Square and Epicor lead mobile POS software rankings, according to IHL Group

Franklin, Tenn. -- Software companies Square and Epicor lead the fast growing Mobile POS software market in North America according to new research from IHL Group, a global retail research and advisory firm.



Mobile POS installs are expected to grow by 110% this year as more retailers replace electronic cash registers and POS terminals with mobile devices.



“This is a market that is exploding on all levels but is very different at the smaller retailer level and at the enterprise,” said Greg Buzek, president of IHL Group. “The market really took off for small merchants when Square released their first dongle. It has migrated to more sophisticated POS on tablets with inventory tracking and CRM functions and has been growing strong for 3 years. On the other hand, the enterprise market requires a much more sophisticated mobile POS application fully tied to inventory, omnichannel and analytical systems of retailers. Slower to start, the volumes are greatly increasing.”



According to Buzek, the local mall will look quite a bit different in the next two to three years and more than 20% of traditional POS units will be replaced by mobile POS devices.



“Right now at the enterprise level retailers are adding devices not replacing POS,” added Buzek. “Where they once might have had two registers, now they will have five devices in a store to complete a sale. Over time, however, many of those traditional POS devices will be replaced once the mobile POS platforms are proven.”



Key highlights of the research include:

• Overall mobile POS shipments will grow by over 325% by 2018;



• 60% of current mobile POS installs are in specialty stores and hospitality establishments; and



• Specialty stores will see the greatest disruption in traditional POS installations over time, with nearly a 25% reduction in the number of new POS devices purchased.



The IHL Mobile POS Software Market Share data tracks the shipments, installed base, and forecast for the top 20 Mobile POS Software companies selling to large retailers and top 20 selling to small merchants. Epicor leads the market share among the enterprise retailers today, with other companies such as Manhattan Associates/Global Bay, Oracle/Micros, NCR, Toshiba Global Commerce, Starmount and others included.



The SMB (small and medium business) market is led by Square and coverage includes companies such as Revel, ShopKeep, Lightspeed, Ingenico, GroupOn, VeriFone, Payware and others. Customers can purchase the enterprise, SMB, or total market data.



The IHL report is designed for software vendors, private equity and institutional investors, mobile hardware providers and key retailers interested in objective market share information on the market.