Study: Retailers want mobile POS, challenges exist

Franklin, Tenn. — Retailers are interested in mobile POS (mPOS) technology, but a number of challenges exist to its widespread adoption. According to a new study from IHL Group, “mPOS: Houston, Do We Have A Problem,” 78% of retailers planning to make a new mobile POS decision by mid-2016.

In addition, 66% of enterprise retailers say they want their existing POS software vendor to provide their mPOS solution. However, it takes chain retailers an average of 9.7 months to deploy a mobile POS solution.

IHL also finds some specific challenges related to rolling out Apple mPOS technology. Added to Apple's lack of transparency on new releases, by the time retailers would have rolled out an iPad or iPod solution it will already be last generation's product. So the "cool" or "it" factor of trying to leverage Apple is quite diminished.

However, IHL finds that the impending Windows 10 release holds great promise for retailers because of the unified platform ability. With 85% of traditional POS applications being on a Windows platform, this combination fits well with the timing of rollouts for many retailers.