THE FUTURE OF EPOS: Point of Sale Predictions & Retail Trends for 2021 - Phos
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THE FUTURE OF EPOS: Point of Sale Predictions & Retail Trends for 2021
THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
Contents
03 INTRODUCTION
Brad Hyett,
CEO, phos
04 WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
04 Enactor
Michael Carrell,
CEO & Founder
06 HelloDone
Ed Hodges,
CEO
07 HungerRush
Matt Martini, Senior Manager,
Enterprise & Account-Based Marketing
09 Jisp
Julian Fisher,
CEO & Founder
10 Lavu Inc
Joe Meuser,
Head of POS Product & Partnerships
11 Munch
Wynand Geldenhuys,
Co-founder & CEO
12 ready2order
Markus Bernhart,
CEO
13 SumUp
Dimitri Gugunava,
VP Acquiring & Banking
15 CONCLUSION & KEY TAKEAWAYS
Raymond Lee,
Director, Strategic Partnerships, phos
17 ABOUT PHOS
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THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
Introduction
The last 12 months have transformed the financial
technology sector.
While the global pandemic continues to disrupt our daily
CASH lives, it has also catalysed a new wave of innovation that is
revolutionising the way we pay, and get paid.
forecast to account for just From contactless payments to the rise of e-wallets, one
9% of all payments by 20281 area where this innovation is on clear display is point of
sale (POS). With the demand for touch-free shopping
experiences rapidly increasing, POS technology is helping
businesses both large and small survive, and in some cases
thrive, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is particularly true for consumer-facing sectors such
as retail and hospitality. While these industries have been
ATM among the hardest hit by the pandemic, they’re also where
the greatest opportunities lie for digital transformation in
transactions
the purchase journey.
FELL BY 60%
last year in Even before COVID-19, cash was forecast to account for less
than 10% of all payments by 2028. But with the widespread
the UK2
consumer adoption of new payment technologies over the
last year, forward-thinking businesses are investing in mobile
and software POS platforms like never before.
It is these firms that will deliver a better customer
experience and grow their revenue more quickly in the race
to a new, cashless normal. And it will be systems providers
that pioneer the technology to support this growth.
1.7 BILLION But with so many changes happening so quickly, it's hard
people expected not to feel overwhelmed by the rise of these new trends.
Not to mention how to adapt and best serve customer
to use e-wallets needs in such a rapidly changing market, and respond to the
by 20243 emergence of new consumer behaviours.
In this report, we round up point of sale predictions from the
industry's leading POS and technology providers, offering
some insight into what to expect from the year ahead.
BRAD HYETT CEO, Phos
1
According to data from UK Finance, UK Cash and Cash Machines 2019 2 According to data from Link; year-on-year April 2019 vs 2020
3
According to data from BuyShares UK
3
THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Enactor
MICHAEL CARRELL CEO & Founder
Retailers, in their search for optimised staff-
customer interactions, will be looking to better
harness the availability of the great devices that
are on the market today.
Enactor believes retailers will accelerate movement away from legacy, monolithic platforms
in 2021. This could even include ones they have recently installed, because of the inability
of those platforms to meet the demands of modern store systems, which became so starkly
apparent in 2020.
LEAVING LEGACY SYSTEMS BEHIND There will be a growth in integration into other
emerging types of solutions or services the
We think retailers will look towards point
retailer may have, for example, Klarna-style
of sale to help them adjust to the future
instalment purchasing plans or subscription
role of their stores this year, with potential
services. This is at the crux of unifying online
shifts including:
and digital channels.
• Stores becoming more experiential rather
True API-enabled POS will mean that retailers
than just transactional.
will be able to deliver on the personalised
• More integration between store and experiences that they are constantly and
digital customer engagement, with even continuously seeking to deliver online, but
the store becoming an extension of bring the store easily into these delivery cycles.
e-commerce operations.
