For many years now, point of sale payment processing systems have allowed customers to buy items using methods other than cash. Beginning with clunky stationary registers that performed only one function, these solutions have evolved dramatically over the decades. Today, many models are wireless and facilitate multiple forms of payment, including contactless payments featuring NFC technology. However, what does the future hold for these devices? If you’re looking for a payment system for retailers, you’d do well to monitor the trends listed below.
1. The continued adoption and advancement of mobile POS solutions.
Mobile POS solutions provide enhanced payments flexibility that contributes to a positive, holistic customer experience. Customers and sales associates can view items and exchange information instantly, whether in-store, online, or at the client’s home or workplace. Since curbside pickup, home delivery, buy online pick-up in store (BOPIS), and internet shopping all continue to gain popularity with shoppers, mobile POS systems are uniquely positioned to provide a robust multi-channel shopping experience, regardless of how customers decide to buy.
2. Increased payment options flexibility.
Even today, POS systems are capable of accepting both credit and debit card transactions. Many can also be set to accept contactless payments, recurring subscription payments, and electronic invoices. Over the next few years, this trend will only continue, with versatile technological innovations and payment trends that we do not even know about at this time.
3. Easier, more frictionless checkout options.
In the years to come, there will be less of an emphasis on the regimented checkout line leading to a stationary POS register. Instead, sales will be completed by associates from anywhere in the store, as well as online.
Perhaps the most compelling feature of today’s (and likely tomorrow’s) POS solutions is/will be their nimbleness. Thanks to constantly evolving technology, payment devices will be able to continue to adapt to changing customer priorities and behaviors by tapping into analytics-based data. Through the use of multichannel approaches, they will help to facilitate a seamless buyer experience wherever (in-store, on the go, or online) or however (digital wallet, wearable, biometric-based payments, etc) it occurs. Best of all, the cloud technology integrated into these systems allows for constant security updates that promote PCI compliance, certified point-to-point encryption, and tokenization to safeguard sensitive cardholder data.
Technology is evolving at a breakneck pace, to the degree that it often seems impossible to predict how consumers will purchase goods and services even in the near future. However, one thing seems certain: The point of sale payment processing system, in one form or another, will remain a bulwark of businesses of all sizes for years to come.
