To Boost Merchant Offerings payabl Debuts Omnichannel POS Tool

Payment technology firm payabl. has debuted a point-of-sale solution that lets merchants accept online and offline purchases from one terminal.

The tool will first launch in Cyprus, payabl.’s home country, before a possible expansion into Europe, according to a Tuesday (June 13) press release provided to PYMNTS. It lets retailers accept payments from card companies like Visa and Mastercard as well as Apple and Google’s digital wallets.

“With the addition of the payabl. POS terminal, we’ve filled in the missing piece of our platform and achieved a full product suite that seamlessly combines card-not-present and card-present transaction processing,” CEO Ugne Buraciene said in the release. “This empowers merchants with a unified, omnichannel platform, ensuring convenience and efficiency throughout their operations. The launch is part of our steady progress toward unveiling payabl.one, a new platform which will cater [to] all financial needs of merchants.”

The company is debuting its new omnichannel tool at a time when merchants are seeking ways to merge digital and brick-and-mortar experiences.

Speaking at the Digital Food and Beverage Conference, Chad Petersen, senior vice president of eCommerce at Lowes Foods, discussed the evolution of omnichannel, noting that many grocers are bringing more digital capabilities into their physical stores.

For example, New York City-based grocery chain Morton Williams, which has 16 locations across the city and New Jersey, is planning to debut smart carts, something fellow grocery chain Wegmans began testing several months ago.

In March, cashier-less checkout technology provider Sensei announced the debut of Europe’s largest-yet autonomous supermarket, nearly 5,400 square feet, dubbed “Dojo” in Lisbon, Portugal. And earlier this year, Instacart rolled out its first Scan & Pay checkout deployment at Foodcellar Market, a grocer in Queens, New York.

Overall, grocers are indeed looking to integrate digital technologies into the in-store experience.

Data from the study “Big Retail’s Innovation Mandate: Convenience and Personalization,” a PYMNTS and ACI Worldwide collaboration, found that nearly eight out of every 10 grocers think consumers would be very or extremely likely to switch merchants if not offered barcode and QR code scanner apps, while 40% said the same about the ability to scan products and pay without standing in line.

At the same time, the study found that 55% of grocers are satisfied with the digital tools they offer shoppers, far behind the 71% of general retailers who said the same.

For all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.