News

mPOS increases faster than expected, opens market to new vendors

June 6, 2016

Restaurateurs still pondering a move to smartphone- and tablet-based POS systems might be interested in the latest Juniper Research study: It predicts that within five years, retail transactions via mPOS systems will represent 20 percent of all transactions. This is up 12 percent over previous expectations.

Specifically, Juniper forecasts that more than 1 in 3 transactions will take place via POS system within five years. The company attributes this increase to growing retail adoption of the systems as part of their overall POS options.

This finding will in turn drive some interesting changes in restaurants and other retail businesses, according to Juniper. For instance, to reduce waiting lines in stores, businesses are expected to begin developing "more targeted and situational campaigns as well as offering automatic ordering systems in restaurants."

"We are seeing several vendors tailor their software to the needs of specific industries, integrating mPOS capabilities as part of broader cloud-based business software," said the study's author, James Moar. "These additional services can then make use of the sales data directly to manage inventory, monitor staff performance and other functions, which can all add more value to a business and justify a higher margin."

Promising trend for suppliers in emerging markets

Likewise, small merchants in emerging markets are expected to gain better access to customers through mPOS. The research shows that this will particularly be the case for players in markets such as India, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Since they will be able to accept card payments, these businesses are expected to play an increasing role in retail business of all kinds, including restaurant supply/.

"Many of these vendors offer low transaction charges, and we believe this trend will continue, establishing market share, brand familiarity and stickiness," according to a press release about the study. "This gives incumbents a slight advantage over new entrants, but over time the market will tend towards lower and lower rates, driving out those who either cannot offer tailored services or cannot afford to operate at the cutthroat margins general payment processing will require."