Mobile point-of-sale use by European SMBs on verge of upswing

Visa Europe has released findings of a new mobile point-of-sale study that reveals the technology is on the verge of a sharp upward swing among small businesses in Europe while ABI Research forecasts nearly half of all point-of-sale devices will be mobile within the next 5 years.

by Helen Leggatt

Research among 2,000 small businesses in five European countries - France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the U.K. - found that over a quarter were interested in implementing mobile POS (mPOS) within the next six months.

"Small businesses have been traditionally reluctant to embrace card payments but across Europe that is changing. mPOS is the catalyst for that - it's a solution that dispels many of the convictions previously held and genuinely works for small businesses, if they are accepting payments at their premises, or on the go," said Caroline Drolet, Head of Mobile Point-of-Sale at Visa Europe.

The most important feature noted by SMBs was security, followed by industry compliance and the ability to accept all major cards.

About half of SMBs in Germany said mPOS would probably increase sales and 45% of Italian SMBs believe mPOS would improve cash flow and enable them to be paid faster.
Ease of use also attracted SMBs to mPOS cited by around three-quarters in France and Germany, 63% in the U.K. and Poland and 59% in Italy.

A recent forecast from ABI Research indicates that, by 2019, 46% of all POS terminals will be mPOS devices.

"There has been much said about the cannibalization of the traditional POS market, but ABI Research believes that both traditional POS and mPOS can grow together in tandem, co-existing, expanding the presence of digital payment acceptance," said Senior ABI analyst Phil Sealy.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: mobile, mPOS, point-of-sale, POS, retail, small business, SMB