How does Apple Card Benefits Small Businesses

From barter systems and centralized banks to digital banking institutions; there are still many marvels of technology the Fintech domain is yet to behold.

Since the inception of digital wallets and digital transactions in general, many curious startups and companies have come forward to contribute their innovative share of amazingness, including the financial domain.

And Apple, being a pioneer and the epitome of inventions, has yet again swept the world off its feet. 

From the first touchscreen iPhones to Macs, Apple has been killing every game it enters. And to the dismay of traditional financial providers, it has now unleashed its financial products “Apple Pay” and “Apple Card” to capture this market as well. 

It seems like Apple had it planned long ago – to offer all the services to the users at one place – their iPhone. 

Apple Pay released back in 2014, is now followed by Apple Card that was released only in August 2019.

So, while the debate of how these products benefit users has been doing the rounds, it will be interesting to speculate its positive effects on businesses around the world. More specifically, what will businesses gain by integrating Apple Card and Apple Pay into their mobility solutions?

The fact that experts believe 90% of the smartphone users will land on mobile payment method by the end of this year, is enough for startups and businesses that have invested in mobile app development to rethink about more payment gateways, Apple Credit Card integrated into Apple Pay being one of them.

Since Apple has not officially shared its views in this direction, we take it upon ourselves to unravel the truth. 

Let’s cover the whole ground starting from the basics and then work our way up to the crux of the discussion – How is Apple Credit Card/Apple Pay for small businesses an asset to cherish. After all, one must have crucial information about the product before taking dynamic decisions. 

What is an Apple Card and how it works?

“There’s never been a credit card this smart” – Apple

Apple Credit Card, or simply Apple Card is like any other credit card (digital and physical) only better. This product is a result of the collaboration between Apple and Goldman Sachs. 

For users, they first need to apply for an Apple Credit Card via the Wallet app. It only takes a few days in approval. This digital card can be used to make payments across multiple platforms. To apply for Apple Credit Card’s physical version, the process remains the same. 

Apple Card “practically lives on your iPhone” and “lets you do things you simply couldn’t do before” – What does this mean? You must be wondering.

Well, the reason why this product has bagged such hype in many Apple Credit Card reviews, is all due to its brilliant money management feature of the whole experience. Although most of the credit cards now show transactions and other important numbers, Apple Cards exceeds those common expectations. 

The card can be managed with the help of the Wallet app, which is also used for applying for the card. It gives users updated data on their spending patterns and helps them track. The Apple team yet again did it differently. The app color-codes recurring items you spend on and can track your weekly or monthly transactions with respect to locations they were transacted at. 

What are Apple Credit Card benefits?

These benefits will give a clear idea of why users are using Apple Cards to such a great extent and why many small businesses are integrating it into their products. 

Security

If there is one thing that Apple is hailed for is, you know, security. Be it the security of its hardware devices or software. This is something that also stands true for the Apple Card and Pay. Apple Pay purchases are highly secure. 

When signing up for an Apple Credit Card for your small business, you will be provided with a unique number in real-time which gets stored in the secure element of your iPhone. So, that code is needed whenever a purchase takes place along with a dynamically generated transaction ID. Further things that may require are Face ID. 

Moreover, one of the best Apple Credit Card benefits is that the company keeps all the data private by prohibiting Goldman Sachs from sharing or selling the data. 

Apple says “No fees”

The reason why Apple Card poses as an ideal choice for small business financing and personal use, of course, is it’s free. Yes, there are no Apple credit card fees whatsoever. No foreign transaction, annual, late, etc. charges are imposed on cardholders – something that your business can benefit from since users would be more inclined to use this option.

And one more fact that may skyrocket the popularity of Apple Card after the COVID-19 pandemic is that the company had offered temporary relief for payments for March and April to its users.

Apple Card Cash-back rewards

It is not a new concept. Nevertheless, Apple has still managed to leave its watermark. Apple Card rewards users 1% cashback on everything to users on Apple Card payment and 2% if they use Apple Pay.

Maps of purchased made

Pretty much the most interesting Apple Credit Card benefit is it allows users to see on the map where they made the purchase, no merchant codes, only the store name on the map. This eliminates the problem that credit cards often showed minimal location information, up until now. Something that banks can learn a lot from.

How does Apple Card help businesses?

Online transaction is the new black

If you own an E-commerce/M-Commerce business, then your business model relies on online sales. Here, Apple Pay for small businesses is a must-grab deal. Users can easily pay for their purchases with their Apple Card using Apple Pay -something that can help avoid the abandoned cart situation.

Without restricting to the commerce domain, Apple Card as a payment option will work wonders for gaming applications, subscription-based applications such as entertainment and music, and of course on-demand mobility solutions, just to name a few.

