How mPOS Helps Bag More Groceries

Customers expect unified retail experiences as they shop between in-store and online. Retailers and supermarkets are listening, and extending mobile channels into their brick-and-mortar locations, enabling customers to skip the line with mobile scan-and-pay or by equipping employees with handheld point-of-sale (POS) devices to allow checkout anywhere in-store.

In the February mPOS Tracker, PYMNTS explores how retailers are tapping mPOS solutions to provide speedier, more seamless experiences to ease the checkout process and keep money flowing.

Around The Mobile Point-Of-Sale World

The scarcity of cash in Zimbabwe is making it difficult for consumers to complete basic purchases, driving a need for digital payment solutions. In response, players like People’s Own Savings Bank are deploying mPOS devices. The bank’s CEO said these devices provide convenience to both buyers and sellers.

These mPOS solutions are also gaining traction in India, where demonetization has encouraged consumers and merchants to embrace cash alternatives. A new offering from payment solutions company Mosambee and Mastercard addresses this shift, and is intended to help small businesses accept a variety of digital payment methods.

Meanwhile, as Mosambee and Mastercard partner up, others are joining forces. Financial services provider Fiserv is making moves to acquire First Data, the company behind the Clover mPOS solutions. Fiserv’s customers will be able to offer Clover to their business clients.

For the rest of the latest headlines, download the Tracker.

mPOS Helps Food Truck Sales Hit The Gas

Food trucks are tuning in to mPOS as well, as consumers carry less cash. For these mobile restaurateurs, being able to rapidly process card payments is critical to keeping up with the crowds and letting the sales flow.

That’s especially true when serving festivals, where a truck might get as many as 1,000 customers an hour, said Nhon Ma, co-founder and co-owner of Zinneken’s Belgian waffle business. Seasoned food truck businesses, like 61-year-old Frosty Ice Cream, have also adopted mPOS to keep up with changing times and consumers’ increasing march away from cash.

In this month’s feature story, PYMNTS got the scoop from Ma and Frosty CEO Frank Sacchetti. Read the full feature in the Tracker.

Grocery Stores Stock Up On mPOS

Larger food retailers are putting mPOS on the menu, too. Beleaguered by slim margins and competition from online grocery retailers, brick-and-mortar supermarkets are rolling out mPOS to help them get ahead.

Major supermarkets and hypermarkets, such as Kroger and Walmart, are deploying customer-facing scan-and-go apps, while other grocers like Nigerian chain Royal Mart have equipped employees with handheld POS devices. In the mPOS Tracker’s new Deep Dive, PYMNTS digs into the numbers to explore how grocers are using mPOS to enable quicker, smoother purchasing, and to help bag sales.

To see the Deep Dive, download the Tracker.

About The Tracker

The mPOS Tracker, powered by Mobeewave, is the go-to resource for staying up to date on a month-by-month basis. The Tracker highlights the contributions of different stakeholders, including institutions and technology coming together to make this happen.