Design tips for commercial architects and interior planning designers. Mobile applications and other technology applications can impact floor planning. We’ve seen an explosion of automotive dealership renovation or outright new builds. Whether now or later, where and how customers pay their bill is changing. The same applies to large scale facilities like stone, marble, lumber, and other stores that cater to designers.

Trends and Planning Implications for Service Advisors Accepting Payments.

There is an explosion of service advisors accepting payments, in part due to cloud payment options. Some of the designs I’ve seen are not conducive to best practices for payment card industry data security standards (PCI Compliance), or are just not customer friendly. The main types of payment acceptance are:

• Credit card magnetic stripe reader wedge that attaches to computer screen. Spotted at a newly renovated dealership in Fredericksburg MD- a high top counter that obscures the desk and computers of service advisors. While creating If the computer screen sits below a high top counter, the card will be out of site of the consumer. This presents significant risk to the merchant as the cashier or advisor could quickly photograph the card with a smart device, or swipe it on a secondary device.

• Signature Capture Terminal. Consider that the consumer must see the terminal screen in order to see messages and sign their name. Unlike grocery stores, most dealers do not mount the terminal onto a permanent bracket which includes a swivel to change the angle of view.  Given that the terminal will be placed on the desktop, 36 inches to 42 inches from floor is a comfortable range to accommodate viewing. Those hightop 50 inch circular customer service desks are too high for customers to see the and sign on the terminal.