Mobile wallets is a term that you may hear a lot, particularly if you work in the payments industry or deal with payments at your business. It may not be immediately clear though what is actually being referred to when that term is used. Mobile payments do not encompass all things payments that happen to be mobile, it is a little more specific, and Payline is here to provide clarity.
If you are looking to accept mobile payments in some form or another at your business, there is more than one way to go about it. Mobile payments have the ability to give your business a boost through decreased wait times, faster payment processing, engaging new business and building loyalty. Your mind may immediately jump to the idea of mobile wallets, but there is another option: mPOS. It’s still mobile payments, it’s the same thing, right? Think again.
First, let’s get mobile wallets straight. Mobile wallets generally refer to payments using NFC, or near-field-communication. Customers can create virtual “wallets” in their mobile devices and store credit card information, banking information, reward points and loyalty programs in one place.
This type of mobile payment requires little to no physical contact, simply waving or lightly tapping their device to an NFC-applicable terminal to pay in-store, or via tokenized payment information transfer for online payments through a mobile device. Merchants are able to develop their own mobile wallets or set-up their business’s payment processing to accept the larger “Pays” available like Apple or Samsung Pay, but mPOS is another option for merchants in the world of mobile payments.
Mobile point-of-sale, or mPOS, is the process of using a card reader or other plug-in on a mobile device to accept payments. mPOS allows the merchant to extend the mobile payments system across multiple locations while still maintaining personal contact with customers. mPOS offers the same convenience of accepting mobile wallets but also keeps a personal contact with customers.
We’ve established that there is a difference in mobile payments options, but is one necessarily better to the other? It depends on your business needs, but there are some benefits you could be reaping by opting for an mPOS processing solution.
Business Anywhere, Everywhere
When you hear “POS system”, it can be assumed that this means you will have to be in one location to accept payments. This is not true of mPOS. mPOS is as mobile as you need to be so that you can drive sales in all types of environments.
EMV Made Easy with Mobile Payments
There have been an array of opinions about the integration of EMV technology in payments. One of the biggest hurdles for merchants is the actual integration, be it too costly or complicated to venture into when considering the state of their current systems. mPOS offers aid to the headache, as many card readers and plug-in options can come readily equipped with EMV that you can operate immediately and easily through your mobile device.
Mo’ Payments, No Problem
mPOS offers great benefits between customer engagement and flexibility, but there are ways to still integrate mobile wallets and the “Pays” within mPOS via NFC enabled solutions. They are low-cost and allow the addition of VAS, or value-added services, like loyalty and rewards programs.
Mobile payments offer a new direction for your business to drive sales and a fast and efficient direction at that. Payline knows the value of efficiency when growing your business to meet consumer demands, and that’s why we offer simple-to-use solutions for mobile payments, particularly with Payline Start. This product was built with ease and speed in mind, perfect for blending in-store and mobile solutions to propel your business growth in the right direction. If you haven’t already adopted a form of mobile payments, the time is now, and the place to start is Payline.
This piece was written by Lauren Minning, Content Specialist for Payline.