However, re-usability of online services goes
• Stores as showrooms, which process beyond just APIs. We believe retailers will start
as many orders as they do normal to look at the ability to leverage their website
store transactions. front-end investment in store too. The ability
to deploy websites or web applications on
• Stores that become pick-up points for
the POS user interface and, most importantly,
online orders where the POS facilitates a
interacting with it, will allow them to leverage
smooth collection journey and the ability to
their investment in website features in their
upsell on products and services.
stores - whilst still taking advantage of POS’s
• Better convenience, for example, allowing functions and configurability.
customers to use their own devices around
This goes for well-nurtured features like
the store.
product selection and search but could be
any type of feature or function. This brings a
UNIFYING DIGITAL & STORE THROUGH retailer’s internal web development teams into
APIS & WEB COMPONENTS play. They can build features, components and
integrations themselves, but still receive the
To accommodate these shifts, retailers will be
benefits of everything that comes with the POS
looking for much more API driven applications
processing layer.
as they look to plug into their wider digital
landscape. Better integrations into systems
like Order Management CRM, loyalty and
e-commerce will remain desirable.
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THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
DEVICES
Bringing these experiences to the customer in store, however, is a challenge
and requires flexible deployment when it comes to architecture and hardware.
Retailers, in their search for optimised staff-customer interactions, will be
looking to better harness the availability of the great devices that are on the
market today.
Android and iOS devices will continue to be the premium hardware of choice
and are most familiar to staff and customers. As such, retailers will be looking
towards platforms that can seamlessly deploy onto all devices and will look
poorly on systems that enforce certain hardware operating systems or
manufacturers. Furthermore, the cost pressures in the industry more generally
will mean that patience for the inefficiency of having different software
platforms and applications for different device types will continue to decline.
HEADLESS COMMERCE, MICROSERVICES & MOVEMENT OF BASKETS
Another trend we are seeing is some retailers looking towards POS platforms
for microservice stacks, both from an architectural and functional perspective.
Retailers will want vendors which can demonstrate good microservice
practices for the core central components that support that platform.
This is part of the move towards headless commerce, where microservice
components contribute to the delivery of functionality to digital channels
as well as in store, with the delivery of great customer journeys being the
key ambition. For example, we think a microservices-based basket that
enables the customer to seamlessly move between all channels and
touchpoints is critical.
Another example is using the promotions engine for online channels. Store
systems suppliers often have better and more functional promotions engines,
as a result of some of the complex promotions that have evolved from
verticals like department stores.
CLOUD & AGILITY WITH EITHER SAAS OR MORE CONTROL
Retailers will begin to look for cloud-based solutions that can harness
computational power and sophisticated technical infrastructure which public
cloud platforms can provide.
More importantly though, they will be seeking POS solutions that enable them
to get the benefits from features and integrations more easily, moving away
from heavy services and development projects with the solution providers.
THE MOVE TOWARDS SAAS (SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE)
Data shows that just five years ago around 30% of retail applications were
SaaS-based, now the figure is over 80%. We believe that, even for large tier
one retailers, there will be increased adoption of SaaS-based POS.
We believe this is driven by a desire to have the barriers of deployment
removed. Whereby, functions and integrations are easily accessible and
enabled by “switching on”.
In contrast, we also believe there will be a significant cohort of retailers
moving in the opposite direction. Those with capable internal IT and
Development teams will look to leverage platforms which allow them to
extend and control themselves. These types of companies are seeking more
agile alternatives to the current suite of inflexible and monolithic applications
on the market.
5
THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
HelloDone
ED HODGES CEO
Automation, hyper-personalisation and a
customer-centric purchase experience will be
three areas of focus.
I both hope and believe that 2021 will be the year e-commerce firms prioritise and invest
in the customer communications side of online order fulfilment which really does deliver
their brand to the door. Automation, hyper-personalisation and a customer-centric purchase
experience will be three areas of focus.
EMBRACING DIGITAL I believe this is the future of shopping here
too, with WhatsApp set to become the next
Thanks to the accelerated shift away from
e-commerce battleground, thanks to
physical stores, vendors have had to embrace
its low bandwidth requirements and
digital with both hands during the pandemic
widespread adoption.
and this is set to continue in 2021.
The realisation that the customer experience
PHYSICAL & DIGITAL INTEGRATION
needs to extend beyond the acquisition and
buying process, to cover the whole lifecycle of COVID-19 has been a major catalyst for change
an order, will drive retail behaviour this year, over the last twelve months, accelerating years’
as firms have to work harder to retain the worth of digital transformation ahead of the
loyalty of an ever growing, digital-savvy expected peak. But the COVID-19 crisis will
consumer base. end and, as we have seen during the easing of
lockdown restrictions, there remains strong
demand for physical retail experiences.
