Merchants are increasingly asking for smart point-of-sale (POS) systems because they enable sales away from the counter and are more flexible, familiar and user-friendly than traditional payments hardware. That’s driving rapid growth in the segment, with research indicating that the market for Android-based smart POS systems could grow by over 400% by 2032 as merchants look for payment devices that can support more apps, more use cases and more ways to sell.
But, like traditional terminals, smart POS systems can still create some big headaches for ISOs:
- You may need several different mobile acceptance solutions to serve different use cases, adding complexity and forcing you to learn and support more products
- You often have little to no control over the hardware and are dependent on the device provider to handle configuration, updates and support, even though your merchants still call you when something breaks
- Many smart POS systems lock your merchants into vendor-specific environments, pushing you to the periphery and chipping away at your merchant relationship
- Most smart POS systems aren’t ready to evolve with your merchants, so any change can mean new hardware, new integrations and a whole new support process
Card-present acceptance for ISOs should not be multiple single-purpose terminals you ship and hope for the best. It should be something you own and manage, allowing you to deepen your relationships with merchants, become a more mission-critical partner and maximize residuals. It should also be simple: a single, self-serve platform that’s easy to sell, use, update and scale.
NMI’s new AXIUM SmartPOS is a family of ready-to-ship** Android smart POS devices powered by the NMI Gateway, SDK and built-in app. Whatever form factor a merchant needs, you can manage it as one platform. It works right out of the box on day one, with no build, investment, technical lift or complex implementation required. With one platform, you can meet your merchants’ unique hardware needs today and be ready to grow with them over time without any new integration burden or business interruption.
What Use Cases Make a Flexible Smart POS So Powerful?
The Counter That Needs to Move
Whether your merchants are taking payments directly at a restaurant table, on the retail floor to bust busy holiday lines, at an event or in the field on a service call, today’s checkout experience needs to move with the customer.
But what else do your merchants need? Tip entry? Built-in receipt printing? A device that can support business applications as well as payments? Too many smart POS systems offer some but not all of the features merchants need, and that handcuffs you. The AXIUM family of devices gives merchants more choice, helping them select the right form factor and exact set of features they need for the way they sell.
The Merchant with Unreliable Connectivity
Cloud-based payments are now the norm, but what happens when merchants sell in places with unreliable connections? Or in those rare occasions when the internet goes down altogether? Payments cannot grind to a halt just because of a bad signal, so AXIUM SmartPOS is designed with an offline-first workflow that doesn’t need an immediate connection.
From micromerchants selling at flea markets deep in the country to healthcare front desks that cannot afford downtime, everyone will always be ready to sell, with or without a connection, with transactions syncing automatically once service is restored.
The Merchant Who Grows Rapidly
The best merchants are also the most dynamic, and you’ve already seen how quickly your top performers’ needs can change as they evolve. Unfortunately, growth often means new hardware and maybe even new software. Worst of all, you risk losing the account to another solution provider if a merchant starts shopping around for a solution that can better support their next stage.
With AXIUM SmartPOS, one platform can support the entire merchant lifecycle. You can upgrade or rightsize the solution with no complex swaps or system migrations. If a merchant needs to move from a handheld to a countertop version, the experience can be managed through the same platform, everything automatically transfers over. If a merchant outgrows the built-in POS software, the devices can support customized software experiences or merchants can run their own fully custom apps on the same hardware. If a merchant opens up new locations, everything runs on the same device profile, and configuration can be managed remotely from anywhere, helping you scale the account without creating unnecessary support burden.
What Do ISOs Control With AXIUM SmartPOS That They Don’t With the Competition?
One of the biggest problems with many smart POS terminals is the lack of control over your fleet of devices, or your “estate.” Anything your merchants need help with, from configuration and updates to maintenance and security, may have to go through a third party. That leaves you stuck on the outside, hoping for the best, while your merchants still expect you to solve the problem.
AXIUM SmartPOS changes that by putting you in complete control over your estate, with devices that can be updated remotely using Ingenico’s easy-to-use Estate Manager software. This self-serve fleet management capability enables you to:
- Remotely configure merchants’ devices so they start processing quickly and keep customers moving
- Remotely geofence devices to help deter theft and reduce the risk of misuse
- Remotely install security patches or update firewalls to help maintain contactless security at the counter
- Push all necessary updates directly to your merchants, schedule them for non-business hours and reduce inbound support requests
A More Flexible Payments Ecosystem Means More Control Over Your Merchant Relationships
The other big problem with many of today’s smart POS systems is vendor lock-in. When your merchants choose hardware from Stripe, Clover, Square or Toast, they gain the single-device simplicity they crave, but the hardware locks them into the provider’s ecosystem, which limits processor choice, makes switching difficult and siphons off revenue from your residuals.
With AXIUM SmartPOS, there is no vendor lock-in; you have complete flexibility. The hardware, the application, the gateway and the branding all remain under your control. You can provide merchants the same single-platform simplicity offered by POS systems from big platforms or developers like PAX, while remaining processor agnostic, controlling pricing and the merchant experience and keeping more of your revenue.
The Power of Smart POS Without the Compromises
We live in a world of apps and connectivity and smart devices. That means that, whether your merchants sell in a mall, in the field, or in a literal field, more of them will soon expect Android smart POS systems that feel familiar and easy to use. Meeting that demand is becoming non-negotiable, but how you go about doing it will have big impacts on your competitiveness, your revenue and your frustration levels.
AXIUM SmartPOS was designed specifically to put you on the cutting edge of smart POS payments while making them simpler, easier and more profitable to offer. With one platform for multiple in-person selling environments, remote device management, offline-first payments and the flexibility to grow with merchants over time, AXIUM SmartPOS helps you deliver the smart POS experience merchants want while keeping the relationship firmly in your hands.
To find out more about how easy it is to take control over your POS hardware and capture more of the merchant relationship, reach out to a member of our team today.
