption of this useful technology among American consumers. 

Increased Popularity of Super-App Operating Models

App developers are constantly working to create more convenience for their customers by integrating multiple functions into a single application. The “super-apps concept” was originally introduced in 2010 by Blackberry founder Mike Lazaridis to describe “a closed ecosystem of multiple apps that users turn to daily because of their convenience.” This concept has been adopted by many app developers within the payments industry, and it’s resulted in apps that seamlessly integrate payment processing capabilities with customer service, finance, and messaging functions. Now that mobile wallets are being adopted by Americans, many developers are searching for ways to incorporate other important features into these programs. 

Contact Us Today 

The payments industry moves at the speed of light, but we’re here to help you stay up-to-date on the latest solutions. Contact us to learn more about how we can help!

Partnership provides automotive repair and maintenance shops ways to improve their vehicle owner’s payment experience 

Nashville, TN – May 6, 2021 – TransNational Payments (“TransNational”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Celero Commerce and leading provider of merchant payment solutions across the United States, today announced a partnership with BOLT ON TECHNOLOGY (“BOLT ON”) to provide auto repair and maintenance shops an integrated payments platform that allows their vehicle owners to utilize more advanced payment methods for services rendered. TransNational will improve the customer experience for shop owners by allowing them to accept any form of payment from any device anywhere, all integrated into BOLT ON’s software.   

“We are excited to partner with BOLT ON and be able to provide customers with revenue generating technology and high touch payment services. We look forward to providing BOLT ON customers with the highest levels of payment support, transparency, technology, and cost-saving rates and fees. This unique partnership, in turn, allows us to offer BOLT ON to our significant number of automotive repair merchants,” said Perry Tatooles, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at TransNational. 

Auto shops can now take advantage of significant benefits of having an integrated payment solution.  This all-in-one business management and payments solution will work seamlessly with shops already using products like Mitchell1 and AllData, software solutions that provide information on repair and maintenance procedures.  This powerful technology combination will help auto shops grow and thrive in today’s business landscape. 

“We’re thrilled to add TransNational as a payment processing partner for Text to Pay and credit card processing, as shops can benefit from their commitment to customer service and air-tight data security, while offering a service that’s growing in popularity among vehicle owners,” said Michael Risich, founder, and CEO of BOLT ON TECHNOLOGY. “This is one more reason for shops to go all-in on mobile payments.” 

About TransNational Payments 
 

TransNational Payments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Celero Commerce, is an industry leader in payment and technology solutions serving businesses nationwide, with expertise within the auto services sector. Merchants trust TransNational Payments to manage their payments in-store, online and anywhere their business takes them.  More information on TransNational Payments can be found at https://gotnpayments.com/. 

About BOLT ON TECHNOLOGY 
 
BOLT ON TECHNOLOGY equips the automotive repair and maintenance aftermarket with award-winning technology tools to improve customer communication. The company’s technology instantly transmits photos, videos, and text messages to communicate automotive repair details, thereby increasing customer trust, boosting sales, and empowering shops to build long-term customer relationships. Along with ongoing training and support, BOLT ON’s integrated mobile, digital as well as standalone tools also reduce problems inherent in the service process, while increasing shop productivity, revenue, and customer satisfaction. Over the years, BOLT ON has worked with nearly 10,000 independent repair shops, who have used our platform to send more than 56 million repair photos to vehicle owners. For more information, visit https://www.boltontechnology.com/ or call 610-890-3240. 

Media Contact: 
 

Celero Commerce 
 

Scott Farace, Chief Marketing Officer 
 

scottf@celerocommerce.com 
 

972-533-5655 

The Celero Commerce executive team created the Michael P. Duffy Leadership Award as a way to honor those who exemplify our highest organizational values: respect, excellence, communication, intention, performance, user experience, and simple, disruptive solutions. It is with great pride that we announce the 2021 first quarter recipient of this award: Kim Henley, Director of Merchant Accounting.

Streamlined platform represents the latest solution from Celero, reaffirming the company’s commitment to community banks, small and mid-sized businesses  

Nashville, TN – April 27, 2021 – Celero Commerce (“Celero”), a top 10 non-bank payment processor in the United States, today announced the release of Celero Connect, an omni channel payment gateway designed to help manage and grow businesses on a single platform.  This initial release is being made available to Celero’s Financial Institution (FI) partners.  Connect provides Celero’s FI partners with a solution for their merchants that improves the customer experience and unifies all their points of sale.  

“Celero Connect makes accepting payments easy, whether they are in-store, mobile, online, or self-service,” said Celero Commerce Chief Technology Officer Charlie Berard. “Our focus has  always been on enabling our merchant partners to grow sustainably and with ease, and we’re  thrilled to now offer an all-in-one solution to the many challenges that they face on a daily  basis.” 

The Celero Connect platform offers a full range of payment processing and business management capabilities and represents the future of payments, where all types of payment can be accepted from anywhere. Going far beyond card processing, Celero Connect also gives merchants easy access to real-time reports, enhanced data, a customer vault, and much more. 

The release of Celero Connect follows a period of rapid growth and success since the company’s launch in 2018. “Celero was created to help small and medium-sized businesses compete and win in the marketplace, which we do by delivering highly intuitive software and payments solutions, complete with high-touch service,” said company co-founder and CEO  Kevin Jones. “The launch of Connect is the latest innovation to make good on that promise.” 

About Celero Commerce 

Headquartered in Nashville, Celero Commerce is a full-service, integrated electronic commerce solutions provider powered by leading edge technology, strategic partnerships, and business intelligence. Celero offers payment processing services, business management software, and data intelligence to small and medium-sized businesses, empowering them to drive growth and profitability.

Media Contact:

Celero Commerce
Scott Farace, Chief Marketing Officer
scottf@celerocommerce.com
972-533-5655