Fixed POS Terminal Market

Market Overview

The global fixed POS terminal market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.89% during the forecast period (2023–2031).

Highlights

• EMV dominates the compliance segment
• NFC dominates the technology segment
• Retail dominates the end-user segment
• Asia-Pacific is the highest shareholder in the global market

The time and location of completing transactions are called a point of sale (POS). A POS system is the computer hardware and software that manages transactions while selling a product or service. It helps to capture, store, share, and report data related to the sale's transaction. A standard POS system stores product assortment information, pricing, product-related promotional offers, and inventory. POS terminals are available in face-to-face transactions where merchants swipe payment tools such as debit, credit, or smart cards.

Fixed POS are typically mounted on a counter or checkout lane for use in the checkout process. Recent POS systems have a touchscreen interface that simplifies the transaction process. Industries such as hospitality, retail, restaurants, healthcare, warehouse and distribution, and entertainment employ POS terminals. A POS system automates the shopping experience and helps to expedite the checkout process, thereby increasing customer satisfaction. Timely inventory information updates about the stock, availability of a product, and pricing information are the major data acquired from POS systems.

Market Dynamics

Global Fixed POS Terminal Market Drivers

High Adoption of EMV-Compliant POS Terminals

EMV is an open standard specification for accepting devices and smart card payments. It has a defined set of requirements to assure interoperability between chip-based payment cards and terminals. EMV cards have embedded microprocessors that provide strong transaction security features, which were not incorporated in the traditional magnetic strip cards. The market for EMV-compliant cards is also likely to bounce even further during the forecast period. Payment cards in circulation are projected to reach 31.31 billion by 2025.

EMV-compliant credit and debit cards maintain card authentication and protect counterfeit cards. The authentication of these cards during transactions is of three types: static data authentication, dynamic data authentication, or combined dynamic data authentication with application cryptogram generation. They also ensure the verification of the cardholder and transaction authorization. These privacy protection steps address payment fraud, which drives the global market.

Demand in Healthcare Industries

The healthcare industry is witnessing an increase in debit and credit card payments. Card-based payments give patients access to high-deductible insurance plans, cost-sharing arrangements, and sophisticated tools for healthcare cost estimation. It is anticipated that security breaches when using cards at POS terminals in hospitals will decrease due to manufacturers of fixed POS terminals adhering to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

POS terminals for the healthcare industry by Verifone, one of the leading vendors of the global POS terminal market, comply with PCI and patient information privacy laws. Since the healthcare sector is heavily regulated, additional care is required to protect patient information. Thus, EMV-compliant chips have replaced traditional POS systems by incorporating NFC and contactless payments to prevent security breaches. Such factors drive market growth.

Global Fixed POS Terminal Market Restraint

Growth in Mobile-App-Based Payments

The growth of POS terminals is mostly affected by the rise of mobile app-based payments. The rise in popularity of e-wallets has poised the demand for POS terminals across the globe. The effective development of global e-wallets such as Google Pay, Apple Wallet, and Amazon Pay, among others, has made these payment modes popular and replaced physical cards for transactions in POS terminals. For instance, India's drive to cashless payments accelerated in 2019 and continues till 2020. Mobile payments that bypass card rails rose 163% to USD 286 billion in 2019. These factors are likely to hamper the adoption of fixed POS terminals.

Global Fixed POS Terminal Market Opportunities

Growth in Acquisition and Mergers

One of the key trends in the global fixed POS terminal market is the opportunity for acquisitions and mergers. Large electronics equipment manufacturers, and existing POS payment terminal providers, are aggressively involved in M&A in the global POS terminal market as these companies are expanding their market presence in the domain and are increasing their market potential. For instance, Midwest Hospitality Solutions' acquisition of the In-the-cloud POS solution.

Similarly, DBA POSBANK USA, a global leader in the design and manufacturing of POS hardware solutions, acquired Digicom International, a wholesale POS hardware distributor, to offer POS hardware and software products in the U.S. Further, TSYS entered into a strategic partnership with ShopKeep POS to expand into cloud and tablet-based POS offerings. Companies can strengthen their businesses by acquiring companies with a similar business model. Therefore, increased M&A activities are expected to help vendors increase their customer base and add revenue to the overall global POS terminal market during the forecast period.

Regional Analysis

Based on region, the global fixed POS terminal market is bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa.

Asia Pacific Dominates the Global Market

Asia-Pacific is the most significant global fixed POS terminal market shareholder and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 9.46% during the forecast period. The fixed POS terminal market has not even reached half its potential, and the region is the fastest-growing market for POS payment terminals globally. Thus, the POS terminal market in Asia-Pacific witnessed sales of 10.56 million units in 2015. In 2018, the market shipments reached 33.03 million units due to the rapid acceptance of POS terminals in many Asia-Pacific countries. In addition, cash dominance for payment services has decreased due to payment system modernization. For instance, in China, cash payments fell from 14% in 2018 to 7% in 2020. However, with technological changes and the emergence of innovative financial services, payment cards, and e-wallets have strengthened in recent years.

In the first half of 2020, the market suffered from the COVID-19 outbreak. Demand for fixed POS terminals, primarily adopted by the retail industries, decreased by more than 30% in the first half of 2020, slowing down their installation rate. On the other hand, COVID-19 also helped the market because it saw a rise in the idea of contactless payments, which is likely to drive the demand for NFC-ready fixed POS terminals.

Latin America is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of 10.41% over the forecast period. The POS terminals market in Latin America is mature but has the potential to grow at a high rate. The major economies in the region, such as Brazil and Mexico, provide opportunities to POS vendors. The market's driving force is making major societal and internet infrastructure reforms. Other markets, such as Chile, where the internet penetration is 77.5%, help drive the growth of connected POS terminals. People now have easier access to contactless payment cards, which helps them improve their payment methods thanks to improved connectivity and technological simplicity. This is likely to broaden the opportunities for vendors during the forecast period.

