organizing the mobile point of sale ecosystem | september 2013 · the ability to process sales...

Organizing the Mobile Point of Sale Ecosystem | September 2013 Ecosystem Analysis

This report has added seven new players to the MPOS Pyramid™ and offered new

insight into the range of players and services entering the space.

The big takeaway: Partnerships expand distribution and integrated systems are expanding the merchant footprint that

mPOS solutions can enable.

The September 2013 MPOS Tracker™

September marks the beginning of fall and the leaves aren’t the only things that are changing. As we’ve reported previously, the industry has moved well beyond the days of dongles and card acceptance to enabling platforms that power any connected device as mPOS solutions move up market. Part of the move involves the embrace of integrated tablet systems that are, themselves, evolving as they become platforms for enabling commerce apps that consumers download from their mobile devices. The end result is a more robust, flexible and scalable system for merchants and their customers that goes well beyond creating a database of customers. It provides a powerful platform for merchants to reach consumers throughout their shopping experience in their store, an opportunity for new mobile commerce networks of consumers and merchants to take shape and for the introduction of new business models linked to payment and tied to promotions and offers that are targeted to customers in the store.

Merchants see the value and are expressing interest in these solutions, but reaching them efficiently becomes the challenge. That’s easier said than done given their very fragmented nature and the sheer number of them across many merchant sectors. Partnerships with channels who serve these merchants has become more prevalent. These partnerships range from the traditional/acquiring channel to the not so traditional, including FIs who are eager partners in distributing mPOS solutions to their small business customers as a way to improve service and expand fee revenue opportunities. The challenges presented to both the providers and the channel is how to sell these new systems to merchants – especially when they involve new business models and pricing schemes. For better or worse, the traditional channels understand how to sell hardware-based solutions that process card transactions – anything that deviates from that requires training, a longer sales cycle and a challenge to get traction.

The opportunities presented by the demand for these solutions and the challenges related to distributing the supply will be interesting to observe as we close out 2013 and enter 2014. The impact of mPOS on the traditional payments business – the terminal business, the acquiring business and the FI business – will certainly be impactful. The winners will adapt their environments and systems to embrace the concept of any connected device to any connected device and shift resources into developing software platforms that can accommodate that flexibility.

A Monthly Update on the State of the Mobile Point of Sale Ecosystem

A PYMNTS.com Report Sponsored by ROAM


Key takeaways for September:

Platforms spawn platforms – mPOS platforms are themselves enabling other complementary platforms to enhance the merchant and consumer experience. mPOS systems that can connect to apps that consumers with mobile devices download can eliminate the friction associated with targeting customers in their store, at the same time they have an opportunity to reinvent how they recognize and reward loyal customers.

mPOS the disruptor - The shift away from closed and custom hardware driven systems to apps powered by the cloud the enable a seamless customer and merchant experience not only enables commerce just about any place consumers and merchants want to interact now, but also disrupts the existing POS ecosystem. It’s not just terminal manufacturers that are at risk, acquirers are as well as alternative players emerge who are more comfortable in a software platform-based world with new business models.

mPOS the disruptor part two – The ability for mPOS systems to enable the delivery of offers and promotions to consumers tied to payment opens up an entirely new set of options for merchants to reinvent business models. We are starting to see that now, both from an advertising and promotional perspective but expect that to become more the norm than the exception as merchants view this pricing models as tangible ways for them to measure incremental value and volume.

September’s 2013 report features seven new players to the MPOS Pyramid. The new merchant facing players are Chase, CHERRY, CommBank Pi, Estel, Koupah, eMobilePOS and PagSeguro. In addition, we’ve updated seven players from prior months. They include the following merchant facing players: Intuit, JUSP, Payleven, PayPal Here, Square and SumUp and one suppliers: ROAM.

The MPOS Organizing Methodology: The MPOS TrackerTM Pyramid The organizing framework for the MPOS ecosystem is the MPOS PYRAMID™. It’s a graphic representation of where we think merchant facing service providers fit in the market. As stated earlier, it’s not designed to suggest that one part of the pyramid is better than another; but rather to depict the characteristics of MPOS solutions. That means that the tip of the MPOS PYRAMID™ doesn’t imply the “best” it simply implies that the fewest players are concentrated there given the various elements of the service offering that those merchant facing players provide to their merchants.


