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We are officially back to – and now predicted to go far beyond – pre-pandemic levels of global tourism and travel figures. With the Travel and Tourism Council’s prediction that the sector’s economic contribution globally will hit an all-time high of $11.1 trillion, now is the time to get your retail business in the best position to attract the footfall that’s about to spike.
With this in mind, Planet brings an industry first to retailers with a single device that can manage Payments, Tax Free and software. Meaning faster transactions, a slicker shopping experience for customers and more time given back to shop floor staff to focus on service and merchandise.
Find out more about Planet’s Tax Free Solution
International spending as we see it so far
According to Planet Intelligence, the beginning of 2024 started strong for European retailers with year-on-year sales rising by 13% and 33% in January and February respectively. We believe that much of this can be attributed to China’s relaxation of international travel restrictions as Covid-19 risks have rapidly reduced for its citizens.
WIth Chinese New Year starting on 10th February this year and the much anticipated excitement to return to travel, spending from Chinese shoppers in Europe surpassed that of US shoppers for the first time. In fact, February saw 19% of spend coming from Chinese shoppers while a lower 12% came from US visitors.
Nevertheless, the US still remains in the top two of nationalities for Q124 and together, visitors from US and China to Europe make up over 25% of sales with €1000 being the average transaction value.
This first quarter of the year is a positive indicator for what’s likely to come as the year progresses, particularly with huge global sporting events in the diary.
Why Tax Free is important to retailers
One of the biggest motivations for international visitors in Europe, particularly in areas with luxury brand goods, is the ability to get a VAT refund on their spend. Quite often, this offsets the travel expense making the trip – and their goods – more economical to buy in this continent.
As a result, Tax Free is a huge growth area as more international shoppers become aware of the savings they can make and retailers want to see a portion of their wallet. Therefore, ensuring that your store is set up in the best way to enable this can make the difference to hitting new revenue figures for the year.
How Planet is making Tax Free easier
Planet has designed a solution to make the Payments and Tax Free flow as seamless as possible, for both the customer and store staff.
One android device is all that’s needed as the Tax Free app is built in and recognises the opportunities where a VAT refund could be applied during the regular Payment process. This is done through checking the card’s issuing country. However it’s also possible to launch the Tax Free app manually for cash transactions.
From here, prompts are made to check and move the customer along the Tax Free journey without ever needing to switch to another device, or use pen and paper to manually note payment and personal information.
Planet’s Tax Free app
Gathering the purchase details
Once confirmed that a VAT refund does apply, Planet’s Tax Free app launches a form to enter the details of the purchase made. This form is changeable according to local regulations making set up effortless and ensures that the customer is providing all the information needed to comply.
For example, depending on your country’s regulation, either individual line items can be entered or the total sale amount, and further country specific information (such as Category) are made mandatory where it’s needed.
From here the refund amount is calculated and displayed so the customer knows instantly how much they’re saving.
About the customer
As with any VAT refund process, details about the customer are needed. While it’s possible to enter these in manually, Planet has considered how to make this step as slick as possible.
The modern device has a built-in camera that can be used to scan ID cards and other travel documents and then inputs this information in the relevant fields automatically. A massive time saver that also reduces errors when it comes to this critical information to get the customs stamp.
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Planet also keeps a secure database from previous Planet forms that can be searched through to retrieve customer information faster.
Additionally, the Planet Shopper Portal gives the customer a digital copy of the form and simple, accessible information about the Tax Free process including on-screen savings totals and access to Planet support.
Getting the refund
The crucial part: getting the refund and making the savings. Planet supports many refund methods allowing retailers the option to choose how they create the customer experience.
Planet offers:
- Standard Refund - amount paid once the Tax Free form is validated with a customs stamp.
- Fast Refund - amount paid within 72hrs of the sale and payment are closed.
- Tax Off - before the sale is closed, the refund amount is taken off the total.
- VAT Off - when the sale is exempt from VAT, the final amount will show the net sale plus a possible Planet fee.
While it’s in the best interest of customers to get their forms stamped, some may forget. To safeguard your revenue for refunds that take place before this validation, the credit card used for payment is used as a guarantee so you don’t lose out.
Planet for the smoothest payments
Planet has made it as easy as possible to bring together the most critical aspects of the payment journey. By integrating all POS activity so the till is connected to the android device, payments and Tax Free app, retailers can have a single partner that does it all.
Making customers feel at home
As payment method choice becomes larger and more prominent in the market, Planet gives retailers the options to accept payments beyond only credit cards. With digital wallets including AliPay available, retailers are able to better meet international customers where they are in order to close the sale.
For many buyers too, paying in their home currency helps them to feel more at ease with the big spend. Planet offers Dynamic Currency Conversion to allow for this and can be set up to automatically offer the choice to pay in their home currency by checking the card’s issuing country - all done on a single device. This means less friction, less devices to manage and a much slicker customer experience.
Keeping payments secure
Maintaining the highest level of security is critical for brand reputation for overseas customers. With big sale totals going through and multiple transactions a day during peak visiting periods, payment details need to be kept secure.
Planet utilises Tokenisation for all payments meaning that card details aren’t ever kept on file and instead converted into non-sensitive data – a token. Unlike with encryption where a key exists to translate the data making it more vulnerable to hackers or brute force, tokens simply exist on their own and are meaningless in this form.
When it comes to PCI, not only does Tokenisation help to reduce the scope for audits but Planet’s Tax Free issuing is designed to be completely PCI compliant. This acts as a huge help in reducing additional security workload for IT teams.
Final words
Planet’s aim is to enable maximum customer spend for retailers through simple, fast and frictionless processes and tech that save time and reduce workload for teams at checkout. We know that when it comes to retail, especially luxury goods, payment processes simply need to work and be as efficient as possible to maintain customer attention and satisfaction.
Where retail spend from international customers is to make a massive contribution to the economy this year, retailers should take advantage of the long awaited return of overseas visitors with deep pockets and enable them to save as they spend.
To make this easier, Planet has designed a system with a seamless journey that moves through secure and multi-method payments to the often complex Tax Free journey. Staff members no longer need to consider it as an additional action that takes time away from closing the sale, while customers are given all the information needed and taken through the steps swiftly to get their VAT refund.
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