One fine morning as restaurant owner Gene Moshel walked into his deli in the bustling city of New York. His eyes set on one cause – digitise the way things work. He used his Apple computer as a server and started keeping track of his inventory. Each year he would add an enhancement like order entry subsystem, remote printing, touch screen and thus, became the renowned creator of the modern day Point of Sale (PoS) system. IBM soon followed suit. The Apple computer, which was only suitable for a deli, was replaced by a mainframe controller which did all the processing. This led to the first commercial point of sale system. In the current day where the market predicts that by 2022 the market will wash off by the mobile PoS, these stories date back to the 1970s.
Point of Sale – PoS – systems are everywhere
From retail to hospitality, from consumer services to multi-services businesses like theatres, stadiums etc. In India alone –
The current valuation of the market is more than 450 billion INR
The PoS system market in India can expect a CAGR of 11% from the year 2017-22
Funny story about India, demonetisation led to a huge dip in the Indian economy and it resulted in a surge in the PoS market. This was because of the cash crunch a huge number of people moved to alternative measures like card and e- wallets. On global level the awareness of using PoS because of its various features like inventory management, employee scheduling, detailed reporting the market is even bigger. The market size may reach USD 108.46 billion by 2025 expanding at a CAGR of 7.8%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. As per the same report, APAC is going to see this change dramatically owing to the adoption of rapidly expanding electronic payment industry and growing retail and food service sector.
All this looks like a rainbow from the outside
For a company stepping into the PoS world it’s a lovely picture. However, does the expectation stop at providing a software solution and a cloud service? The answer is a resonating no. If we look closely at the APAC region the abundance of people has made us lethargic. Especially the south-east Asia. Also, the divide between urban and rural is huge, with majority of the population living in rural or semi-urban areas. We have started incorporating services along with every product sale. Taking the example of the Indian unicorn, Udaan. Udaan gets into the grass root level of the problem in the retail industry. It not just provides a SaaS but also solves the issue of supply chain and logistics. This creates a value proposition which is unprecedented.
On one hand we have the giants in the market of PoS like Ingenico Group, VeriFone, PAX Technology. They capture a majority of international market or the smaller players like Udaan or Storeking. These further try to provide a comprehensive solution. The market which started in 1970 needs innovative solutions and real connection with the customers.