MPOS PYRAMIDTM Methodology We have divided the MPOS market into “layers” representing the broad set of capabilities included in the MPOS service offerings. This, we hope, more easily helps to categorize the MPOS ecosystem by focusing on the capabilities that the various players who serve the merchants in this market offer them. The “powered by” players are organized on the outside of the MPOS PYRAMID™ and aligned with the appropriate capabilities that they “power” inside of the pyramid.

Here’s how we have used the MPOS PYRAMID™ to organize the MPOS sector.

Core. Players in this quadrant offer only the basic hardware/ card reader solutions to merchants that enable mag stripe card acceptance and merchant processing services. Players in this space also have provided some level of security encryption, although the level of security varies by powered-by provider. This is where many players enter the market to establish an MPOS presence and merchant base.

Core + Back Office. Players in this quadrant have offerings that provide value-added solutions that enable merchants and other SMBs to perform important back office functions. These functions include tracking/managing inventory, creating invoices, integrating with accounting systems and/or other applications that assist merchants and SMBs in managing their back office.

Core + Front Office. Players in this quadrant have offerings that provide value-added solutions that enable merchants and other SMBs to perform important customer-facing functions. These functions include loyalty, marketing, CRM and advertising solutions that enable merchants and SMBs to more fully manage support marketing, sales and customer retention activities.

Core + Front and Back Office. Players in this quadrant have offerings that provide value-added solutions that enable merchants and other SMBs to support both front and back office functions as described above.

Merchant/Consumer Network. Players in this quadrant have offerings that leverage mobile technology to serve both the merchant/SMB and consumer. These players provide core + front and back office capabilities along with consumer-facing applications such as digital wallets. These players use mobile devices and other assets on both the consumer and merchant side to create a network enabled by mobile devices (phones and tablets) and relevant applications.

Open Platform/API. Merchant-facing players in this layer are serving merchants directly but have also made a decision to open their hardware/software services to developers via APIs. This is an effort to expand the number of merchants/SMB’s that they can reach as well as to make it easier for their own solutions to be enriched by other developers who can add functionality to the core offer.


MPOS Player Profiles | New for September 2013

Chase Checkout

Category Core + Back When Launched August 2013 #Customers/volume n/a Customer Focus Small businesses

Geographic Coverage US

Pricing

Per swipe price based on Paymentech merchant account, card reader is free

Chase Paymentech released a new offering to their point of sale technology for small businesses. This mPOS system allows merchants to accept card payments through an encrypted card reader on existing mobile phones ( iPhone or Android devices). Chase Mobile Checkout is designed to work with the Chase Paymentech's other offerings, such as its iTerminal software for retail checkout.

http://www.paymentssource.com/news/jpmorgan-chase-paymentech-emv-mobile-future-proof-3011073-1.html


The reader will process mag stripe credit, signature debit and gift cards. Merchants will be able to monitor and process voids from their smartphones, view sales and transaction summaries from the app. Also, merchants may create a catalog of items descriptions and can send receipts via email and text messages.

CHERRY

Category Core When Launched September 2013 #Customers/volume n/a Customer Focus Small and medium sized businesses, custom mPOS for major clients


Pricing n/a

CHERRY has developed and produced innovative computer input devices and systems since 1967. CHERRY has created iTransigo mobile POS terminal that will turn an Apple iPhone or iPod into a handheld mPOS system. Features include an encrypted MSR, 2 ¼” receipt printer and an optional 2D barcode scanner. iTransigo is PCI Compliant and designed for a range of markets, including retail, restaurants, events, mass transit, taxis, healthcare, delivery and law enforcement. The company recently partnered with e-Nabler Corp, a payments software company, to create a mPOS solution for the Apple iPhone and iPod that will be sold by CostCo. The device provides the ability to process sales transactions, manage inventory, track sales, and integrate with QuickBooks and Sage 50. Coffee shops, restaurants, retailers and other small businesses such as daycare centers, landscaping contractors and car detailing businesses may benefit from this solution.

