Point of Transaction 301 Exam Results

The exams have been scored. Here is a round-up of how PYMNTS U. participants answered on the Point of Transaction 301 exam.

Question 1: Which stakeholder in the payments value chain has been the biggest driver of the complexity found today at the physical point of sale?

     a) Consumers (0%)

     b) Merchants (0%)

     c) Acquirers (25%)

     d) Networks and processors (50%)

     e) Issuers (25%)

Question 2: What has been the greatest challenge for simplifying the point of sale?

     a) Issuers don’t want it, because there’s money to be made in prolonging the problem (0%)

     b) Consumers can’t handle it, because they don’t adapt well to change (0%)

     c) Merchants won’t invest in it, because they’re too busy investing in driving more people into the stores (25%)

     d) Processors don’t know where to start, but would invest in simplifying if they could (75%)

Question 3: Why is it that eCommerce merchants have made investments in checkout solutions?

     a) Getting consumers to register payment credentials and then access them with a username and password cuts down on shopping card abandon rates (25%)

     b) Registering consumers into a website allows the merchants to track browse, shop, and buying behavior to improve sales (0%)

     c) Building a base of consumers in a checkout service makes them more sticky for the retailer (50%)

     d) Adopting checkout solutions is a way to build an alternate payments business (25%)

Question 4: What has been the biggest driver of benefit for adopting IP-enabled terminals at the physical point of sale?

     a) The ability to integrate transaction data with back-end systems over IP infrastructure (75%)

     b) The opportunity to streamline the payments application download, update, management, and testing process (0%)

     c) The facility to capture an electronic signature (0%)

     d) The promise of future convergence of the proliferation of alternate payments in eCommerce into the majority of consumer payments at the point of sale (25%)

Question 5: Who do you believe will be the first payments player to bring an eCommerce checkout engine to the physical point of sale?

     a) PayPal, because they already acquire for a majority of multi-channel merchants (25%)

     b) Apple, because it’s such a tight fit with their business model (0%)

     c) Amazon, because they have fallen behind in the payments business and need to look innovative (0%)

     d) None of the above, because the next player to bring online checkout to physical retail will be a new innovative company that enables everyone (75%)

Essay Question: Please briefly explain your answer to question 5, including the “who” behind your answer if you answered “d”.

“Already testing it.”

“Believe the payments industry will eventually move to mobile/electronic wallet but not in the form being tested today. Some startup will converge security, control, ease of use, remote management and other capabilities onto a mobile app on your smart device. And regardless of what terminal the merchant the merchant uses, (think Wi-Fi cell capability in an iPhone) the app will connect to merchants POS systems.”

‘”I think it is square” by twitter”.’

“Exisiting merchant acquiring processors are best positioned to do this.”