Global Recession? Somebody Didn’t Tell That To POS Makers
Written by Evan SchumanIn yet another example of mobile rewriting almost everything retail, the most recent quarterly POS terminal shipments spiked nearly twice as much as had been predicted, according to new figures from IHL. One of the key factors driving those shipments was retailers eager to upgrade their POS to be in a better position to accept mobile payments. “The biggest surprise was the resiliency of the POS market and the level of shipments, which was nearly double what we had predicted for the quarter,” said IHL CEO Greg Buzek. “In a global economy that slowed tremendously in the second quarter due to fuel prices, earthquakes, tsunamis and other factors, the retail POS market was particularly strong.”
IHL is now projecting a $7.3 billion worldwide POS spend for 2010—which includes hardware, software, and maintenance—and it expects 2011 to hit $7.78 billion. For the “pave the way for advancements” category, Buzek pointed to mobile as well as CRM, loyalty and merged-channel capabilities. On the more pragmatic side, many of these purchases are most likely equipping stores that were ordered long before the global recession peaked. “These were capital campaigns that were in the works before the economy soured, so it is 2010 results, creating budgets and new stores, and that creates a need for new POS,” Buzek said.
Cards issued by European banks when used online cross border don't usually support AVS checks. So, when a European card is used with a billing address that's in the US, an ecom merchant wouldn't necessarily know that the shipping zip code doesn't match the billing code.
-Marc