OMNICHANNEL EXPERIENCES & THE RISE
OF THE UNIVERSAL APP What won’t change is the heightened
expectations consumers now have when
Mobile apps are no longer the future of
shopping with their favourite brands online or
e-commerce, with one in four of us abandoning
in store. I believe there is a huge opportunity
them after a single use or purchase. In 2021,
for vendors in a post-COVID world to push
forward-thinking retailers will instead embrace
forward with tighter integration of their
popular messaging apps like WhatsApp
physical and digital retail offerings to create
and Facebook Messenger, which have been
a truly omnichannel experience that reduces
chronically underused as e-commerce channels.
friction in the purchase journey, builds
Consumers are telling us they want customer loyalty and increases conversions
simpler ways to shop and today we have for merchants.
new payment technologies and the power
of AI to help us create seamless purchase
experiences. If we look at China, which is
leading the shift toward new ways of
shopping online, the whole process of
discovering a new product or experience,
buying or booking it and then telling your
friends about it, can take place in WeChat.
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THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
HungerRush
MATT MARTINI
Senior Manager, Enterprise & Account-Based Marketing
The POS model has hit a brick wall it cannot
overcome. It’s time we make the next leap in
restaurant technology innovation.
When McDonalds became the first restaurant in the world to adopt the digital point of sale
(POS) system in 1973, it was a game-changing moment. In the fifty years since, POS systems
have evolved to encompass a wide array of features, used by almost every restaurant in the
United States.
GOODBYE, POS: THE RESTAURANT Your POS primarily tracks sales that happen
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IS THE FUTURE through that doorway. But what about online
sales, third-party delivery, or bulk orders from
But the POS model has hit a brick wall it cannot
catering customers?
overcome, and as the restaurant industry
evolves to demand greater interoperability with Marketing and loyalty opportunities are cut
other essential systems, it’s time we make the short. POS systems only communicate with
next leap in restaurant technology innovation. customers that have walked through that
doorway, and are often limited to single
At HungerRush, we’re proud to enable
locations (a big yikes for multi-unit operators).
restaurants to achieve a more profitable
Most restaurants use more than one tool to
future with the next evolution of the POS:
manage rewards, loyalty, and marketing - and
the Restaurant Management System,
those tools rarely play nice together, so you’re
or RMS for short.
left with incomplete data in each system and
This represents a paradigm shift in how owners inefficient growth.
manage restaurants - from single-unit locations
Inventory tracking is inefficient. Some POS
to large enterprise businesses - and it’s going to
systems remove items from inventory when
unlock countless new doors in 2021 and beyond.
they’re sold via that doorway (which seems
handy at first), but what about other ways
you use food? Corporate catering, waste and
END OF THE ROAD FOR RESTAURANT POS
spoilage, moving ingredients from one location
Think of your POS as a doorway between your to another - POS inventory systems can’t handle
business and customers. Customers all this variation.
walk through the door (make a transaction)
And we haven’t even touched on employee
to access your food. In this limited sense, the
scheduling, human resources, payroll, delivery
POS is an incredible tool for creating better
driver management, and other business
customer experiences.
workflows. You’ll have to find external tools
Over time, however, the POS system has to manage those systems, and most of them
become bloated with features and tools that don’t integrate completely with POS software,
are only loosely connected - and those loose leaving you with no way to see, learn from, and
connections come with notable limitations. make decisions based on all your business data.
Reporting data in your POS is incomplete.
7
THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
When the POS system is used as if it’s the centre
of gravity for your business, and all the other
tools revolve around it, you’re left with disjointed
functionality, messy data, and limited
growth potential.
But when you have clean data that flows freely
from one system to the next - without having to be
funneled through the small POS system doorway
- you’re able to see clearly, make connections, and
implement improvements like never before.
USING RMS TO RE-IMAGINE
INFORMATION FLOW
The POS doorway analogy is well-understood, but we
want to take it further. The point of sale may be an
important door for customers who want to engage
with your business, however it’s not the only door to
your business.
