Mobile-based POS set to ease buy transactions

MUMBAI: Next time when you order a Pizza for home delivery and find yourself  short of cash, you need not run to the nearby ATM. First Data, one of the leading electronic payment processor firms on Thursday announced the launch of mobile point of sales (mPOS) solutions through which you can swipe your debit or credit card in a card reader to settle the transaction amount at your doorstep itself.

According to it, the customer has to just enter his mobile number, bill amount and ATM card’s personal identification number (PIN) in the card reader to complete the transaction. The digital transaction slip would be sent to customer’ personal e-mail id.

“Even at super markets, one need not stand in a long queue to pay the bill. We are in discussions with many of the big retailers. With our (mPOS) device, a customer can pay the bill right at the point where he or she had chosen the item of purchase,” said Nitish Asthana, general manager, First Data.

The new payment solution allows merchants to instantly turn their smart phone or tablet into a mobile point of sale device with a compact PIN enabled card reader device and a user-friendly mobile application. The card reader has an innovative design that connects to the smart phone through bluetooth and is also equipped with an LCD display on which the customer can view the bill amount.

Thereafter, the customer can enter his mobile number, PIN details and confirm his payment.

First Data plans to aggressively market its new product to a large number of merchants across India including retailers and e-retailers, radio taxis, small kirana shops, hotels, restaurants and theatres among others. The firm has over 2 lakh customers in India and the survey commissioned by it showed that around 39 per cent of merchants are willing to adopt this product.