By Kester Omu
A recent report by the Business Insider Intelligence has noted that, despite the sharp gains in e-commerce, which will nearly double between now and 2021, the online shopping environment is yet to compensate for the reasons customers like brick-and-mortar shopping.
The report, believes that the lion’s share of purchasing continues to take place in-store, a situation Business Insider said is unlikely to change anytime soon, describing the notion that brick-and-mortar commerce is falling as overblown.
It also urged POS terminal providers to up their game in an increasingly competitive environment, as a result of the continued push by evolving merchant demands.
The report also noted Merchants are increasingly seeking out these offerings, which afford them the connectivity, mobility, and interoperability to run their entire business. And that’s shaking up the space, since it’s not just legacy firms, but also mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) players and newer upstarts that offer these products.
“As merchants begin demanding a wide variety of payment solutions, terminal providers are scrambling to meet their needs in order to maintain existing customers and attract new ones. This is leading to rapid innovation and increased competition in both the POS terminal hardware and software spaces.”