The Humble Merchant Making a Difference — Meet Ian From MossCaff
“As a merchant I do not think it is fair to pass transaction fees on and charge the consumer extra for their coffee” — Ian Davidson, Owner of MossCaff.
Electronic Card Transaction fees directly affect the bottom line for small business owners.
Ian is a top kiwi bloke with an entrepreneurial spirit wanting to make a difference in the world. With experience in the corporate world, startups and cafe’s, an opportunity sprung up via a coffee supplier for him to create MossCaff. A family run business, the team has some of the finest service in Wellington with the staff knowing most of the customers by first name basis.
Every year up to $12,000 worth of electronic card transaction fees get pulled from the MossCaff account. This cost comes with;
- No transparency
- No breakdown of transaction fees
- For the convenience of contactless payment or debit card transactions
These fees have a direct impact on the bottom line of their business as they are a fixed cost with no better alternatives. Ian is just one of over 490,000 small business owners in New Zealand who are frustrated with this system.
Everything in MossCaff is constructed from recycled material and promoting healthy, clean eating. On a quest for creating a better world, according to Ian, their “Gluten Free muffins are one of the best things that sell and people don’t even know they are Gluten Free”. Actively promoting keep cups and maintaining 100% biodegradable takeaway cups, the team is creating a balance between leading the consumer and adapting to consumer demands.
Leading with conscious food options and unbeatable customer service, the way people eat, the things they consume and the way they live their lives are all at the whim of trends. Consumers are trendy. Ian says that some of the biggest challenges to his business are;
- Supply chain
- Staffing
- Direct costs
All of these things “are in a see-saw battle of balancing and seeking alternative solutions, these demands reduce my time working on the business” says Ian. Reducing these costs is always present in the daily runnings of MossCaff. Under direct costs, transaction fees are always present. Ian has personally delved into clarifying the fee structures that are charged for the convenience of payment. “Back and forth discussions for a month or so on 3–4 seperate occasions with Visa, Mastercard, American Express and banks — they all ‘see what they can do for you’” Ian exclaims. His biggest issues with these fees is that they are;
- Charged at opaque rates
- Billed at the end of the month
After countless conversations it often ends with — ‘we can reduce your fee by a small percentage’.
Stuck in a rock and a hard place, fees, convenience and customer trends, is this going away? Ian has observed over the past 5 years a shift from approximately 1/3rd of transactions being cash to now as little as 10%. So what value do these contactless payments add other than convenience? Ian seems to think “nothing”. Consumers are now demanding these new ways to pay and the trends show it with contactless debit payments increasing 20% in 2017 alone. This shift is forcing payments onto the credit card rails and increasing bottom line costs for small business owners such as Ian.
“It effects the bottom line heavily , approximately $200 per week, that’s a part of your salary”. As a merchant I do not think it is fair to pass transaction fees on and charge the consumer extra for their coffee. It is a small value item and trying to charge a small percentage on each one is difficult.
This is where Choice comes in. We are enabling every customer to donate a percentage of their transaction fee to a charity of their choice. Making a difference is as simple as making a payment. Not to mention that every transaction has a fixed, transparent fee that Ian can see at the time of the purchasing journey.
MossCaff is proudly Choice’s first pilot cafe with 50% of every transaction fee going towards Kiwi’s for Kiwi, helping save our national icon. When asked how excited he was to are you to help save our native birds every time MossCaff customers transact — “very excited, it is another push from my side to get people involved with conservation. The more you talk about something the more people follow suit. If you get enough people talking about it, it becomes the norm”.
So on behalf of the Choice team and Ian, we invite you to join us at MossCaff on the 16th and 17th of May for the pilot of Choice where you can be one of the first in the world to pay with social impact. Not only will you be reducing fees for Ian, 50% of your transaction fee will be supporting Kiwi’s for Kiwi, saving New Zealands national icon.
A choice to pay is now a choice to make a difference.
Merchant or Consumer? Drop your details to Choice to be kept in the loop.
Feel free to join the movement on Twitter @choicetopay
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Kia kaha
Alex & The Choice Team