In the Middle East and Africa, companies use cash to make payments. The use of cash is popular among people who do not have bank accounts. In the Middle East and Africa, some countries are highly developed and have high spending power, fueling the adoption of digital payment methods. With the rise in awareness and willingness to adopt technological changes, financial cards, and payments have witnessed high growth, fueling the market growth. In South Africa, bank accounts are growing steadily, fueling the rise in the circulation of financial cards. The competitive landscape of financial cards remained with four major banks in 2020: FirstRand Bank, Standard Bank of South Africa, Nedbank Group, and Absa Bank, which dominated the overall cards in circulation.

In America, people mostly prefer debit cards for small transactions. For instance, about 71% of Americans have at least one debit card, which shows that debit has become more popular over the last ten years. However, at the same time, recent data showed that there had been a YoY decline in the use of debit cards. However, COVID-19 has poised the use of debit and credit cards in POS terminals due to the closure of the retail market. However, the influence of contactless payments post-COVID-19 will likely decrease the use of cash, which will build healthy market dynamics for POS terminal manufacturers.

In Europe, card payments have been the fastest-growing payment method. Debit card payments have been increasing in recent years in Europe, and debit card issuance has grown by more than 2.5% to around 725 million cards. Countries such as Italy, Romania, and Portugal mostly contribute to the growth of debit cards. However, few countries have seen a drop in debit cards issued. There has been a steep decline in Latvia and the Netherlands.

Segmental Analysis

The global fixed POS terminal market is bifurcated into compliance, technology, and end-user.

Based on compliance, the global market is segmented into EMV and Non-EMV. 

The EMV segment is the largest contributor to the market and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 11.56% over the forecast period. An EMV is an open standard specification for accepting devices and smart card payments. It has a defined set of requirements to assure interoperability between chip-based payment cards and terminals. The advantage of EMV cards is that it has embedded microprocessors that provide strong transaction security features, which are not incorporated in the traditional magnetic strip card. In addition, EMV uses a computer chip to perform complex, dynamic verifications that the card is genuine. The regulatory changes have pushed the market toward adopting advanced compliance such as EMV. The market is anticipated to experience double-digit growth during the forecast period due to the significant increase in the adoption of EMV compliance.

The market for non-EMV POS terminals is shrinking yearly as it has adopted advanced and secure market compliance methods. In addition, the major card producers have started making EMV chip-enabled cards, pushing POS vendors to produce EMV-enabled POS terminals. It has hampered the market for non-EMV POS terminals. However, over the last few years, the market for POS terminals experienced robust growth as the cards produced were not EMV compliant. Non-EMV-compliant cards have been witnessing a drop in adoption in developed regions such as Europe and the U.S. However, the developing market, such as Africa, still poses grants for non-EMV-compliant cards. This has maintained the market's growth at a slow pace.

Based on technology, the global market is segmented into NFC and non-NFC. 

The NFC segment is the highest contributor to the market and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 14.02% over the forecast period. NFC-Ready terminals include POS terminals that use near-field communication technology. The emergence of technologies has pushed the market to adopt several new tech products. Straits Research estimates that the overall installed base of NFC-ready POS terminals crossed 70 million units in 2020. Several government authorities, such as Europe and others, emphasize the adoption of NFC-ready POS terminals. NFC-ready POS terminals are also creating a buzz in emerging markets in Brazil, Turkey, and China. Gemalto NV (Thales Group), OTI, VeriFone Systems, Hewlett Packard, and Ingenico Group, among others, are among the main players in the market.

Non-NFC comprises POS terminals that do not use near-field communication technology. Conventional POS terminals have been popular across the globe since 2000. However, rising investments in advanced technologies have pushed the market to adopt more NFC-based POS terminals. Non-NFC POS terminals still have a large market share, especially in industries with a high average transaction value. This includes the gold and jewelry trade and the queue-based payment system. In addition, most point-of-sale terminals in shopping centers are stationary desktop models.

Based on end-user, the global market is bifurcated into retail, restaurant, warehouse and distribution, healthcare, hospitality, gym and fitness center, and others. 

The retail segment dominates the global market and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 12.73% during the forecast period. Retail is one of the key segments for fixed POS vendors. Small business across the globe have decreased their tendency on cash as the rise in the adoption of electronic cash can easily be noticed across the globe. The IoT and the rise in internet penetration have significantly pushed the use of cash. For instance, the use of cash for purchases has decreased by 32% since 2017. In addition, the pandemic poised the growth of the retail sector in the first half of 2020. The steep decline of 34% across the globe can be noticed in the retail segment. However, the second half pushed the market toward recovery as lockdown restrictions eased in different parts of the world.

Warehouses are the most prominent places to use fixed POS terminals. Hence, vendors catering to the warehouse can consider the discussed purchasing behavior of warehouse owners. The owners of the warehouse not only seek fixed POS terminals but emphasize smart software-enabled POS solutions. This benefits their inventory management along with tracking operations. Moreover, a rise in the number of warehouses is likely to push the revenue of the fixed POS terminal market, as the rising number of warehouses is likely to push the market's growth proportionally.

Recent Developments

• October 2022- PayPal Holdings, Inc. announced the launch of the PayPal Zettle Terminal for small businesses in the U.S. Terminal is an all-inclusive point-of-sale solution that provides small enterprises with enhanced in-store mobility.
• February 2023- Felix, the world leader in contactless cloud EMV payment technology, and Elo, a prominent global provider of interactive solutions, announced the integration of Felix Terminal Tap to Pay with Elo's M50 Mobile Computer.