The Covid-19 pandemic, associated lockdowns and measures put in place to prevent the spread of the virus has propelled the adoption of contactless payments across Europe. This in turn has led to the increased need for Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals equipped with NFC, RFID, and other technologies used for accepting payments from contactless chip or digital interface cards.
Consumers were using these techniques to prevent the spread of the virus when handling cash, however, it seems likely that the trend of contactless payments will continue even after the pandemic subsides. An increasing percentage of people are choosing card-based payment solutions over traditional cash payments, minimising the need to carry bulky wallets among other inconveniences. As a result, there is a declining number of ATMs across the region which is further supporting the growth of contactless payments. The number of ATMs in Europe declined by 2%, from 390,221 in 2019 to 381,410 in 2020.
According to a recent report, the European POS industry revenue is forecast to reach $30 billion by 2026 – almost double current revenue. There’s no doubt that the pandemic has played a crucial role in accelerating the demand for contactless payments, which has inversely had a positive effect on the use of POS terminals in Europe.
Traderoot recognises that the pandemic played an instrumental role in speeding up the adoption of contactless payment solutions, so POS terminal use has been positively impacted by this inverse trend in Europe.
What are the opportunities?
Retail sector adopts POS terminals
The expanding retail industry in Europe will contribute to the surge in the adoption of POS terminals, as customers are becoming tech-savvy and look for convenience when shopping. Most retailers want to ensure customer convenience, so they are incorporating POS systems to enable swift transactions, reducing long queues at payment counters.
There is strong data to suggest that the retail sector will provide considerable opportunities to the market growth of POS terminals – Contactless in-store transactions are above 50% in several European markets, including Netherlands, Poland, Greece, Croatia, Russia, and Denmark. POS terminals facilitate faster transactions than traditional systems, so their adoption has significant potential in the region.
Biometric POS terminals
Biometric POS terminals are also becoming incredibly popular due to their enhanced security. These terminals will enable employees to access the system without having to enter passwords, ensuring that the system can only be used by authorised employees. The adoption of biometric POS terminals is increasing largely because the traditional identification security protocols of using passwords for employee logins are now considered obsolete due to their insufficient security standards. Biometric POS terminals also offer superior security and enhance the performance of transactions by smart cards.
How can Traderoot assist with making the most of these opportunities?
Traderoot’s Payment System Operator (PSO) solution is a tried and tested solution for Automated Clearing Houses (ACHs) that need to perform clearing and settlement between participating institutions for multiple payment streams. Each payment stream can be transmitted, processed, cleared and settled according to its own set of rules, regardless of whether the stream is real-time or batch-based.
For example, this solution can provide segregated, parallel clearing and settlement for Point of Sale card transactions, ATM transactions, interoperable wallets, cash and cheque transactions and all types of EFT transactions. These include the likes of debit orders and credit transfers. The transactions can be transmitted directly or through highly configurable ETL (extract-transform-load) processes.
Are you ready to take advantage of the growing POS potential in Europe? As a leading fintech innovator, Traderoot’s solutions can help you! Take a look at our website to learn more about our solutions or simply contact us on sales@traderooteurope.com.