In today’s world it is difficult to imagine that entering a retail store you would not have the ability to pay with your credit card or using your smart device. POS systems have gone a long way and had a remarkable transformation over the years, revolutionizing the way businesses operate and impact every consumer’s experience.
History of POS
One of the first card machines was released back in 1979, these machines used a phone authorisation method, where the merchant would call the bank, and read out the card number and wait for the bank’s confrontation. Fast forward to 2007, the first time (NFC) technology was adopted in payment cards and since then all card machines and bank cards have been using NFC to support easy transaction execution.
Cashless Society
As some might think that not needing to carry cash around provides convenience, it has other drawbacks that people talk about the most, which is the “loss of privacy”. You are unable to purchase anything anonymously as every purchase that is made forces us to leave a record. Every purchase that is made by the card reduces the end revenue for the merchant as there are additional charges in place in order to accommodate the POS device. For us as a consumer it’s convenient, but for the merchant in the retail store there are costs involved which can lead to an increase in goods that we as the consumers buy.
When we have cash, we know the value of it and we know that the funds are safe with us, however when we hold the funds in our bank account there are limitations such as how much money you can withdraw, what fees you will pay to take the cash out. What if the system malfunctions and you can’t pay with your card or withdraw cash? Let alone bank’s will question transfers and high net purchases that you will try to initiate.
Even though there are a lot of benefits, cash still offers a level of monetary security.
What’s next?
We spoke about money held in the bank, using credit cards and cash, however what is overseen as rapidly growing is crypto currency. It provides the balance between the both worlds. Funds are secured in your own decentralized wallet or a ledger, you can stay anonymous when making a purchase online, difficult to track or keep a record about you. What we need is a point of sale system that will bridge the gap between the real world and digital currency. That’s why we are here, and that’s exactly why we are working towards providing end users the possibility to make retail purchases using the crypto currency that they hold.
Stay tuned to hear more on what we have to offer.
