As the retail 4.0 paradigm continues to evolve, the new all-in-one modern point of sale (POS) technology has emerged to lead from the forefront in shaping digital banking, payments, and business management for both retailers and customers.
A convergence between fintech and tech industry has brought data driven financial technologies, digital payments, automation, AI, IOT, virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to the forefront in retail 4.0. The new all-in-one POS is an evolving product of this convergence and will be the focus of this article.
Early Retail Industry: The early pioneers of the retail industry are brick and mortar stores and huge retail chains. Global big retailers like Walmart in the US and D-mart in India brought the adoption of early IT and Fintech to increase retail sales and scale their businesses.
This include business management software, inventory management, stock transfer and ware house management tools and payments technologies including POS, RFID checkouts etc. Although, a huge leap forward these legacy IT and payment methodologies are very complicated and used complex software, multiple application modules, humongous hardware and need a big workforce of IT and hardware engineers.
The invention of digital payments through card transactions, and payment processors changed the way how merchants and retail sector run their business. Some of the early pioneers of this digital card transactions include card networks such as Master, and Visa cards that facilitated these transactions globally.
This data was further encrypted and securely transferred by payment gateways like Stripe, Paypal etc. Payment processors such as First Data, Flagship, Hitachi, HDFC, World line, facilitated these fund transfers between merchants, issuing banks, acquirers, and card networks. These fintech companies helped not only big chains but also small mom and pop shops to do retail business.
In the e-commerce industry, the online digital payment companies such as Paypal, stripe, amazon pay has helped big e-sellers like amazon and ebay etc. In India, companies like PAYU formerly lead by Amrish Rau emerged as a leader in online payment gateway. Digital wallets such as Vijay Shekar lead Paytm, Bansal founded and Flipkart owned phonepe and UPI based QR wallets emerged as leading alternative digital payments in India.
Reinventing POS tech: The advent of Android and iOS mobile systems created easy to use mobile POS with very high processing powers that replaced traditional windows and web based POS.
Previously, there are four major modules to run a restaurant: I) a point of sale billing computer, 2) a payment module to accept cards or cash, 3) printer and cash drawer, 4) a back office business management software. Now with the android based POS devices you have all the four major modules integrated in one device, thus saving thousands of rupees or dollars to run an efficient retail business. Some of the early movers in the modern POS include Square POS, Toast POS, Shopify, which are big multi-dollar businesses in the US.
Anand Asaithambi, Co-founder and CEO of Intuition Systems displaying IVEPOS UI.
In India, Intuition Systems IVEPOS, Weavedin POS are some of the early android POS companies that launched an integrated all-in-one POS for restaurant POS and retail POS. Intuition Systems 5.5” all-in-one IVEPOS restaurant POS and retail POS launched in 2017 with integrated software, hardware and payments with an annual cost of less than $300 is one of India’s first 5.5” all in one restaurant POS and retail POS. Due to this recent significant advances in POS as a modern, powerful retail platform, now we can see major fintech companies getting into a high M&A activity to become competitive by leveraging these new technology advances.
For example, in India, Weavedin was acquired by Paytm to bring in the new all in one paytm POS, other leading companies like Phonepe, Zomato and Jio made similar POS acquisition. Globally, Fiserv acquired First data that has previously acquired the clover restaurant POS, World line acquired Ingenico, In the US, Stripe partnered with lightspeed POS to focus on retail stores, Shopify already has POS offerings gearing for the battle of modern POS platforms and financial system
Intuition Systems IVEPOS 11.0: Intuition Systems though its android IVEPOS 11.0 with 100+ features for retail and restaurants, is positioned well to serve India market focusing on retail sales.
Intuition Systems IVEPOS restaurant POS and retail POS has Omni-channel management of billing, business management, e commerce, dedicated api’s, app stores, aggregator of third-party apps, CRM, Analytics in one single POS system. IVEPOS restaurant POS and retail POS accepts different payment modes including cards, QR, UPI etc. with nearly 100 major features including taxes, payments, wallets, loans, ecommerce etc. IVEPOS is now available in 78 currencies.
The POS penetration in India is already one of the lowest with 1 POS for every 427 citizens. One report estimates 20 million POS still need to be deployed in the next few years. Right now, there are about 3 Million old generation EMV POS devices. With an advanced POS software Intuition Systems is well placed to revolutionize and serve retail 4.0 in Indian and Asia pacific market.
This next wave in retail 4.0 truly belongs to all in one POS platforms. Major player in India outside of Paytm all-in one POS offering includes Fiserv all-in one POS for retail and restaurants. Payment companies like Pine labs and Mswipe have created a play store for POS software but still don’t have a bundled all-in-one POS solution yet.
In this backdrop, Intuition Systems IVEPOS has emerged as the leading android POS software pioneer in India to deliver a robust all-in-one POS device both as a standalone company and in partnerships with multiple payment companies and bank merchant services that can perform simple billing to specialty ERP for restaurants and retail. The reimagining and reinventing of the new all-in-one POS by convergence of modern fintech and tech industry will truly revolutionize retail 4.0.
About Intuition Systems: Intuition Systems is India’s leading all-in-one POS, ERP and business management company. The intuitive AI and cloud-enabled IVEPOS product provides and facilitates payments, billing solution, ERP, CRM, and business management solution for restaurants and retails including salon & spa, pharma & healthcare, grocery stores, apparel & footwear, and other through their restaurant POS and retail POS.
About the Authors
Arun Asaithambi PhD, is the Co-founder of Intuition Systems, Bangalore. He is an experienced tech entrepreneur and has successfully built start-ups from scratch in Biotech and Fintech. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of a US based biotech which pioneered AI driven precision cancer drugs. He obtained his PhD from Iowa State University, USA.
Anand Asaithambi is the Co-founder & CEO of Intuition Systems, Bangalore. He is a mechanical engineer and an experienced tech entrepreneur who has built start-ups from scratch in Food-tech and Fin-tech. He previously co-founded a semi-automated restaurant startup. His expertise is in software architecture, robotics, design UI/UX, product management and marketing.
