Enhance Checkout with Mobile

The latest study from Informa Telecoms & Media shows that retailers can no longer rely on just their in-store POS system for transactions. Retailers need to grow their systems to offer both traditional POS and mobile payment options to their customers. According to Informa, those that offer multiple payment options, including a mobile checkout option, will be able to serve more customers and reduce loss of sales due to shoppers’ desires to avoid standing in lines.

By using mobile POS options, including check out via mobile application, retailers can serve more customers during busy times and also issue paperless receipts to customers’ e-mail addresses. The evidence to the effectiveness of mobile checkout is growing rapidly. For instance, during the 2012 holiday season, Alex and Ani added mobile checkout in several of their US stores and saw an impressive 318% increase in sales just from transactions processed by associates utilizing mobile POS terminals.

Now is an exceptional time for retailers to update their systems.  “Unlike a few years ago, many vendors are now offering mobile POS terminals and support services. These vendors are also offering attractive incentives to merchants and retailers to upgrade their old terminals with new mobile POS systems,” says Shailendra Pandey, a senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and author of the report.

“With the growth of users’ expectations when it comes to service and usability, improving the check out process is a key way retailers meet their customers’ needs” states Kimber Johnson, Managing Director of Vanity Point Interactive Design. “We have entered an era where consumers are demanding more in physical locations based on the excellent experiences they are having on mobile applications or web sites.”