The rapid changes within the payments segment are being driven by customer demand. Customers want a convenient, real-time, and personalized payment experience at the point-of-sale (POS) along with seamlessly delivered incentives and quick refunds. And they are willing to try out new-age payment services like Merchant one, Clover, Stripe, Square, Pro Merchant and Costco. Traditionally Merchant Service providers (MSPs) would sell payment processing services including terminals to merchants on behalf of banks. But with changing customer preferences banks must work with merchant service providers who can deliver a seamless customer experience across different options like credit cards, mobile or other contactless payments. They must now keep pace with changing payment technologies such as mobile payments or even contactless cards. They must be able to offer a mobile point-of-sales solutions (mPoS), biometrics and facial recognition features at the point-of-sale (PoS) to ensure they meet customer expectations of a frictionless experience while also preventing and detecting fraud.
A robust merchant payment processing solution relays transaction information to both the sellers’ and buyers’ banks, so the customer can avail of the product or service paid for. This must be done in real time and is invaluable in improving customer experience at the point of sale. Traditionally, merchant accounts connected the payment processor, card issuer and the merchant’s bank so that electronic payments like debit and credit card payments could be received immediately. Today, merchant providers must combine merchant accounts with payment processes, payment gateways, loyalty programs and more so that small businesses do not have to set up bank accounts or sign up separately for the merchant payment services. The payment ecosystem is growing more complex, and this is forcing POS providers to innovate and come up with multi-channel solutions to keep pace with the change.
