In Emerging Technologies Outlook for 2015, we pointed out that the POS terminal would prove to be a major battleground for competing technologies and companies looking to deliver value to merchants and consumers. As merchants invest in a once in a generation upgrade of their terminal hardware, technology companies like Square and First Data are looking to sell them not just on new hardware but also value added services that will drive consumer acquisition. First Data’s global head of SMB product, Peter Karpas, echoed many of our own thoughts form the 2015 Outlook and outlined what’s at stake in an interview Street Fight:
“We want to enable businesses to get the information they need to make better decisions. I think our plan is to enable others through particularly Clover and the Clover app market and platform. First and foremost we are creating a point-of-sale platform that will enable other businesses to get the kinds of information they need to be able to help the small business even more. One example of those is marketing services companies. The more data that they can get from a small business, the better their marketing can be and the better their marketing services can be.”
Small and medium businesses across America are thinking about these questions and identifying the services they need from their point-of-sale provider in order to grow and succeed. Watch this space for upcoming research by the Mercator Advisory Group that will breakdown the strategic and technological choices of various stakeholders involved in the great ‘re-terminalization’ of America.
Overview by Nikhil Joseph, Analyst, Emerging Technologies Advisory Services at Mercator Advisory Group
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