CommBank Pi

Category Core When Launched July 2012 #Customers/volume n/a Customer Focus Merchant customers of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Geographic Coverage Australia

Pricing n/a

Commonwealth Bank Australia has introduced a suite of mPOS offerings to service their small business customers. CommBank Albert is described as an integrated tablet device that leverages the Android OS and includes an interactive touchscreen, secure EMV/PIN, and print capabilities. CommBank Leo attaches to Apple devices to transform iPhones into merchant terminals. Leo can also integrate with existing point of sale system

eMobilePOS

Category Core + Back + Front When Launched New version in September 2013, originally in 2009 #Customers/volume 1.3 B Sales transactions (company wide) Customer Focus Mobile retail, retail, restaurants, direct store delivery,

field service sales and wholesale distribution



Pricing Bundled

eMobilePOS is an integrated mPOS system that provides front and back office capabilities, including inventory management, a variety of accounting, POS and ERP systems and real time access to analytic data, control of all mobile devices and transactions and the ability to manage products, pricing, contacts, discounts and sales. It’s PCI DSS compliant and follows the best practices established by the payments industry. eMobile POS has created solutions for a variety of merchant segments including: mobile retail, retail, restaurants, direct store delivery, field service sales and wholesale distribution and customers include Nestle, Revlon, Gilden, Mr. Rooter Plumbing, Enco, ProntoWash and more. The company announced in September that they have created a custom solution with CHERRY (hardware provider) that will be sold in in CostCo stores.

Estel

Category Core When Launched September 2013 #Customers/volume n/a Customer Focus Small and medium sized, custom mPOS for major clients

Geographic Coverage Asia, Africa and Latin America

Pricing n/a

Estel, a provider of prepaid recharge and mobile money in emerging markets, has expanded its capabilities to include mobile Point of Sale solutions for Asian, African and Latin American markets. Estel’s mPOS technology turns Android phones into a card accepting POS terminal by combining it with a smart mobile application & an external card reader which attaches to the phone via its headphone jack. It is distributed and operated by banks (who are acquirers), payment service providers, and includes a m-POS Merchant Device (Android phone, Estel smart m-App & approved Card Reader) and a merchant portal. Estel is PCI compliant, supports both magnetic stripe & PIN pad card readers, and has plans to offer EMV in the future.

Koupah

Category Core + Front When Launched April 2013 #Customers/volume n/a Customer Focus Restaurants, bars, cafes and retailers


Pricing 2.69% + $.03 per transaction

Koupah is a self-described mobile “Point of Social” platform since it uses an integrated system to connect retailers and customers using customer loyalty programs tied to payments. It’s pricing scheme is offset by a percent of


spend when loyalty offers are redeemed. Koupah works by observing purchase history and shipping preferences to develop profiles that can be used to create personalized ads and offers for repeat shoppers specifically. The commissions on purchases made thru targeted promotion is used to offset the 2.69% transaction processing fee. The system supports mobile in-app orders and offers a Social Passport Mobile App, to further extend merchants social and retail marketing platform. The system is activated when a customer walks into the store, taps their phone to a Koupah terminal which alerts the store employee, pulls up their preferences and then sends coupons to their phone for use at checkout.

PagSeguro

Category Core When Launched May 2013 #Customers/volume n/a Customer Focus Small and independent businesses

Geographic Coverage Brazil

Pricing The reader is R$ 118.80

PagSeguro is a leading Brazilian online commerce and payments provider with more than 23 million buyers on the Web, and 300,000-plus merchants who sell there. It is a subsidiary of UOL, Brazil's largest Internet company content and services provider, which covers 70% of Brazil's Internet users every month and reaches more than 6.7 billion monthly page-views. It has launched PagSeguro, a mobile payments product that enables transactions with a card reader that plugs into a mobile phone or tablet's audio jack. To use the service, the seller must request the reader via the PagSeguro website and then download the free PagSeguro application from the either the iTunes or Google Play app store. There are no monthly charges or subscription costs for the merchant, PagoSeguro is hoping that it can expand its commerce play offline by having its existing merchants and even new ones become part of its marketplace.

MPOS Merchant Facing Players | September 2013 Updates

Intuit

Category Core + Back When Launched August 2009 #Customers/volume Over 200,000 Customer Focus SMBs


Pricing

2.75% swipe and 3.75% keyed in rate or $12.95 per month. 1.7% per swipe 2.75% keyed in rate

Update: Intuit announced that they have a new version of its QuickBooks accounting software available and is integrating with Square. Data from Square payments will automatically flow into QuickBooks. The capability will formally launch in November.


JUSP

Category Core When Launched April 2013 #Customers/volume 400 beta customers Customer Focus All sized merchants

Geographic Coverage Europe

Pricing

2.5% per transaction and €39 + VAT for the card reader

Update: JUSP launched its product, a Chip & PIN mPOS solution that connects via Audio Jack, without needing a Bluetooth connection. This device is not available in the US but will enter the U.S. market if EMV becomes mandated by credit card companies. It is also available as a white-label solution for other payment service providers and banks.

