Aite Group research indicates that from 2015 to 2018, contactless mobile transactions have the potential to reach 4% to 5% of retail payments with growth in transaction volume accelerating after 2020.
It also predicts that cards will account for 273 billion transactions at a combined value of some $30 trillion by 2018. However, as mPOS grows, new forms of payment will flourish, including NFC-enabled mobile devices bringing greater flexibility to payment acceptance, as per the study report titled ‘The Evolution of mPOS: The Payments Industry in Flux’.
Card Transaction Growth in Leading Economies
The study discusses the development of mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) acceptance methods, from their origins, as electronic payment services for small merchants to a channel used by larger enterprises to extend and enhance their customer service.
The report draws attention to the next generation of mobile based payment services benefiting from mPOS. NFC capability coupled with flexibility is a powerful aspect of the next generation of mobile payment acceptance devices.
With the evolution of mPOS capabilities, hardware sales have also shown significant growth. Discussions with leading point-of-sale (POS) vendors indicate that the total sales of mPOS hardware in 2014 amounted to around 10 million devices.
The Evolution of mPOS Equipment
“In a fast-evolving digital economy, mobility is a critical business enabler. mPOS helps merchants to modernize their business by offering speed of deployment and flexibility to deliver tailored solutions that can transform their relationship with their end customers. We are confident that mPOS will lead to the advancement of payment solutions and would pave the way for mobile payments growth across industries in the years to come,” said Srinivas Nidugondi, Senior VP and Head of Mobile Financial Solutions at Mahindra Comviva.
mPOS allows businesses to re-engineer their operating models by engaging with customers in newer ways previously not available to them. mPOS juxtaposes mobile services with the rise of digital payment instruments. It enables new sales and fulfillment channels, empower staff with more information at their fingertips, allow retailers to develop more engaging store designs to draw the interest of shoppers and more. Next-generation POS services will be increasingly cloud-enabled, easing the transition from card-initiated to smartphone-initiated payments.
“New business models and partnerships with more flexible solutions having payment acceptance at their heart are the order of the day, but the key ingredient that weaves through the rapidly evolving landscape is mobility; the ability to accept payments at the customer’s convenience and at a greater variety of locations than ever before. mPOS is moving from a niche service into the mainstream of modern commerce,” said Andrew Copeman, a payments analyst at Aite Group.
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