Your restaurant is a palace of doors, with all kinds of
information flowing in and out from them.
• Online orders, handheld tablets, and third- party
delivery platforms represent additional ordering
doorways
• Food and supplies enter your business through
the inventory and purchasing doors
• Employees come in through scheduling and HR
• In-house delivery drivers have a door of their own
• And your reporting and analytics need to see all
those doors in one place
The Restaurant Management System removes the
POS as the centre of gravity and puts it where it
belongs: a module within your greater business
ecosystem. It’s no longer behaving as the primary
doorway of your business to the outside world, but a
doorway among many.
So what then is the new centre of gravity for
your restaurant business? All your business data in
the cloud.
The RMS model creates a common language that all
your business systems speak, then hosts all that data
in the cloud so that every system is constantly giving
and receiving new information.
Your sales, ingredients, customers, staff, finances -
all of it together makes up the hub. The spokes are the
tools that let you manage those various systems and
workflows with seamless integration.
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THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Jisp
JULIAN FISHER CEO & Founder
In 2021, we will see payment move from
designated spaces to being conducted almost
anywhere in the store.
2021 will be the year retail is reborn quite literally from the ashes.
MOBILE & TOUCH-FREE SHOPPING A UNIFIED SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
AI, now an old faithful, continued to dominate Retail and retail technology have been difficult
in 2020 but was quickly replaced by the partners for many years. Traditionalists have
emergence of mobile-based contactless long held onto the past seeing online entirely
payments. With speculation growing on when as tech space, as a different channel; a separate
and where Amazon would strike, introducing entity far removed from the high street. And
their till-less Go stores, the pandemic prompted yet the shopper is the same person, whether
a rush for contact-free shopping using a buying in a retailer’s high street store or their
shopper’s own smartphone. website. As we move into 2021, treating them
differently is no longer going to be accepted
With Apple Pay and others growing in use and
and will likely be very damaging.
familiarity, the next and obvious extension to
use mobiles, to scan goods and save time at A unified proposition merging these channels
checkout, has more than tripled in the last year requires an integrated top-down approach that
– with some stores reporting that half of all must be supported entirely by EPOS solutions.
shopping is now touch-free. There is no turning back. Retail has forever
moved on, forced to adapt to the modern
shopper who has incidentally been ‘tooled-up’
EMBRACING CHANGE AS AN
to accommodate this ‘new form of shopping’
OPPORTUNITY TO INNOVATE
for the last four years!
Two things, more than any other, have held
retailers back from proven benefits derived
from new tech; a fear of something new and a
need to save, not spend money (on new tech).
With the pandemic creating a necessity for
stores to adopt new solutions, the barriers
inherent in fear have had to be overcome.
Cruelly, some might say they simply closed
their eyes and jumped in. Today, integration is
generally fast and, for some situations, is free.
Furthermore, not all aspects of retail require a
re-imagined POS proposition. At Jisp we have
several solutions that support what we call a
‘light integration’.
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THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
SHOPPING ‘ON THE MOVE’
How we shop and pay have, broadly speaking,
remained unchanged for decades, and new facilities
supporting self-checkout have become commonplace.
In 2021, we will see payment move from designated
spaces to being conducted almost anywhere in the
store. When the mobile phone first released the caller
from being held to a fixed line, the freedom to roam
created unbounded possibilities. So, the means
to shop and pay ‘on the move’ will be the next
iteration and a chance for ‘offline’ retail to make a
‘move’ online!
THE BENEFITS OF POS FOR STAKEHOLDERS?
All the mechanics of what EPOS delivers are now
pretty standard stuff. Understanding what, who, why
and when is the new currency. Without it you cannot
appreciate what the market needs and how to run an
efficient retail business, not if the focus is on beating
the competition, which could be ‘online-only’.
This isn’t about ‘big data’ – the once domain of a
knowledgeable few. It’s knowing the basics of your
customer’s buying trends.
The biggest market for POS has to be high street
retail this year, notably from within the fashion and
gift market. The writing has been on the wall for
some time now and it is the warning that can no
longer be ignored. With hindsight, those brands which
are no longer featured along our high streets are a
testament to the need for radical change.
10THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Lavu Inc
JOE MEUSER Head of POS Product and Partnerships
We know generally where we expect the market to
pan out. Expect continued enhancements around
contactless or low-touch initiatives.
At Lavu and MenuDrive, we focus on empowering local restaurants with the tools they need
to manage and grow their operations. From our perspective, 2021 will be the year of truly
embracing technology and tech-savvy restaurant operators.
EMBRACING DIGITAL INTEGRATION WHAT’S NEW IN POS?
E-commerce integration has been occurring As we start 2021, we will see functionality
for some time among restaurants and their driven by the suite of technology surrounding
partners, but often with little understanding of the POS itself, and the POS will be expected to
the fundamental questions of what, why, and work flawlessly - or invisibly, as my team often
how much? hears me describe it. As far as “what’s new?”
I don’t expect anything revolutionary (other
While many of the big chains and some smaller,
than maybe an acceleration of the adoption of
more tech-savvy restaurants have started to
virtual kitchens and associated technology).
drive traffic in and embrace digital channels
for the last few years, 2021 and the COVID-19 We know generally where we expect the market
catalyst will engender a meaningful change to pan out. Expect continued enhancements
in dynamics. Restaurants that haven’t already around contactless or low-touch initiatives.
done so will start looking at these tools as table Payments will continue to evolve in that way,
stakes and embracing them accordingly. but also from a usability and cost standpoint.
Any POS provider not looking at improving
payment and e-commerce capabilities is doing a
STREAMLINING OPERATIONS
disservice to itself and its customers.
If you pay attention to the restaurant economic
From an industry dynamic perspective, we
outlook for the next several years, you will see
should expect consolidation. There are too
nearly all predictions indicating that it will take
many POS and Middleware providers in
several years to get to pre-pandemic sales,
the space. There is room for several, but
and those sales will be more costly than ever
not this many, considering the competitive
before. Restaurant technology partners will
disadvantages, costs, and fragmentation of the
need to make some significant operational
technology landscape.
changes to help manage the bottom line.
2021 will be pivotal for POS, and those who
Restaurateurs will not be successful with
aren’t pivoting, or haven’t already, will be left
multiple tools with varied levels of integrations.
in a perpetual 2020. At Lavu, we are operating
They will not be able to afford to pay nickels
very nimbly and responding to market dynamics
here and dimes there for each feature they
on a daily basis to support our core customer,
need. The profit margins just don’t exist. They
our restaurants, and their patrons.
will be looking for higher-value, lower-cost
solutions with greater operational flexibility
and customisation. This group of entrepreneurs
is smarter than ever, and we need to pivot to
support that mental change and the ways they
are trying to grow their businesses.
11THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Munch
WYNAND GELDENHUYS Co-founder & CEO
POS systems need to adapt to support new
requirements from customers such as contactless
payments, pay-on-delivery and table-side ordering.
2021 will be the year that society makes huge strides towards cashless transactions and
contactless systems to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. We only evolve when we are
forced to and the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the steps in the processes that caused
friction when transacting with customers.
DIGITALISING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE This trend has been reversed during the
pandemic and businesses have had to get to
In 2020, we witnessed the rapid adoption of
grips with serving customers through digital
QR codes on tables in restaurants that link
channels. POS systems need to adapt to
to digital menus which patrons can access
support new requirements from customers
on their smartphones. Our prediction is that
such as contactless payments, pay-on-delivery
this engagement with customers will become
and table-side ordering.
the norm and evolve to facilitate order and
payment for dine-in experiences. Going forward, POS and digital ordering systems
will need to be aligned to delight customers,
Customers have become accustomed to
regardless of how they choose to engage with
the ease of ordering food and drinks from
restaurants, while making them feel safe.
delivery services and they will expect a similar
experience when dining in the restaurant.
There are many advantages to using digital WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2021...
menus for customers such as access to detailed
We probably won’t know what “businesses
descriptions, nutritional information and
as usual” looks like until 2022. The safety of
pictures of each menu item that not only
guests and patrons will be a determining factor
increases customer satisfaction but can also
in the recovery of the hospitality and tourism
assist restaurants in upselling.
industry until the vaccine is widely available
Businesses can reduce their costs and simplify and distributed.
their processes by leveraging integrated
Businesses are looking for cost-effective
solutions that serve more than one purpose.
hardware to reduce initial capital outlay and
As an example, a smartphone can be used as
scalable payment rates based on their revenue.
both a payments terminal and to run point-
Today’s customers are looking for safety,
of-sale software. The integration between
convenience and ease-of-use. Software vendors
payments and POS speeds up transactions,
like Munch would like to see interoperability
makes them more accurate, and prevents fraud.
and standardisation between payment
providers to lower integration costs.