Payleven

Category Core + Open When Launched June 2012 #Customers/volume 1,000 Merchants in Berlin for total Customer Focus All Merchants

Geographic Coverage Germany, The UK, Italy, Brazil, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Belgium

Pricing 2.75%

Update: Payleven has expanded to Belgium, its eighth country. Payleven announced that they’ve secured deals with the Italian Post office to distribute payment card readers to 14,000 Posta Italiana and BancoPosta locations across Italy and with Screwfix, a UK trade supplier to stock the device to enable tradesmen to process credit and debit payments.

PayPal Here

Category Core + Network When Launched March 2012 #Customers/volume 200,000 Merchants Customer Focus All areas of business/service businesses, small retailers

Geographic Coverage US, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and UK

Pricing

2.7% transaction fee, with no monthly fee. The fee for CNP transactions (non-swipe) goes up to 3.5%, with a $ 0.15 fee

Update: PayPal Beacon was launched to make consumer shopping completely hands-free. PayPal Beacon will leverage Bluetooth Low Energy to conduct transactions, locate that a consumer, enable the customer to check in and complete payment. Any store running point of sale systems compatible with PayPal, including Booker, Erply, Leaf, Leapset, Micros, NCR, PayPal Here, Revel, ShopKeep, TouchBistro and Vend will be able to plug a PayPal

http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.paypal.com%2Fwebapps%2Fmpp%2Fmerchant-cash-for-registers&esheet=50705377&newsitemid=20130909006576&lan=en-US&anchor=point+of+sale+systems&index=2&md5=601508531b25a1d0a67b047b126c96b6


Beacon device in a power outlet in their store to enable the technology. PayPal also announced a collaboration with PayPal to enable Mercury’s network of point-of-sale software developers and VARs and 80,000 merchants to offer PayPal in-store. This will bring PayPal to stores across American and give merchants a simple and seamless way to use PayPal. Mercury’s network of POS developers will be provided with a toolkit to enhance their POS system

Square

Category Network When Launched February 2009 #Customers/volume $15B per year Customer Focus All Merchants

Geographic Coverage US, Canada, Japan

Pricing $275/month or 2.75% per swipe and 3.25% in Japan

Update: Square announced a partnership with Intuit giving Square merchant users the ability to integrate data from Square Register and Square Market into QuickBooks. Square has also updated its iOS app with new features allowing for check and gift card tracking.

SumUp

Category Core + Network

When Launched August 2012 #Customers/volume n/a Customer Focus Small to midsize companies that don’t already have terminals (taxis, craftsmen,

market traders) Geographic Coverage UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, France, Belgium,

Portugal, and Russia Pricing

Per transaction: UK, Ireland, Italy, Austria and the Netherlands -1.95% France - 1.75% ; Spain - 1.5%; Germany local debit card - 0.95%, credit card fee - 2.75%; Portugal, Belgium and Russia - 2.75%

Update: The company announced a price reduction to compete with iZettle and changed the fees depending on the country of operation. SumUp reports that costs savings from moving to their own technology have enabled them to reduce transaction costs. They have received authorization as a Payment Institution by the Financial Conduct Authority and they are now underwriting, processing and settling transactions end-to-end through their own technology and are able to lower their cost base.

MPOS Supplier Update

ROAM Data: ROAM announced that Southwestern Advantage, an international education and character development company has selected ROAM to power their mPOS platform. The company will enable their dealers to accept card payments while out in the field.


Appendix | All mPOS Tracker Player by Classification

Core Back Front Back + Front

Open Back + Open

Front + Open

Network

AEON BlueBamboo CHERRY Circle it Up Clip CommBank Pi Dialog Estel EverPay Flint iKaaz iPay JUSP Mosambee Mswipe MTS POS O2 pay@mobile Payleven Pay-Me Russia PagSeguro PayPocket PayTooSwipe PocketPOS Softspace S-Pay Mobile Spire/Thyron Swish Vantiv Visalus WorldPay YES Bank

2Can Adyen Chase Checkout Cube Ezetap I Love Velvet Intuit Gopayment PayAnywere RevCOIN Sage Payments

