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Insights and Expertise

Helping retailers Why Summerween matters

shine through the Summerween may seem silly, but it reflects a larger

trend: retailers are extending holiday seasons to boost
extended holiday sales. This creates fresh opportunities for ISOs and
MLSs to offer targeted, seasonal solutions. By staying
ahead of the curve, you can position your services as
season essential to merchants’ evolving sales strategies.

tapping into their urgent need for speed, reliability, ease
of use and profitability during their busiest time of year.
Each season comes with specific needs, whether it be mo-
bile terminals for Halloween pop-up stores, BNPL or sub-
scription-based solutions for high-end ticket items sold
during BTS or BFCM, or gift and loyalty card integration
during the winter holidays.

ISOs and MLSs can run targeted promotions to help meet
the demands retailers face with pressures to manage in-
creased foot traffic, manage inventory, and deliver a seam-
less, scalable customer experience.
Offer limited-time promotions like free terminal rentals
By Jaki Kackert for seasonal campaigns, waive the setup fee for retailers
signing up before a set date or for a limited time, bundle
Creative Marketing Consultant products at a discounted price, or offer a bonus for refer-

hat the heck is Summerween? I don't know rals during the holiday season.
about you, but for the past few weeks I've Highlight how your ISO services support both in-store
been bombarded with ads promoting the
W launch of Halloween product lines for vari- and online transactions seamlessly, crucial for BFCM and
Christmas shoppers.
ous retailers. Consumers are being encouraged to stock up
on spooky decor ahead of time and celebrate Halloween Targeted messaging for all seasons
early by throwing Summerween parties.
Even with all the uncertainties, projections for spending
Just when I'd adapted to Christmas in July promotions and during back-to-school, Halloween and Christmas are ex-
shopping for Back to School before school got out, here pected to rise year over year, so your payment solutions
comes another way to grab shoppers early. With threats of and services need to rise to the challenge.
inflation, tariffs and supply chain uncertainties, retailers
and eTailers are looking to take advantage of the changes Position your ISO as a holiday sales enabler, not just a pay-
in consumer shopping habits by extending the sales sea- ment provider. Product positioning should emphasize the
son for the upcoming holidays. following benefits:

And that's where ISOs, merchant level salespeople (MLSs) • Speed: Fast checkout online or in-store for shorter
and reseller partners come in. Your organization can ef- lines and more sales.
fectively market to retailers for key seasonal events like • Reliability: No downtime when it matters most.
Back to School (BTS), Fall Y'all (not to mention pumpkin-
spiced everything), Halloween, Black Friday/Cyber Mon- • Flexibility: Ability to handle gift cards, loyalty, split
day (BFCM) and Christmas by tailoring your messaging payments and mobile orders.
and solutions to the unique pressures and opportunities
retailers face during these high-volume sales periods. • Scalability: For pop-ups, multi-store setups and on-
line stores.
Here's a breakdown of strategies, messaging and cam-
paign ideas to help your organization market effectively. • Integration: Synchronization of accounting software
with inventory management solutions to prevent
Develop an overall seasonal strategy stockouts across channels.
Marketing your payment services and solutions to re- • Data-driven insights: Real-time sales reporting for
tailers during the ever-expanding holiday season means smarter stocking.
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