Security that sprouts user trust 

As we have discussed above, Apple Pay is a trusted and highly secure medium to perform online transactions. Allowing users to use Apple Card for your business will terminate any trust issues or any unfavorable preconceived notions they might have. 

And to be forward, this is not just a one-time thing, rather it has the potential to turn your one-time user/customer into a loyal one. The security promise is not just a point of relief to users but also the businesses, imparting assurance of protected transactions. 

Must-have to target younger demographics

As we are rolling towards the concept of a cashless economy, a majority of the participants in this notion are believed to be the millennials and younger demographic. 

Since the iPhone is indisputably the most popular smartphone among younger audiences, integrating Apple Card via Apple Pay into your mobile app might just be the push towards the success you were lacking. Moreover, offering multiple online payment gateway options will only add to your benefit. If you skip on this opportunity, there is a high probability of your probable customers going to your alternatives. 

Cashback rewards = increased sales

One of the benefits of Apple Card for businesses (indirectly) is the cashback rewards to the users. Since Apple offers a fair percentage of cashback on transactions made through Apple Card (via Apple Pay), this will encourage users to purchase from your mobile application or business if you have this option to offer.

Conversion boost

The advantages of streamlined and easy transactions ripple down to many deeper levels. One of them being increased conversion rates. Consequently, as your sales graphs rise upwards, your short and long-term profits will definitely take off too. 

After all, the mantra for businesses is to offer what’s in demand, and this is, without a doubt,  something of a need of the hour. In fact, according to a few industry experts, we might move on from cash and physical cards completely by 2030. Better start catching up, right? 

{Take a detour: Advantages of iPhone Application Development for Your Business}

Mobile applications using Apple Card via Apple pay

I have figured that having examples always helps in making an informed decision. So, here are a few renowned companies that identified the opportunities Apple Card has to offer and integrated it into their mobile applications.  

Nike

The company has integrated the Apple Card as a payment method in its Nike app, Nike.com, SNKRS, Nike Training Club, and so on. The move is the brand’s another step towards bettering customer experience – one that was strengthened with Nike’s acquisition of Celect for predicting users’ shopping behaviour.

T-mobile

T-mobile is a mobile communication subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG. The company has enabled Apple Pay and payment through Apple Card on its mobile app as well as website.

Uber 

Uber is a company that placed the on-demand model on the map. From ride-sharing to rental helicopter services to establishing JUMP, a rental e-scooter service, Uber has captured various domains. It has also incorporated Apple Card into its Uber mobile application and web apps 

UberEats

Another extended effort of Uber to capture the on-demand food delivery market, UberEats was invented. And guess what? This application is also using an Apply Card as a medium of payments.

{Also read: How Much Does it Cost to Build a Food-Delivery App like UberEats or GrubHub?}

Walgreens

Walgreens is one of the largest US-based pharmacy chains. To cater better services to its users via its mobile app and website, the company offers the option to pay via Apple Card using the Apple Pay app. 

Let us  help you integrate Apple Card into your app

This section is creative to give you a brief overview of Appinventiv’s process for integrating payment gateways like Apple Pay and Card into existing applications.

To offer excellent mobile payment experience in iOS apps, we use Stripe iOS SDK. It is a great tool known for its impeccable features like rich UI elements, powerful, protected interface, and customization.

The process is as follows –

1. We start by installing and configuring the SDK. The tools that we employ and are supported by Stripe are CocoaPods, Carthage, Fabric, Dynamic Framework, and Static Framework.
2. The next step involves configuring Stripe integration in the App Delegate. To configure our Stripe API keys, we use programming languages like Swift (which is the official language for iOS) and Objective, which is considered the next best.

Although this was just a sneak peek into the diligent efforts our team invests in the process. We test rigorously to make sure the application is performing its best with the new integrations.  

If you want to know the cost of integrating an Apple Card into your app, I suggest you browse through our detailed article – Payment Gateway Integration: The Process and What’s Next.

After discussing everything, it is pretty clear to see the opportunities that any business can grab for the long term just by adding this simple service into their business model. As we are leaning towards a cashless world, it’s better to at least keep up with the pace, if not staying ahead of the curve.

Some frequently asked questions related to Apple Card

Q. Does Apple offer small business discounts?

Absolutely. Apple is known to offer business discounts on online purchases. If you use your Apple Card via Apple Pay, you can avail of discounts no less than 3%.

Q.  Can I get an Apple Card for my business?

It is not a business card per se, at least not now. There are no such claims or promises from Apple to launch a business-specific card either.

THE AUTHOR

Sudeep Srivastava

Co-Founder and Director