Market Forecast For World EFT POS Terminals

With several countries worldwide, especially in Latin America and Asia Pacific, taking rapid strides in their Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) implementation plans, there is an increasing threat of migration of card related fraudulent activities. This coupled with the growth of wireless telecommunications, which offer speed and cost advantage, is creating a demand for compact, easy-to-use, reliable, wireless point-of-sale (POS) systems.

There is a noticeable shift in card related fraudulent activities to neighboring countries using less secure magnetic stripe cards for a majority of their transactions. With the United Kingdom implementing Chip and PIN and France implementing dynamic data authentication (DDA) cards, countries such as Germany and Italy are facing the brunt of the increasing migration of fraud. Singapore and Indonesia are facing a significant threat from fraud escalation and are considering a move toward EMV-compliant card technology. This phenomenon is significantly feeding the demand for electronic funds transfer (EFT) at point-of-sale (POS) terminals worldwide.

These systems provide rapid transaction processing for businesses that have traditionally relied on paper or coin-based payments. General packet radio service (GPRS) and code division multiple access (CDMA) are used for wide area networking and Bluetooth and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology for local networking.

Manufacturers are introducing new products that include programs such as e-commerce, advertising and electronic receipt capture (ERC) that can expand merchant revenues and give them a competitive advantage. Modern POS terminals manage multiple functions like gift programs, loyalty programs and payment.

"With the cost of these terminals steadily reducing, more retailers are opting to upgrade to these systems with greater security and multi-application capability," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Aravindh.V.

Despite the technological trends revolutionizing the POS terminal market, products are facing commoditization. Although a lot of emphasis is on software application delivery and customer service aspects, there is great pressure on price reduction on terminal manufacturers. This not only affects the profit margins of terminal manufacturers, but also hinders potential participants from entering the market.

"Designing terminals with an open architecture and modularity and offering options in hardware and software, can effectively beef up profit margins," cites Aravindh. "This can expand the potential customer base that is not particular about using high technology and require simple value-based devices."

As POS manufacturers continuously offer greater functionality at the point of sale, there is an enhanced value proposition for the retail store operators. The increasing awareness of the latest technologies and capabilities of multi-applications offered by the terminals is likely to diminish consumer focus on price and can thereby instigate greater investment in the market.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview of the World EFT POS Terminals Markets, send an e-mail to Mireya Castilla, Corporate Communications, at mireya.castilla@frost.com with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, city, state, country and e-mail address.