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September 26, 2024

MPOS: Understanding Your Mobile Point of Sale Payment Options

Electronic Payments Team
MPOS: Understanding Your Mobile Point of Sale Payment Options

Discover your options for mobile payments as a small business owner through a mobile point of sale system! Learn all about MPOS and how to choose the right solution.

What is an MPOS?

An MPOS is a mobile point of sale. It serves the same general purpose as a conventional point of sale system but relies on a portable device like a wireless terminal, smartphone, or tablet rather than the traditional terminal you might find at a checkout counter.

MPOS and mobile payment solutions are a great choice for small businesses in particular because they enable flexibility and are often extremely cost-efficient. Putting your POS in a tablet lets you get out into your store to help customers without leaving your point of sale behind at the counter. An MPOS system can also help you expand operations to work off-site, which is essential for businesses like food trucks that must close sales on the go but also a great fit for businesses that may visit festivals, farmer’s markets, and other periodic events like this.

MPOS vs. POS

A traditional POS comprises a cash register, card reader, and receipt printer at a fixed location. The flexibility and physical footprint of your POS can vary by provider; legacy systems are often difficult to scale and adapt to changing needs, but next-gen systems like Exatouch® offer advanced data syncing, integration, and other key features that close the gap between POS and MPOS when it comes to scalability.

With EPI’s modern solutions, you’ll always have the option to scale based on your growing needs, so compare your options by considering how you want to use your POS within your selling space to determine whether a full POS or mobile solution is right for you.

How Mobile Payments Work

MPOS systems incorporate a mobile device, a payment app, and a card reader (or mobile wallet integration—think Apple Pay) to process payments on the go. When you make a sale, you’ll simply use the MPOS app rather than a full POS terminal to input the product info. Your customer can then swipe, insert, or tap their card using your connected card reader. Just like with a stationary POS, these transactions are secure and encrypted to protect customers, and you’ll typically have the option to send a digital receipt to the customer to keep your POS footprint even smaller.

Types of Mobile Payment Systems

You might encounter a range of MPOS terminology that distinguishes different subtypes. Some types, like SMS and direct mobile billing, are rarely used in the context of consumer shopping. A few more common options include:

Mobile Card Readers

When you hear “mobile payment,” mobile card readers might be the first thing you think of. These hardware devices can interact with a physical card—via tap, insert, or swipe—to process a payment. This includes separate technologies: magnetic stripe reading to process swipes and EMV to process chip cards. You can also often “tap” a card on these devices, but this is technically an NFC transaction, which we’ll discuss next. 

NFC (Near Field Communication)

NFC technology enables smartphones to communicate with a payment terminal at close range to complete transactions via Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, etc. These are extremely popular among vendors and customers. 

If you hear customers asking about mobile wallet options, they’re likely looking for NFC. An app like Apple Wallet simply consolidates cards for Apple Pay transactions.

QR Codes

QR codes allow customers to scan and pay directly via their mobile devices. There are typically a smaller number of use cases for this, but a QR code can present the opportunity to connect with a user beyond payment by offering next steps to engage with you online. QR codes are often used when contact between parties must be minimized (like during the COVID-19 pandemic).

Benefits of MPOS and Offering Mobile Pay

Lower Your Barrier to Entry

MPOS can offer a lower entry cost if you’re a small business just starting out. You likely already have a tablet or smartphone, minimizing the equipment investment you’ll need to make. Operating solely on MPOS is not always the right choice, but it can pack a lot of power into a small footprint. MPOS is just as capable of capturing pertinent sales figures and other important business information as a conventional point of sale, so you’ll get many of the same benefits—just on a smaller scale.

Make Checkout More Convenient

Customers prefer contactless payment because it’s faster and simpler than traditional transactions. Digging for change or physical cards is a hassle, waiting for a cashier to count out cash is extra time at the register, and swiping a card or waiting for a chip reader to complete is one more barrier between your customer and leaving the store happy. 

Meanwhile, if you offer NFC, customers can simply pay via the phone (which is probably already in their hands). Minimizing friction in the customer journey can have a huge impact on your sales.

Mobilize Your Small Business

MPOS is absolutely essential if you have a food truck or sell handiwork exclusively at festivals, but many more traditional businesses might not identify with this “on the go” style. That doesn’t mean an MPOS solution isn’t for you! MPOS offers more flexibility for everyone. You’ll have the option to take your business on the move, but even if you stay in-store, you’ll be able to spend more time walking the floor and making sales on the spot—a nice convenience for your customers and a great opportunity for you to enhance the shopping experience for interactivity-inclined guests.

How to Choose the Best MPOS Solution

As you’re searching for the right MPOS system, keep these factors in mind:

  • Do you need a device that will work with existing hardware and software?
  • What is your budget vs. upfront costs, transaction fees, and recurring charges for the MPOS?
  • Is the device user-friendly? Will your employees be able to use it effectively?
  • What special features do you need? Consider inventory management, sales reporting, and more.
  • Does the device have strong security features?
  • Will the device stall or support business scaling?

We offer a few different options for mobile payments at EPI designed to meet the needs of small business owners:

Exatouch®

Exatouch® is a stationary POS, but it can accept mobile payments from your customers. If you aren’t sold on the “mobile” part of an MPOS but want to offer your customers the full range of payment options, Exatouch might be a good fit.

Clover devices

We partner with Clover to offer our combined benefits (at no extra cost) on several products, including:

  • Clover Flex is an all-in-one handheld device that enables card reading, receipt printing, barcode scanning, and POS and business management features. 
  • Clover Go is a card reader that pairs with a smart device for an even smaller profile.

ProCharge® Mobile—Our Choice for MPOS

ProCharge® is EPI’s comprehensive payment platform, designed so you can pick the features you need and pick up others as you grow. You can choose ProCharge® Mobile from this suite to pair with a smart device for an on-the-go POS and flexible, affordable transaction processing.

Explore Mobile Payments Further

Investing in new payment solutions doesn’t have to be expensive. Choose a smart, cost-effective enhancement with an MPOS solution. At Electronic Payments, we make it easy to integrate mobile payments into your business operations. Plus, you still get all the important insights of a fixed POS—sales and inventory figures, employee performance, and detailed customer information.


See for yourself how Electronic Payments’ POS solutions can help you deliver a personalized shopping experience that encourages repeat business.

Check out Procharge® Mobile!

 

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