Citibank Corduro GlobalBay GoPago Groupon Koupah MRL Posnet Punchey Mobile Pay On Demand Revel

eMobilePOS Kalixia Pro KWI Cloud9 Lightspeed NCR Next Gen Dine Nomad PaySimple payPLUS Retail Cloud Sales Vu ShopKeep Spark Pay Wallmob

Handpoint iZettle Monitise Miura Shuttle Mpowa Payleven QFPay Visa mPOS Swiffpay

Payfirma Square PayPal Here SumUp

Key – Bold Italics is new to the pyramid as of September 2013


MPOS Pricing (updated as of September 31, 2013)

Player Pricing

2Can 2.75% of each transaction

AEON Bt 2,000 for the reader

Adyen €10/month Processing fee varies between 1.60% - 3.95%

BlueBamboo n/a

Chase Checkout Per swipe price based on Paymentech merchant account, card reader is free

Circle It Up n/a CHERRY n/a Citibank n/a Clip n/a Cloud9 n/a Corduro Varies, 2.5% per swipe and manual is 2.9% + $.20

CommBank Pi n/a

Cube 2.5% per swipe or 3.5% per key-in card information or integration into existing merchant account

Dialog n/a eMobilePOS n/a Estel n/a EverPay n/a Ezetap Total package less than $50 Flint 1.95% - 2.95% + $0.20/charge GlobalBay n/a GoPago 2.85% plus $0.10 on transactions under $12

Groupon Swiped 1.8% + $0.15 per transaction, Keyed 2.3% plus $0.15 per transaction

Handpoint 2.65% per transaction and £9.99 or 1990 ISK monthly fee

I Love Velvet n/a iKaaz n/a iPay n/a

Intuit GoPayment $12.95/month and 1.75% swipe and 2.75% entered or 2.75% swipe, 3.75% keyed without monthly fee

iZettle 2.75% for MC and Diner’s Club or 2.95% for AMEX

JUSP 2.5% per transaction and �39 + VAT for the card reader

Kalixia Pro n/a


Koupah 2.69% + $.03 per transaction KWI n/a Lightspeed $1,098-$3,875 per program for one license Miura Shuttle n/a Mobile Pay On Demand 2.7%/swipe or 3.5% + $.15 per keyed in Monitise n/a Mosambee n/a

mPowa 25% or minimum charge $0.40 or £0.25 or €0.30. Or 2.95%, depending on country

MRL Posnet n/a Mswipe n/a MTS POS Between Rs.200 – Rs.300 per month

NCR Silver

Full hardware package is $499 a month to connect a mobile device. First device is $79/month and additional are up to $29/month. ($.10 per transaction up to $29)

Next Gen Dine $55 per month for a license plus initial hardware package

Nomad n/a o2 £20 for the POS and 2.75%/transaction PagSeguro The reader is R$ 118.80 pay@mobile n/a PayAnywhere 2.69%/swipe

Payfirma

$25 set up fee + $10 monthly fee + 1.99%-2.92% + $ .25 / swipe. Minimum monthly fee $40 for processing less than $2,800/month.

Payleven Cost of reader (£89 or 99€) + 2.75%/transaction

PayMeRussia 2.75% for MasterCard, Maestro and Visa payments

PayTooSwipe n/a

PayPal Here 2.7% transaction fee, with no monthly fee. Non-swipes up to 3.5%, with a $ 0.15 fee

payPLUS n/a

payPocket n/a

PaySimple $34.95/month and 2.29% + $0.29 / transaction

Punchey .75% + interchange PocketPOS n/a QFPay 899 renminbi for the reader and .78%/ transaction Retail Cloud n/a

RevCOIN 2.55% per transaction or 3.55% +$.15 when card is not present

Revel n/a Sage Payments n/a

mailto:pay@mobile


Sales Vu 2.7% in the US and between 1.73% - 3.26% in Canada

ShopKeep $49 for one register and $98 for two registers per month

Softspace n/a S-Pay MPOS n/a

Spark Pay

Pro Plan $9.95/month plus 1.95 % for swiped, 2.95 % for American Express transactions. A la carte - 2.7% per swipe and 3.7% for keyed in transactions

Spire/Thyron n/a Square $275/month or 2.75% per swipe SumUp 2.75% per transaction Swiffpay Vary based on country and type of business Swish HK$498 for reader and 2.99% per transaction Wallmob n/a WorldPay £59.99 for reader and 2.75% per transaction Vantiv n/a Visa mPOS Taiwan n/a YES Bank Rs 2,000 and Rs 250-500 per month


The MPOS Report Context The MPOS Tracker™ organizes the ecosystem into two broad categories: those merchant-facing organizations who supply devices to merchants directly and those who “power” those players and supply them with the MPOS hardware, software, tools and services that helps merchant-facing organizations meet their customer needs. This, we believe, helps to further establish and define the playing field in what has become a very active space.

