Since the first date of the invention as an old cash register and traditional ways of selling, POS systems have been known to provide retailers with a more efficient way to track inventory and manage sales.
The recent years’ trends and changes brought by COVID have immensely influenced the customer experience bringing to the forefront the necessity for more digitalized and hassle-free payment acceptance tools.
POS systems actively responded to the fast development of the finance landscape and easily adapted to digitalization. The POS systems readily reflect the recent years’ payment trends and modifications, when advanced technologies and methods pushed the payment acceptance market towards a cashless society and innovative payments.
Customer demand for more convenient, flexible payments tools pushed POS systems to the forefront of replacing cash payments with digital and card payment acceptance. According to statistics, held by Grand View research in 2020, the market size value of POS software reached $9.3 billion in 2020, whereas cash acceptance is declining.
Let’s dive deeper into the trends that predefine this disruption.
- Technologies for hassle-free checkout.
Transition to cloud-based technology
Only 7% of retailers are currently using cloud-based POS, but 28% claim that they plan to adopt cloud-based POS in the future. (Retail Consulting Partner, 2020).
Cloud-based technology provides retailers with the flexibility of data sharing and easy real-time access to information wherever it’s needed.
Cloud-based technology integrated with POS hardware enables backup and synchronize the data at the cloud remote server, providing a centralized data storage for retailers. The data visibility, the entirety of your business data, combined with easy setup and low-price points, makes cloud POS systems an ideal option for most small businesses.
Mobile POS systems:
Mobile POS systems are heading toward a cashless future where the payments can be done with just a tap of a button. By having a POS system that accepts digital payments, businesses improve both sales rates and customer experience.
The use of mobile point of sale systems is anticipated to double between 2020 and 2025 in North America, with Asia’s market size also continuing to expand, according to MONEI statistics. Global Market Insights estimate its market size to hit $48 billion by 2023
A Mobile Point of Sale is a device (tablet, smartphone or special wireless device) of small sized with software that enables these devices to accept payments and implement the same functions as an electronic POS terminal.
The acceptance of contactless payments, QR payments, and digital wallets like Google Pay, and Apple Pay prompt mobile payments as one of the most widely used tools among retailers.
- Multichannel payment acceptance
In recent years with the immense rise of e-commerce, most retailers to stay afloat have focused on expanding their product distribution and generating a new channel for sales.
Thus, most retailers now use both online and offline channels to communicate with customers. The option to get more customer loyalty by offering them wider agility and freedom in shopping undoubtedly is an effective way of retaining the customer in your brand ecosystem.
But on a more basic level, you should choose a payments processor that can work across all your sales channels: in-store, in-app, and online. GUAVAPAY as a third-party payment processor can be a proper choice since the technology capacity of the company enables for payment acceptance both in POS and E-commerce.
- AI Integration
The integration of AI technology is a step toward a fully customizable and digitalized payment acceptance future.
AI technology makes POS systems smarter – the integration with the automation system enables POS systems for more comprehensive and agile payment processing.
These POS systems with artificial intelligence (AI), rely on advanced technologies instead of human labor, they also eliminate any possible human error and provide a consistent experience every time.
AI facilitates payment processing with less human intervention, so the possibility of human error is minimized, in addition to the optimization and consolidation of payment processing from different channels at one point.
The AI-powered POS technology enables retailers with better task management and scheduling, and inventory management, and eases the work for employees giving them the opportunity to spend more time on communication and enhancing customer experience.
- Customer Loyalty Programs
Customer Loyalty programs strategies are inseparable part of effective marketing campaigns to keep the customer interaction with the brand and enhance the loyalty of the clients.
82% of companies agree that retaining a customer is much cheaper than acquiring it again, that’s why immense efforts and resources are spent on impressive loyalty programs. Hence, all efforts and resources are put to propose the highest level
For the implementation of seamless and frictionless loyalty programs, most POS have built-in loyalty programs or integrate with loyalty program apps to drive long-term sales and increase brand awareness.
- Cryptocurrency processing
2021 was a trampoline year for cryptocurrency when it started being used not only for purely experimental digital transactions but also for day-to-day transactions.
Since the crypto penetrated into routine daily payments the processors that enable crypto processing transactions have become a must. The usage of the crypto in-store transactions will gain traction and fuel wider adoption of digital currency payments.
POS manufacturing companies have started to collaborate with crypto companies to provide technology to enable merchants across industries and their customers to benefit from seamless, low-cost, in-store crypto payments.
