Study Touts Mobile Innovation as Major POS Influencer

VSR Magazine has released the results of its first annual “2012 POS Study.” The research reveals both concerns and desires of end-users and how advances in the point-of-sale will help the hospitality industry. Some worries end-users voiced in the study were: that current POS were not well integrated into other IT systems (28%); that the POS is not ready to grow with their company (26%); and that it is difficult to add additional modules or functionalities to the current POS (30%).
 

Hospitality Technology magazine’s own 2012 Restaurant Technology Study revealed that negative perceptions of wireless POS have given way to a more positive outlook and this was echoed in the VSR study. Three quarters of respondents reported that mobile POS capabilities were the top technology features they wanted for next POS solutions. Reasons for this vary from improving the customer experience (63%); mobile POS providing associates with better tools (54%); speeding up checkout (39%); and providing a more mobile workforce (32%).
 

According to the report, restaurant operators have a wish list of anticipated POS platforms that go beyond mobile POS (49%). Other highly awaited POS additions include: tablet-based solutions (43%); enterprise-wide centralized POS (45%); tableside POS (40%); online ordering and payment (37%); phone-based POS (41%); cloud computing (35%); touchscreen signage/kiosks (26%); and software as a solution (29%). A few other innovations that made the list are open source operating systems (14%) and NFC-enabled POS (13%).

Improving payment options remains also was named as an important—if not dominant— POS technology for many respondents. Traditional methods, such as cash, credit and debit cards are being supplemented by new offerings including NFC (near-field communication) and EMV (EuropayMasterCard Visa) chip cards, mobile couponing and merchant aggregators like PayPal and Google’s mobile wallets. All of these payment options require a POS that is PCI Compliant and capable of recognizing the new payment technologies. E-wallet payment was the most widely recognized new payment option with 36% of respondents indicating they wanted it with their next POS. Another 22% were interested in near-field communication payment, while just 9% want future POS to recognize near-field communication coupons.
 

Download the full VSR 2012 POS Study here.