In the past few years, new touch screen hardware, fully loaded Point of Sale (POS) software along with small and medium-sized merchant demand have driven significant change in the North American POS industry. Gone are the days of clunky static cash registers simply used to ring up sales, hold cash and provide change. Using today’s mPOS (mobile POS) solutions, the merchant can bring the “checkout process to the customer” anywhere in the store. Mobile functionality gives retail merchants and foodservice operators a step up in providing the very best customer experience.
POS market in numbers
In 2016, the global POS terminal market (hardware) was estimated by Transparency Market Research (TMR) to be US $54.6 bn. The largest region being North America with over US$17 bn in revenue.
In an October 2018 news release, Markets and Markets (MM) said, “The global Cloud POS Market size is expected to grow from USD 1.34 billion in 2018 to USD 3.73 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.7% during the forecast period.”
Cloud POS provides scalability, reliability and flexibility to meet a wide range of POS needs from multiple store locations with numerous staff operators and thousands of products to secure data storage at several back-up locations.
According to Statista, the transaction value of USA mobile POS payments in 2018 will be US$64 bn. They estimate growth at 32.0% per year.
Whether you look at hardware sales, cloud subscriptions or mPOS transactions, digital POS, from futuristic hand-held tablets with a payment terminal to sleek all-in-one machines, is on the rise across North America.
Co-existence of Electronic Cash Register and cloud POS
Electronic cash registers are no longer enough to run a retail store or restaurant, small business owners want the power of retail management POS systems without cumbersome hardware, proprietary software and onerous contracts.
While newer merchants prefer cloud based POS (62%) to on-premise systems (38%), there is an important role for reliable hybrid POS systems. If a merchant is located in an area where internet / WIFI connections suffer interruption and significant downtime, a hybrid POS, like POS-n-go, allows the merchant to continue recording transactions on the front-end hardware until the internet returns. When they reconnect, a simple sync to the cloud account updates all sales and transaction records.
These days, merchants and restaurateurs demand a POS system to not only ring up a sales transaction with the accurate tax calculation but also manage inventory, customers, suppliers and staff time. It must also provide group and one-to-one marketing tools like email receipts, even a scheduling appointment book function.
They expect a POS to be fully integrated with peripherals like a bar code scanner, weigh scale, payment terminal and even BookNet.
Small business owners look for dashboard convenience along with reporting depth and insight. Extensive reporting and sales analysis is a must.
The POS must work on a wide range of hardware covering multiple environments from mPOS and retail to quick service cafes and full service restaurants.
POS-n-go take
Today’s business owners also want their POS to handle email receipts, gift-cards and loyalty program points with strict control over liability. Some merchants even want their POS to attach customer photos to their account for strengthened security. All of these features and functionality at an affordable subscription fee.
An important new trend for bricks and mortar retailers is a POS system integrated with an online store. This allows a POS to report online sales compared to in-store sales and track e-commerce sales against inventory, suppliers and customers. This integration is a powerful tool for merchants to reach new customers and increase revenue while making their business a success.
With cloud based apps on the rise and expected to replace machine resident programs in the future, robust reliable and proven hybrid multi-function configurable POS systems, like POS-n-go, will meet the business needs of small and medium sized merchants and restaurateurs across North America.
