Point-of-Sale for the cashless society

Trends in the retail industry are evolving by the minute - from the products offered to the way customers shop, from the business format to its payment modes. It is inevitable that retailers stay up-to-date with these trends to survive in the industry and scale up their business.

Cash has been the predominant mode of payment for decades. However, in the past few years, customers have increasingly started making transactions using debit or credit cards. Studies suggest that non-cash payment volumes have grown at a rate of 10% each year globally, the fastest being in Asia.

Additionally, in the last five years, the world has seen an upsurge in transactions done via contactless cards and mobile wallets. Today's customers, especially millennials, prefer cashless payments even for smaller transactions.

While cash payments are convenient and the money is in the pockets faster, there are numerous disadvantages associated with it. Checkout lines are longer. Stores that deal with huge amounts of cash regularly are an easy target for theft or robbery. Employees invest a lot of time at cash registers collecting and reconciling cash, which could be used in a better way such as engaging with customers.

On the flip side, cashless transactions ensure streamlining of business operations and eliminate costs involved in managing and transporting cash. Moreover, surveys have shown that customers tend to make purchases of higher amounts with cashless transaction modes.

In the current scenario, retail business owners need to ensure that their POS solution is ready for this change. We are about to list out a few characteristics that POS software must have to exhibit the flexibility of accepting cashless as well as cash payments.

Security

This is one of the most crucial characteristics that a modern POS solution must offer. Digital payments could be less safe than cash transactions. POS solutions must ensure data security while accepting digital payments via cards or mobile wallet payments.

Swipe machine and digital wallet connectivity

POS vendors might not provide card swipe machines or have an in-house digital wallet payment facility. Before choosing an apt POS solution, retail business owners must check whether the software can be easily configured for accepting payments via a swipe machine and also can be effortlessly integrated with third-party mobile wallet enablers.

Offline availability

What happens if there is a network connectivity fluctuation in the middle of a transaction? If the POS solution stops functioning without Internet connectivity, it could lead to repetitive payment failures, resulting in terrible customer experience and losses to the business. An ideal POS solution must be able to complete transaction processes seamlessly regardless of the network connectivity.

Reliability

Without physical cash in hand, accepting payments could be nightmarish. Retailers must ensure that the POS solutions they invest in have high levels of data reliability, or else the business could incur huge losses.

Ginesys offers a modern POS solution that is highly compatible with the cashless society. Easy integration with mobile wallets that can complete transactions even when offline, Ginesys POS is one of Indian's most reliable solutions that has been implemented by various leading brands in the industry.