What the MPOS Tracker™ is: The MPOS Tracker™ is designed to offer an organizing framework for evaluting the many players that have entered the mobile point of sale (MPOS) sector. For the purposes of the Tracker, we will look at all mobile devices – mobile phones and tablets - and will profile players who enable commerce via either. Consider the monthly MPOS Tracker™ as our best attempt to give the payments space a “playbook” on the MPOS ecosystem and how it is evolving – a sort of “who’s on first” perspective of who’s in it, what their offerings are, and how the market may have evolved month to month. On a quarterly basis, we will do a “deep dive” into the vendors that play in a specific category.

What the MPOS Tracker™ isn’t: At least now, this report isn’t a rating or ranking of the players in this space – this feature will be introduced in Q1 of 2013. It is also probably important to note that we take the information that is provided to us by the vendors as accurate – we have not done our own due diligence to inform the placement of the players on the MPOS Pyramid™. We will conduct diligence to support the rating/ranking feature once introduced.

As we stated in our first report (October 2012), the MPOS ecosystem is moving quickly and this report is by no means complete – which is why we have chosen to do monthly updates. Further, information about the players is available in varying degrees of completeness. Details about volumes and shipments – the information that everyone finds most valuable – is not publicly available. In fact, our big wish is to publish an aggregate number of MPOS shipments so that we can track how this market moves in more quantifiable terms. We thank those who have provided us with that information, so far, but would more so that our report can be complete. We will not publish this information for any individual player but will only publish an aggregate number on a quarterly basis. If you would like for your numbers to be added to the total aggregate MPOS Tracker™, please contact us at [email protected].

If you would like to be included in this report and/or would like your information to be updated, please contact us at [email protected] and we will send you the data sheet required for submission. Further, if you would if you would like to be included in our ratings and ranking, please indicate this as well so that we can send along our more detailed questionnaire for you to complete.

Why is MPOS Relevant? The diffusion of smartphones worldwide has revolutionized the payments industry in a variety of ways. Mobile phones are being considered (and trialed) in both the retail payments environment and the acceptance/point of sale environments. “Going mobile” today now means that both customers and merchants are able to gain tremendous efficiencies at a point of sale that can accommodate the form factors that consumers use today - the plastic card – and move that point of interaction closer to the customer. Merchants large and small are able to gain business efficiencies as well as new customers and sales.

Along the way, card readers have been transformed into tiny devices that plug into the headset jacks of mobile phones and tablets, turning these powerful IP-enabled computing devices into mobile point of sale terminals- thus the MPOS acronym. But the power goes well beyond card acceptance anywhere, by anyone. These mobile point of

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


sale devices leverage existing payments functionality and infrastructure which means that the chicken and egg issues typically associated with new payments entrants don’t exist. MPOS card readers enable the acceptance of the plastic cards that consumers carry in their wallets today and like to use.

MPOS may have started life as a way to enable casual sellers and small merchants to accept cards, but it is quickly moving up the merchant supply chain. MPOS actually started life way back in 2008 – before Square - in the mobile “field services” space enabling tradespeople and other field service personnel to deliver their services and generate both an invoice and a payment on site. Square applied this concept to the micro merchant who was unable to accept anything other than cash or check. Now, Tier One retailers are turning tablets into cash registers and moving payment and check out to wherever the consumer happens to be in the store. Clearly, MPOS is reinventing the entire commerce experience for all types of merchants and consumers.

Quite naturally, given the “perfect storm” of mobile devices, consumers and plastic cards and existing payments rails, the market has seen an explosion of POS players enter the market. MPOS players can be divided into two camps: the dozens of players who supply devices to merchants and the universe of players who “power” those players and provide them with the MPOS hardware, software and enabling platform functionality needed to meet the needs of their customers. The capabilities of those who “power” the suppliers range greatly, and as a result, the MPOS offerings in market today exhibit a wide range of functions from basic payment card acceptance and processing (eg. Groupon Payments) to enabling a merchant/consumer network (e.g. Square).

organizing the mobile point of sale ecosystem | september 2013 · the ability to process sales...

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