ADAPTING TO CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS
We also see cashless and contactless payments
Historically restaurants have used their POS as proliferating in Europe, especially in the
their primary system to run their business and hospitality industry. Digital ordering and table-
digital ordering systems were not fully utilised, side ordering further enhances the customer
since they only contributed a small portion to experience, which will further drive the
their sales. adoption of cashless and contactless payments.
12THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
ready2order
MARKUS BERNHART CEO
People have come to know and appreciate the
advantages of cashless payments during the
pandemic - they will not go back to cash.
2020 was a year of upheaval when it comes to payment.
THE DECLINE OF CASH Those who are open to new technologies will
emerge from the crisis stronger. That doesn’t
The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for
mean every retailer has to launch an online
the acceptance of card payments. We’ve clearly
shop. Features like click & collect can be the
seen this trend among our own customers:
first steps - many people will keep their out-
the share of card payments increased to 35%
of-home activities limited and will not want to
in the fourth quarter of 2020, up 6% year-
spend a long time in the store, even after retail
over-year. This is a very high uplift for small
reopens. The ability to reserve products online
businesses, where the volume of card payments
and quickly pick them up in-store will suit them.
tends to be lower.
The share of cash transactions will continue
LOOKING EAST
to decline in 2021. People have come to know
and appreciate the advantages of cashless Also, a look at Asia is always worthwhile.
payments during the pandemic - they will Technologically, China is way ahead of us,
not go back to cash. In parallel, payment but we Europeans can’t and won’t adapt
terminals are becoming smarter, offering new to every innovation coming from China.
opportunities for merchants and restaurateurs. Simply put, we have a completely different
Thanks to innovative functions such as tip and understanding of data protection.
feedback requests, terminals help to interact Nevertheless, it is important to understand the
with customers. developments in China and to start a debate
in Europe: How do we want to pay in the
The future holds many more exciting
future? We need bold legal frameworks that
innovations, such as soft POS technology,
allow innovative European solutions - we no
which will turn the smartphone into a POS
longer want to be simply a passenger on a train
terminal. In the future, we will be able to pay
steered by China and the US.
from smartphone to smartphone.
MORE OPENNESS FOR DISCUSSION
& CHANGE
For retail and hospitality, 2020 was
undoubtedly a challenging year. But it was
also under the motto “courage to change” -
and that will remain in 2021.
13THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
SumUp
DIMITRI GUGUNAVA VP Acquiring & Banking
Fintechs need to think twice before focusing on
a particular niche of a market and think about
diversifying their revenue streams in the long run.
2021 will be the year of contactless payments.
The push from regulators to go cashless Fintechs need to think twice before focusing on
(accelerated by the pandemic) will speed ahead, a particular niche of a market and think about
and we’re certain to see the continued closure diversifying their revenue streams in the long
of branch banks in small towns across Europe, run, as not to be overly dependent on specific
eliminating easy access to cash. Concurrently, market segments or products.
we’re likely to see a wider variety of mobile
payment solutions and NFC-enabled payment
ACCEPTING PAYMENTS SAFELY
solutions, in addition to new ways of paying
via QR codes. The global coronavirus situation accelerated
the use of contactless payments, and we saw
the results of that, with increased demand for
THE RISE OF ONE-STOP-SHOP SOLUTIONS
our contactless options. We expect that trend
Continuing with the theme of payments, to continue.
I do think there is a general question mark
We introduced a range of additional products
as to whether 2020 was finally the year when
when COVID hit to help merchants keep their
the QR code went mainstream in Europe, and
businesses running and accept payments safely,
will start emulating some of the use cases
such as invoices, online store options, and gift
we see in Asia. ‘Request to Pay’ is also an
cards. We see an increasing demand for new
interesting, yet nascent technology, that could
features, rather than businesses just purchasing
spur new payment methods, mainly in the
the card reader for transactions.
e-commerce space.
