👉 Background: Chemist Warehouse is the pharmacy retailer that reported $540 million in profit last month, and has a $9 billion reverse takeover of Sigma Healthcare currently in the works.

👉 What happened: Despite its monstrous earnings, Chemist Warehouse is keen to cut its costs. It currently spends over $15 million a year in fees to payment processors like Visa and Mastercard. So now, it is planning to circumvent these credit card fees with QR codes.

👉 What else: Customers would scan a QR code and the payment will be taken directly to their bank account. If this new method called Pay By Bank takes off, it would be a win for everyone...except the big card payment companies.

What's the key learning?

💡One of the biggest challenges for a business is changing consumer habits. Consumers are creatures of habit, so switching from using familiar methods to adopting something new requires effort and education.

💡But payment processing fees are a major operational cost for many businesses. In fact, merchant fees can range from around 1.5% to 3% of the transaction and many businesses pass these costs onto customers in the form of surcharges.

💡If more retailers adopt these systems, like Chemist Warehouse has, customers may start to appreciate the reduced cost. But until then, you can expect a lot of confused Chemist Warehouse customers at the cash register.