There’s incredible opportunity
at the point of sale.
It’s where the rubber hits
the road — where consumers
finally take out
their wallet to make the
purchase. Today, the POS
industry has become an
impressive multi-billion dollar juggernaut
providing software, hardware, insights, and
more to make the purchasing experience
as smooth as possible for both
the customer and the business.
Every Spring I like to do a quick
survey of some of the innovations
that I’m most excited about and how
they’re impacting the POS world.
It’s no surprise that mobile has been
dominating the list over the last few
years, as the move toward everything
mobile has had a huge impact on the
point of sale. But since “mobile” is so
broad and is now being integrated into
just about all aspects of POS technology,
I’m not going to break that out as a separate
point on this year’s list.
Below are the four point of sale innovations
that I can’t wait to see more of this year:
#4. Beacon Technology
I’m not the first to say it, but the next twelve
months could be huge for beacons — which
are essentially inexpensive, low-energy
Bluetooth connections that allow consumers
to interact with a store or restaurant via their
phone in multiple different ways. From allowing
customers to get prompts or sale notifications
once they enter a location, to facilitating
the checkout process, to collecting valuable
data, beacons unlock countless new possibilities
for businesses. While the promise is certainly
very exciting, some significant hurdles
could slow down adoption. Customers generally
need to download a compatible app onto
their phones, then turn on Bluetooth, and
then agree to accept notifications, and then
share their location, and then be willing to
keep the app after getting a potential barrage
of messages that they may not have expected
to receive. Hundreds of organizations are betting
big on beacons, from startups like
Shopkick and Estimote, to the big boys like
Qualcomm, Starwood Hotels, and even Major
League Baseball.
#3. Biometric
Payment Technologies
Today, most of the attention in payments is
focused on two big areas of innovation: the
digital wallet (think Apple Pay to allow for
payments by iPhone or Apple Watch) and
sleeker payment acceptance technologies(think Square or PayPal). These technologies
make it easier and faster for any business to
process credit cards anywhere. There’s so
much happening in both areas that it’s tough
to keep up, and it seems like nearly all POS
providers are rolling out new innovations in
one or both of these areas constantly.
But looking ahead a few steps, I’m even
more excited about the biometric frontier.
Paying your bill via an electronic device
instead of the plastic in your wallet is fun for
the people who swear it saves a few seconds,
while others still feel like it takes about the
same amount of time. But what about when
you can pay without needing to take out any
type of device at all? That saves even more
time, is even less hassle, and potentially
requires even less technical savvy.
Biometric payments allow consumers at
the point of sale to simply present some part
of their body to be scanned to verify identity
and allow for payment. Zhou Xi, director of
the Chongqing Green Technology Research
Institute at the Chinese Academy of Science,
announced recently that his team had developed
a facial recognition technology with
99.8% accuracy. The Academy plans to roll
out a payment app at some point this year
that will be linked to bank accounts or credit
cards, and can complete an accurate identification
in roughly one second. Finnish
company, Uniqul, has competing facial
recognition payment technology that is also
slated to begin trials this year. There continues
to be terrific innovations being developed
around hand and finger print scans,
retinal scans, and more. Eventually we won’t
need plastic or smartphones — we’ll be our
own credit cards.
#2. Increasingly Interactive Kiosks
Interactive kiosks are playing an ever-larger
role in the point of sale world. More and
more restaurants are excited about giving
customers the option to order on their own
to avoid standing in line, minimize miscommunication
issues and to customize at their
own pace. Companies like IBM and NCR
are some of the big name players in the
space, but if you’re looking to make a purchase,
be sure to check out some of the fast
moving newer players like Zivelo. This
Phoenix-based company is cranking out
some of the coolest interactive kiosks on the
market today, with an incredible customer
list to match. Touch screens are a given, but
today’s kiosks aren’t just getting tucked into
a corner; they are now being thought of as
beautiful machines in their own right. They
are getting faster, more engaging, and more
customizable than ever before as manufacturers
equip them with better speakers, better
displays, and better ancillary functionality.
Expect the market to continue expanding in
2015 as more and more locations embrace
the technology.
#1. Point of Sale Games
to Boost Revenue and
Redemptions
After 20+ years of dealing with POS software,
it’s rare that I see something that makes me sit
back and say, “Wow!” But that’s exactly what
happened when I had a chance to see a demo
of OfferCraft’s new software. OfferCraft is a
Las Vegas startup tackling the problem of low
coupon participation and redemption rates;
the goal of their software is to make offers at
the point of sale more effective and profitable.
They accomplish this using many different
tools, but I was especially impressed by their
gamification package, which transforms conventional
marketing into a genuinely fun
experience. I’ve seen promotional games
before, but OfferCraft’s clever game theorybased
digital games manage to convince
patrons to spend more, register for loyalty
programs, and return for future visits — all
while smiling and having a blast. The company
claims that retailers, restaurants, casinos
and other clients can set everything up in just
a few days by using their system to customize
the graphics, sounds, rewards, and odds.
OfferCraft’s CEO, Aron Ezra, told me that
their system uses extensive A/B testing to
track which games and rewards drive the most
revenue in different circumstances; the system
apparently then incorporates that information
to continually improve the mechanics to keep
increasing revenue. Very cool stuff.
That does it for this year’s list! It’s a great
time for the industry, and I can’t wait to see
these ideas continue to mature and open up
new possibilities. In the meantime, if you
have any suggestions for next year’s list, send
them my way…
Christopher Swanger is a technology veteran
in the gaming industry and has worked
both as a vendor and an operator. He is a
Go-To-Market expert who helps companies
establish relevance and value within the
gaming and hospitality sector. As a proponent
for innovation, Chris writes for
Gaming & Leisure Magazine to help tell the
stories that his technology partners and colleagues
deem important to the betterment of
the gaming industry. More about Chris at
http://www.ChristopherSwanger.com.