Study: Worldwide mobile POS shipments boom

Franklin, Tenn. - Worldwide mobile POS shipments grew by 77.4% in 2014 and this growth rate is maintaining its pace in 2015. According to new research from IHL Group, specialty stores still dominate the use of mobile POS worldwide, receiving 58% of total shipments in 2014.



In contrast, mass merchants had less than 1% of the mobile POS shipments worldwide. The Asia/Pacific region had the greatest growth in shipments at 110.6% growth for the 2014 year. Latin/South America remains the smallest market for mobile POS with only 13,400 units shipped to traditional retail establishments in 2014.



Apple dominates worldwide shipments of devices used for mobile POS with 42.9% share of shipments in 2014. These ranged in size from iPods and iPhones to iPads in size.



“We are seeing a fundamental change in the market in North America that began as a replacement for cash registers and POS for small retailers that open new businesses, " said Greg Buzek, president IHL Group. “Vendors have been quite successful and benefitted by the high churn rate of small retailers. These same vendors have struggled, however, in convincing existing small retailers who already have a POS solution to replace those units with mobile POS."