A new white paper from RS2 says soft POS solutions installed on mobile phones, tablets and bespoke devices will become increasingly significant in the global acquiring market.
As more merchants adopt digital payments and consumers seek to replicate the speed and convenience of online payments in-store, soft POS offers merchants and consumers flexibility and choice while creating new opportunities for acquirers.
In Next-generation acquiring: why soft POS solutions are taking over, RS2 review growth projections for the number of merchants expected to switch to digital payments over the next decade and explain how technology advances and changing consumer behaviours are affecting the way merchants think about physical payment acceptance.
Merchants: the challenge of changing consumer needs
As consumers become accustomed to ordering online and having goods delivered to their homes, in-store shoppers want to replicate the simplicity and speed of this online experience, including the ability to pay with different forms such as Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL), Account-to-Account (A2A) payments, digital wallets and more.
Consumers don’t want to stand in queues and expect value-added options such as loyalty and delivery to be included in their purchase experience.
The problem for merchants is that existing point of sale (POS) devices can be expensive and difficult to upgrade for new payment types, with older terminals incapable of accepting some payments or requiring manual updates for regulatory purposes.
To keep up with consumer expectations, the white paper says merchants need flexible and secure acquiring systems that fill the white space between the physical and digital economy, replicating the speed and convenience of digital check-out in-store.
Soft POS solutions sit on mobile devices and can be downloaded by merchants directly to the device.
RS2 explain why this makes them easy to install and upgrade, with new functionality or software updates occurring over-the-air and, for security updates, automatically in the background.
They can also be easily integrated with modern all-in-one solutions such as cloud-based Electronic Cash Registers (ECRs).
Responding to the cost pressures all merchants face at present, soft POS solutions are cheap or free to download in basic versions.
Installed on mobile devices, soft POS makes payment anywhere on the shop floor possible and includes the capacity to accept a multiplicity of payment types straight out of the box.
Functions such as loyalty points and delivery can be integrated with payment – replicating the convenience of online shopping.
Soft POS solutions can also communicate with other elements pf the retailer’s systems to create new opportunities such as app-to-app communication with online checkout so consumers can purchase online and pick up in-store immediately.
Download the new white paper from RS2 now for more on how soft POS solutions are taking over global acquiring.
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