More than 40% of retailers in a new Motorola Solutions survey (42%) said they are currently piloting or starting trials of mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) within the next 36 months. The goal of these trials is to give customers the ability to pay for goods and services “wherever and whenever needed,” Motorola said. One of the technologies used in such trials is near-field communications payments via mobile phone. Other solutions include magnetic stripe and chip and PIN-based credit, debit, gift and loyalty cards.
Two-thirds of retailers in the survey said they were” interested in” mPOS.
“As retailers battle for shoppers’ hearts and wallets, mPOS serves as a valuable tool that can help turn browsing into buying. When the power of mPOS is in the hands of every retail associate, shopping becomes an experience and associates are always in a position to make the sale,” said Michelle Crissey, customer solutions lead for Motorola Solutions, in an announcement of the survey results.
Among the survey’s key findings:
- The majority of retailers are focused on using mPOS for sales associates on the store floor or line-busting.
- More than seven in 10 (71 percent) of retailers that indicated interest in mPOS are using or planning to use it to improve customer service and also intend to provide access to inventory management (51 percent), pricing (48 percent) and merchandise returns (42 percent) applications.
- In December 2011, Motorola’s holiday shopper survey found that one-third of store visits ended with an average of $125 unspent due to missed opportunities to purchase. The survey also found that inefficient payment processes were one of the leading contributors to those lost sales. More than 43 percent of shoppers agreed that their shopping experience improved when store associates used mPOS devices.
- Sixteen percent of surveyed retailers currently have an mPOS solution deployed, while less than 9 percent have completely mobile or portable checkout systems.
- On average, retail respondents anticipated replacing more than 36 percent of their fixed POS as a result of migrating to an mPOS.
It is already apparent that mPOS is here, not only with the Motorola terminals shown, but the growth of iPad and other tablet POS terminals. Near field communications, or even SMS or other technology to authorize payments will soon be part of our day-to-day shopping experience. It will be interesting to see how POS Software providers will incorporate these terminals into their systems.
Chris