How Mobile Point of Sale (m POS) can take Customer Engagement to the Next Level?
Special mini-terminals for reading payment cards attached to a smartphone, as well as programs for a smartphone, photo-optically recognizing numbers, surnames and other inscriptions on the cards, are all elements of mobile acquiring. Evo.business talks about the realities and future of card technology important for small businesses.
Immediately make a reservation that the concept of “mobile acquiring” does not include portable stand-alone terminals that use wifi or other wireless connection - in relation to the main stationery acquiring terminal and cash register inside the same room (you may have noticed such wireless terminals in high-end catering points ).
According to the IT Companies in Birmingham experts, the mentioned technology is different from mobile acquiring - just as the portable home telephone line, popular in the 1990s, was different from the actual mobile connection. So, by mobile acquiring - and the mPOS-terminal used in it - is understood as payment by a card using a program and a miniature device installed either on a smartphone or on a tablet.
At the same time, Efficient staff from IT Support Derby think that there are no restrictions on the location of the smartphone/tablet for the possibility of payment: there would be a mobile connection. Conversely, a smartphone with a mPOS terminal can lie around the cash register all working day and serve as a cashier as a regular card terminal - but still, it will be technologically mobile acquiring.
Reflections on the future
And now we will decipher the uncertainty of the future m-acquiring, which we hinted at the end of the title of this article. The fact is that mobile acquiring would have conquered the world for a long time and would have met at every step - if not for the rapid development and simplification of Internet banking, web payment systems, web wallets, web client account aggregators.
In fact, if we are talking about delivering an order from an online store, and the consumer already has the money “on the card” and he is going to pay them - both he and the store are more comfortable using online payment (including using a smartphone) with card account.
In addition, it is easy for the buyer to appeal the transaction in Internet banking - all statements are available in a second, details of the recipient (store, supplier) are visible both before and after the payment. Whereas when paying via mobile (and any other acquiring) terminal, the details of the beneficiary's account are not visible in advance, for a detailed statement, go to the same Internet banking or to an ATM/terminal/bank branch.
Some IT Security Services experts from IT Services Birmingham think that the second “killer” of mobile acquiring was NFC-technology - promising to become a mainstream trading and universal method of payment and identification in megalopolises in the 2020s (Near Field Communications is short-range wireless communication, operating at a distance of 10-20 centimeters).
The release of smartphones and worn microdevices with NFC functionality and the use of such a variety as HCE (Host Card Emulation, payment card emulation) allows both to speed up the payment process many times - and to eliminate the binding of the payer to bank accounts and monopoly card payment systems.
And so - if we talk about delivery of goods by courier, delivery of services at a point named by a consumer or transportation services - by the early 2030s, mass development of NFC transactions between two smartphones equipped with this technology (or elements of smart clothing) is expected: courier or service provider and buyer.
Modern realities
Nevertheless, in the mid-2010s, mPOS-terminals remain relevant and appropriate for use by couriers of online stores, performers of any services, some offline sales points. What do you need to know about modern mobile acquiring?
First: mPOS terminals can handle cards with a magnetic stripe and/or chip and/or contactless. Do not forget to ask about these options of the card reader from your chosen mobile acquiring operator.
Second: mPOS-terminals are relatively cheap - and businessmen using this technology advice to purchase them immediately with a series: to replace the device in case of a breakdown, rather than delay delivery or service, payment of which you have already promised to accept "on-site".
Third: almost all mobile acquiring software involves fixing the user's signature — with a finger or stylus on the screen of your smartphone equipped with a mPOS terminal (this is an additional factor in the security of a transaction and minimization of reasons for its appeal by the buyer). The signature, of course, must match the one on the back of the card; and if the signature is similar, but on the screen came out slightly "crooked", it is better to ask the buyer to sign again, more clearly (in which case, you will not need to investigate the statements of clients like "the signature was not mine").
Fourth: the average cost of mobile acquiring services does not differ from stationary acquiring prices - most often, this is a commission in the amount of 2% -3.5% of the transaction; and the connection to the service is usually extremely cheap or not charged at all. It is necessary to calculate in advance the monetary volume of card payments, for example, per month, calculate the amount of the commission for the acquiring commission and distribute these costs across all or some items of your range.
And the fifth: it remains to be noted that mobile acquiring is rarely found as a private service of banks. For example, in Ukraine at the end of 2016, only the iPay system works as a sub-type of LiqPay service from PrivatBank (it differs, among other things, by the curious function of photo-optical recognition of names, numbers and other inscriptions on the card). Plus, two more banks (Raiffeisen Bank Aval and OTP Bank) are actively promoting mobile acquiring, but the service itself belongs to the Ukrainian operator Pay Me, independent of the banks.