Smart POS to see increased demand after recent global POS outages: study

The value of global POS (Point-of-Sale) terminal transactions will reach $17 trillion (£13.5tn) by the end of 2024, and grow by 25 per cent to 2028, a new study from Juniper Research, experts in fintech markets, has forecast.

The growth comes despite the recent POS outages in some retail store chains across the globe, forcing a number of temporary store closures. Significant financial and security risks were exposed during these faults, continuing the demand for smart POS terminals to replace outdated legacy systems.

The study found many retailers are insufficiently prepared to address issues with their legacy POS systems, such as terminal outages in physical retail stores. However, it identified smart POS technologies as a key platform to mitigate issues such as outages.

This includes IoT powered systems to ensure consistency and strong connectivity with other retail systems, and cloud storage for customer data to prevent hacking and malware.

Avoiding systems failures from legacy systems must now be a key consideration for retailers when upgrading POS technology; the study noted, targeting maximum processing efficiency and customer satisfaction.

“Despite the higher cost of implementation in comparison to traditional POS, embracing Smart POS will secure a return on investment for retailers; preventing system failures alongside enhanced business integrations,” study author Daniel Bedford commented.

POS terminal providers are expanding their offerings to provide capabilities beyond payments. Smart POS offers enhanced functions over traditional POS, such as staff management, loyalty cards processing, inventory management and shop synchronisation with other outlets in the same chain.