The evolution of mobile point-of-sale systems has allowed merchants to create new business models and innovative practices. In the May edition of the mPOS Tracker™, PYMNTS spoke with Ayr Muir, Founder and CEO of Clover Food Lab, about how his decision to use a custom POS from launch has helped his company grow. The tracker contains a directory of more than 200 players around the industry, including five new additions to the tracker and 19 player updates, as well as the latest news and updates in the world of mPOS.
More than ever, consumers expect payments and checkout processes to be fast and simple. For many merchants that means embracing mPOS and, in turn, finding benefits from the flexibility and speed provided by the payment-acceptance methods. As more businesses turn to mPOS, several players in the space unveiled new devices and solutions in the past month that aim to make payments as quick and simple as possible.
Ingenico Group, for one, launched TRANSACT, a new mPOS EMV SDK, designed to give mobile ISVs and developers a faster route to EMV integration. It will run on both iOS and Android apps and include mobile card readers and EMV gateways.
Meanwhile, Fossil Group Inc. rolled out a new mPOS solution from Aptos, which will run on both Apple and Windows mobile devices and is designed to help simplify and speed up electronic payment acceptance at the fashion accessory brand’s stores. Payfirma Corp. also announced it would add invoicing capabilities to their roster of payment processing tools in order to help merchants create and send invoices more simply and get paid more quickly.
The May edition of the mPOS Tracker™ features the latest industry news from the mPOS space along with the profiles of more than 200 players, including 5 new additions to the tracker and 19 updated profiles.
Clover finds luck with custom mPOS
This month’s mPOS Tracker™ cover story features an interview Ayr Muir, Founder and CEO of Clover Food Lab, about his decision to use a custom POS when he launched his first food truck in 2009, and what it has meant for the growth of his company since.
Here’s a sneak peek:
When Muir rolled out his first food truck, he knew that a typical POS system would not be good enough. He needed a new type of payment system – an mPOS system – that would allow him to accept lots of payments quickly, no matter where the truck was parked that day.
“I looked at all the existing systems and, at that point in time, they weren’t coming close to what we needed done,” Muir, who also happens to be an MIT grad, recalled. Muir wanted a system, he said, that could be changed on the fly and allow his business to serve as many customers as quickly as possible.
When he hired the MIT alum to build the POS system, he was willing to cut corners. “I think he quoted me like $5,000 for the job and I told him, ‘why don’t you give me a $500 version?’” he said. When told it wouldn’t work “perfectly” for $500, Muir recalls saying, “‘But the $5,000 version isn’t going to work perfectly either, so we’ll make adjustments.’”
That decision allowed Muir and Clover to quickly and economically adapt to their constantly changing menu and customer needs, and complete transactions. While the initial POS has gone through several updates and has been worked on by different developers since its launch, the system is still in use and the core tenants remain the same.
To download the May edition of the PYMNTS.com mPOS Tracker™, click the button below …
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