The Mobile Point of Sale Revolution

The Mobile Point of Sale Revolution

This past summer at mPOS World in Frankfurt, Germany, Scandit CEO Samuel Mueller gave a presentation that provided an overview of the changing point-of-sale (POS) landscape, and insights into how mobile barcode scanning and data capture technology enables this transition to mobile point of sale (mPOS). The presentation begins with a brief overview, and then covers current trends in IT, followed by an overview of mPOS and self-checkout technology. Check out the slidedeck and follow along with the notes below:

Trends in IT (Slides 5-9)

The first IT trend discussed is the consumerization of IT (slides 5-7), which refers to the use of consumer products and services in enterprise settings. The consumerization of IT envelopes both the use of SaaS based consumer-first products such as Dropbox, Skype, Gmail and Twitter, while also including the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) trend that is driving the use of personal consumer smartphones and tablet devices in the workplace. Since workers are already familiar with their personal smartphone software and hardware, training becomes much simpler and the user experience is preferable. In addition, consumer-focused software and hardware tends to be less expensive than enterprise-specific software and hardware.

The second major trend involves the replacement of traditional peripheral hardware devices by smartphone-based software technology and apps (slides 8-9). Today’s enterprise ecosystem is still cluttered by traditional mobile devices, such as mobile computers, dedicated POS terminals, dedicated barcode scanners, fingerprint readers and more. All this peripheral hardware can be emulated through smartphone-based apps, which act as a viable and more user friendly replacement at a fraction of the cost. There is a large opportunity for companies to reduce costs and optimize workflows by replacing traditional hardware with a tablet-based POS system, or a smartphone or tablet-based barcode scanner, and this is just beginning to heat up!

The New Mobile Point of Sale (slides 10-15)

Traditionally many retail storefronts have been using clunky POS systems, which required maintenance, extensive employee training and more. With a tablet-based POS system many of these issues are addressed. New mPOS systems like Zingcheckout or Square take only minutes to set up, require close to no maintenance, have simpler pricing models and provide valuable insights about customer interactions.

Mobile POS and Self-Checkout Technology (Slides 16-23)

In the next part of the presentation, Samuel examines an idealized purchasing process and discusses how smartphone-based technology supports different use cases in transitioning towards mPOS.

The mPOS Revolution is Happening (Slides 23-30)

The rest of slides present case studies and provide an overview of the changes the mPOS revolution brings. Utilizing tablet devices with innovative mobile data capture technology (such as image-based credit card reading and barcode scanning technology) makes the process of setting up and maintaining a mPOS system incredibly simple. For the merchant, mPOS saves on hardware and software costs, provides sales support before, during and after a transaction, and integrates analytics and integrated loyalty functionality at a low cost. For the consumer, mPOS enables the use of mobile wallets, personalized loyalty cards and coupons, and allows for self-checkout functionality. It’s a win-win situation and we’re sure to see mass adoption of mPOS in the years to come.

Look out for more posts about mPOS trends and ways enterprise companies can leverage mPOS to further their business. Stay tuned!