Mobile point of sale and digital wallets, which before the pandemic were more of a convenience than a necessity, gained a lot of traction when shoppers were leery about touching anything at a checkout counter. That traction is continuing with mPOS terminals and smartphones enabled to handle mobile payments still trending.

The rise of young shoppers is partly responsible for the increase in the need for mobile POS systems. This group was quick to adopt the use of touchless payments, mobile wallets and other options. And they are essentially forcing merchants to yield to their preferences. Business Insider says over half of Generation Z use digital wallets at least once a month. Three-quarters use digital payment apps.

Today, 23% of consumers 25 to 34 use mobile payments, which makes them the largest demographic of users. Most users are men (50.6%). Nearly 70% are in the medium- to high-income brackets.

They’re not alone, either. A Mastercard survey conducted in 2020 showed that 74% of its customers said they would continue using contactless payments in the future. Statista projects mobile wallet users to reach nearly 87 million by 2025. That will increase the need for mPOS terminals.

Mobile POS is not new. Nordstrom deployed more than 6,000 mobile POS devices in its stores in 2011. Within a year, the company had more of them than it had traditional checkout counter point of sale terminals. Today, 54% of businesses use mobile POS systems.

Like the use of the systems, the value of mobile POS transactions has steadily risen in recent years. Not surprisingly, the largest leap came during COVID-plagued 2020. According to Statista, average mobile transactions increased from $6,063 in 2019 to $7,960 in 2021.

Deloitte’s Connectivity and Mobile Trends Survey indicates exactly how much the pandemic affected mobile payments usage. It shows:

• Mobile payment services on online purchases increased 15%
• Use of a mobile app to order food from a local provider grew 20%
• Use of contactless payments at a retail store grew 18%

For merchants, mobile point of sale systems go way beyond just turning transactions, too. They can already use the systems to check inventory, place orders, and receive merchandise. mPOS is the way of the future.

“Mobile POS isn’t just about accepting payments. The future of retail is rapidly heading toward mobile access to everything – ordering and inventory, delivery scheduling and tracking, and workforce management with employee messaging, time tracking and task management,” says Ralf Bennett, marketing director at Paladin Data Corporation. “Eventually, everybody in a retail business will have mobile devices that will serve as their virtual workstations. They will be able to conduct sales transactions, check inventory, schedule deliveries and more.”

Retail Dive recently published a story with its view of the burgeoning mobile wallet and POS market. We thought you might enjoy it. Click here to read more.