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Get ready to celebrate independent Record Store Day

18 Apr 2024

Independent record stores around the country are preparing to celebrate all things vinyl for this year’s Record Store Day on Saturday April 20th. 
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Indies encouraged to put themselves forward for Retail Business of the Year award.

18 Apr 2024

BIRA, the British Independent Retailers Association, has announced its partnership with this year’s SME National Business Awards., joining the 2024 awards as a leading sponsor, backing... Read more…

Family-run Polesworth fish and chip shop celebrates 40 years in business with half-price chips.

18 Apr 2024

A Midlands fish and chip shop is celebrating 40 years in business and offering half-price chips to mark the milestone.
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Assault of shop workers to be made specific criminal offence

18 Apr 2024

Assaulting a shop worker is to be made a separate criminal offence in England and Wales as part of a government response to a wave of retail crime. 
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New stores helping Cardiff arcades buck retail trends.

18 Apr 2024

Eleven new businesses that have opened in the last year in the historic arcades of Cardiff city centre’s Morgan Quarter, made up of the Morgan and Royal arcades, have helped the arcades... Read more…

Study highlights impact of rising staff costs for convenience retailers.

3 Apr 2024

Research by the University of Stirling and the Scottish Grocers’ Federation has shed light on the impact of rising staff costs on the convenience retail sector in Scotland.
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Independent department stores hitting a sweet spot on local high streets.

3 Apr 2024

With large national chains increasingly disappearing from the high street, Drapers magazine has been looking at how independent department stores are stepping up their offerings to... Read more…

Entries open for 2024 Baking Industry Awards

2 Apr 2024

The Baking Industry Awards return for their 37th year and are once again ready to recognise and reward the very best people, products, and businesses in the sector. The awards showcase the... Read more…

Family-owned cycle shop celebrates 90 years trading in Walsall.

2 Apr 2024

Walsall's cycling community has been celebrating a family-owned business which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.
 
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Payment-processing outages at UK retailers raise reliability issues for cashless transactions.

2 Apr 2024

Recent payment disruptions at supermarkets and fast-food outlets have raised questions on the need for improved reliability.
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Updated guidance on Strong Customer Authentication (SCA)

Posted on in Business News, Cycles News

UK Finance have announced that from 1 June 2021 you must be ready to support Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) if your business accepts online card payments.

If your online checkout for card payments does not meet the new legal requirements for SCA, customers may not be able to buy from you.

Strong Customer Authentication is the way your bank or payment services provider verifies your identity or validates a specific payment instruction is changing. These changes are designed to reduce the risk of a fraudster pretending to be you to steal your money. Your customers' checkout experience will be different, they will be required to complete an extra security step to complete the purchase. 

 

What do I need to do now to minimise business disruption?

  1. Contact the organisation responsible for processing your online card payments for help getting ready
  2. Familiarise yourself with SCA and understand the impact on your customers' checkout experience
  3. Update and test your checkout processes well in advance of 1 June 2021 to minimise your customers' online card payments from being declined

The benefits of SCA:

✓ Reduced fraudulent transactions - reducing your losses
✓ Improved customer satisfaction - confidence and loyalty
✓ Shift in liability - from you to your customer's card provider
 

What could happen if I'm not ready?

X Loss of online sales - customers abandoning or being declined at checkout
X Loss of customers - to more secure competitors
X Reduced customer satisfaction - due to increased friction and payments being declined 
 
 

Finding the best card processing service for you

The ACT and ActSmart have partnered with two card processing partners to ensure the we can provide the best solution for all business.
 
We recommend Global Payments for established businesses with medium to high card turnover and Paya Card Services for new and smaller businesses with lower card volumes.
 
To find out more about which service is best for your business please visit the ActSmart site here or ACT site here.

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