Smartphone revolution has led to the advent of m-commerce, e-commerce and more, to encourage digital payments and other services. With payment landscape being at the main juncture, ubiquity of sophisticated mobile devices and increased transaction speeds have spurred the popularity of mobile payment methods.
Proliferation of mobile technologies is likely to have positive influence on the usage of mPOS terminals, fueled by increased application and smartphone usage. mPOS terminals are a cost-effective, flexible and wireless alternative to the conventional POS infrastructure. mPayments have stemmed up as a valid alternative to checks, cash, debit and credit card transactions. mPay at POS uses contactless technologies such as near-field communications (NFCs), quick-response (QR) codes, magnetic secure transmission (MST), among others.
Omnichannel consumers are eyeing to boost their in-store digital shopping experience to encourage shoppers on the path to purchase, offer functionality, and meet compliance standards. For instance, mPOS solution helps to sort out problems of advanced commerce by providing on-the-spot service and checkout to queue-busting to extend the store into sidewalk sales.
Potential growth opportunities
With mPOS solutions increasingly storing and accessing payment information, inventory, and customer data, significance of digitization has increased by leaps and bounds. mPOS features have been able to boost the accuracy of orders by streamlining the process.
Leading companies are replete with growth opportunities as EMV certified POS terminals are expanding their penetration globally. Payment networks and merchants across the U.S. are gradually migrating to EMV technology given that it reduces fraud.
According to an infographic released from Visa in September 2019, over 3.7 million merchant locations in the U.S. accept EMV cards. As of June 2019, 521 million active visa chip cards in the U.S. were observed. With EMV chip transactions proliferating, 99% of overall U.S. payment volume was done on EMV cards. Putting a clampdown on counterfeit transactions, EMV chip cards can reduce counterfeit frauds by staggering 87%.
Reducing fraud, boosting security and enabling cardholders to use cards more conveniently, EMV penetration has become apparent and it is here to stay in the U.S., thereby bolstering North America mPOS terminal industry revenue.
Trends shaping the industry outlook
Even though contactless payments have been around for years, these technologies are likely to continue shaping the trend in mPOS terminal industry. NFC compliant POS terminal can communicate within a distance of 4 cm. Notably, other variants of NFC such as HCE are becoming highly sought-after among end-users.
NFC payment has become rather appealing among gen Z population for there is no contact between the mPOS equipment and the mobile device. NFC payment platforms are also providing gift cards, coupons, and loyalty programs.
Prevalence of NFC card emulation through EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) that ensures interoperability between terminals and chip-based payment cards has solidified the position of NFC payments in the industry landscape and will continue to shape the trends in the ensuing period.
Growth drivers’ stakeholders are looking to cash in on
Cloud-based mPOS solutions which are providing palpable upsides in flexibility, cost, and function have become the major drivers instilling confidence among stakeholders. With the adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS), cloud-based mPOS platform is offering a lower acquisition and cost model as they don’t need high upfront hardware purchase. Given that most of the mPOS offering are cloud-based, they are being integrated with other solutions such as accounting software.
Rising adoption of mPOS terminal in hospitality sector and retail industry has become the major driver for investors. For instance, Quick- service restaurants (QSRs) eyeing to boost speed are increasingly placing mPOS tablets with card readers, thereby enabling customers to pay for and send orders seamlessly.
Cloud-based mPOS terminals have become highly sought-after as they are considered as the easiest and quickest way to accept mobile payments. As such, increased traction for cloud-based platforms across end-use industries is expected to boost the industry size expansion in the years to come.
Obstacles stakeholders are vying to overcome
Even though adoption of mPOS solutions will continue to soar, there are some of the subtle obstacles stakeholders are gearing to overcome. With data breaches becoming rampant mPOS terminals will need to abide by even more stringent standards than traditional POS terminals.
Anticipating potential threats, leading companies will look to embrace EMV-enabled cards and use cloud-based platforms to streamline payment process through real-time, secure and faster payments globally.