We expect growth across Europe in 2021
More generally, an important trend of
but we are also optimistic about emerging
“rebundling” will also continue to reshape our
markets like Chile, Colombia and Hungary -
industry in 2021. Until fairly recently, fintechs
watch this space!
used to focus on narrow product categories in
which they excelled, for example, in lending,
current accounts, payments, etc., where they
essentially unbundled a wider range of financial
services traditionally offered by banks.
Customers will surely continue to look for one-
stop-shop solutions with transparent pricing,
so fintechs that have reached a certain scale
will follow the reverse trend of rebundling (by
going broader in product categories) in order to
drive greater revenues.
14THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
Conclusion
The predictions from the experts we spoke to in this report point
to a number of key themes for the evolution of POS technology,
payments and wider automation within e-commerce, hospitality
and other key consumer industries in 2021.
With COVID-19 accelerating the shift toward a cashless
society, this year promises to deliver further innovation in
the following areas:
OMNICHANNEL FULFILMENT
As lockdown restrictions continue to impact
consumer behaviour, businesses must continue
to adapt to changing customer preferences
in 2021. This includes offering a range of
fulfilment options for purchases made online.
For example, buy online pick up in store
(BOPIS), which caters to shoppers who still
crave a physical retail experience but want to
minimise time spent in store.
CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS
Already on the rise before COVID-19, the
convenience of cash alternatives amid social
distancing and stringent health and safety
protocols has seen contactless payments surge
over the last 12 months. With the initiation
toward a cashless society now well underway,
merchants will be investing in POS solutions
to enable contactless transactions like never
before in 2021.
CLOSER INTEGRATION OF DIGITAL &
PHYSICAL RETAIL EXPERIENCES
Physical retail experiences aren’t going
anywhere. While the rise of e-commerce
continues apace, it’s not a case of either-or
for the consumer. What customers want when
footfall returns to the high street is better
integration between the two, ensuring a truly
seamless experience whether shopping online
or in store.
15THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
Conclusion
FLEXIBLE PAYMENTS
In uncertain times, flexibility is key. From the surging
popularity of instalment payment options such as Buy Now
Pay Later (BNPL) to the resurgence of QR codes, new ways
to pay will continue to emerge this year as consumers
demand greater choice and convenience to navigate the
challenges ahead.
CLOUD & SAAS TECHNOLOGIES
2021 marks the beginning of the end for legacy systems.
The pandemic has catalysed years’ worth of digital transformation
and consumer acceptance of new payment methods. It’s high time
for businesses to streamline their digital infrastructure in response,
replacing outdated software with all-in-one and integrated
solutions that will support future growth.
M-COMMERCE
With mobile commerce sales forecast to top $3.5 trillion globally
this year, mobile is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for merchants. Mobile-
enabled payments are now an expected component of the payments
mix, thanks to the proliferation of e-wallets and mobile-first
experiences. To stay ahead in 2021, smart money is on mobile and
software POS technology that enables shopping ‘on the move’.
At phos, we’re on a mission to help merchants accept payments directly on their
smartphone. Our revolutionary softPOS technology turns any NFC-enabled Android
device into a payment terminal, without the need for costly additional hardware.
Please get in touch if you’d like to learn more about the phos solution or
opportunities to partner with us.
RAYMOND LEE Director Strategic Partnerships, phos
raymond.lee@phos.cloud
phos.cloud
16THE FUTURE OF EPOS: POINT OF SALE PREDICTIONS AND RETAIL TRENDS FOR 2021
About phos
Phos was established in 2018 by payments supremo Antonina
Martinova, serial entrepreneur Valeri Valtchev and financial services
veteran Ivo Gueorguiev, to democratise card acceptance and
payments in general.
The company has created software that can transform payment
acceptance by enabling merchants to take payments directly
on their NFC-enabled Android device. Phos offers rapid digital
deployment and is uniquely phone and bank agnostic – it can be
used on any NFC Android phone and by any bank or acquirer.
Certified by VISA and Mastercard laboratories for functionality and
security, phos is available in the GooglePlay store.
phos.cloud
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