SoftPOS: The superhero that’s saving us from lengthy queues

It’s been 70 years since the first credit card was launched, and almost 45 years since the first POS terminal enabled in-store card acceptance. While tech has moved on, merchants are still shackled to clunky POS hardware that slows down sales. In this blog, Robin Anderson, Head of Product Management at Tribe Payments, hails the arrival of SoftPOS, which is set to revolutionise in-store payments. 

Queues are tedious. Only masochists or British people (often the same people) enjoy being in a queue, but the sad fact is everybody will get stuck behind a line of people waiting to pay at a busy till or checkout. Yes, as consumers we can alleviate the boredom by doom-scrolling through our phones until we get to the front. But queuing is a monumental waste of time that could be spent doing more fun things.

According to waitlist software specialist Waitwhile, people in the US spend around 37 billion hours per year waiting in lines. If you divide that figure by the US population, that’s more than 113 hours per person per year wasted in queues. And while the British are renowned as courteous queuers, queue management specialist Qminder says that the average Brit spends one year, two weeks, and a day of their lives stuck in shop queues. 

As the length of time spent in queues grows longer, customers’ patience grows shorter:

• 25% would only wait a maximum of two minutes
• 59% would wait no longer than four minutes
• 73% would abandon their purchase if they had to queue for more than five minutes
• Even UK shoppers consider nine minutes long enough to make them reconsider a purchase and walk out from queues more than seven people deep

In a nutshell, longer queues mean fewer sales. But what is the true financial cost of queueing to a busy shop or restaurant owner, or any other in-person location where money is changing hands?

Data shows that UK retailers are missing out on £11.3 billion of revenue due to long queues in-store. But that’s not even the biggest cause of lost revenues – up to £14.8 billion of revenue is lost due to running out of stock, leaving shoppers disgruntled. Nearly 80% of UK consumers say they would not return to make a purchase if they went to a store only to find their desired item was out of stock. 

Whichever way you look at it, queueing causes frustration, unhappy customers, and pressure on in-house sales staff. And it’s often not people that cause the queues – it’s the POS terminal that determines the speed of payments and a whole host of other merchant efficiencies. 

Tribe Payments and Censuswide recently conducted our own survey of 500 merchants across a range of in-person payment sectors, and just a few of the key findings illustrate how merchants are being hindered by legacy POS tech. 

For instance:

• 28% of merchants say the biggest limitation of their POS systems is the difficulty in supporting multiple payment methods, including alternative options like digital wallets
• 30% of merchants say using outdated or inadequate payment technology infrastructure is their biggest challenge in maximising cross-selling and upselling opportunities at the checkout
• 63% of merchants cite a lack of specific data analytics capabilities in their current POS systems

Additionally, traditional POS terminals come with high maintenance costs, including initial investment and implementation. It’s often the case that many large merchants with multiple sites can spend millions annually on maintaining their POS estates. For many small and micro merchants, traditional POS terminals which cost thousands per year are simply too expensive to operate. 

Enter SoftPOS: the all-in-one payment and data analytics solution that’s slashing queue times, easily integrates with CRM and stock inventory systems – and helping merchants deliver more personalised customer experiences. 

SoftPOS: supercharging merchant payment acceptance with a host of benefits

A SoftPOS solution comprises a mobile or tablet device, often based on iOS or Android operating systems, that doesn’t need a separate card reader, as its software enables merchants to process transactions and accept PIN entry and contactless payments using the mobile device itself without any additional hardware.

SoftPOS enables untethered payment acceptance anywhere in-store, with merchant staff free to roam the floor and serve customers wherever they are, accepting payments directly on their smartphones or tablet devices wherever the customer is. Queues and waiting times are slashed, and customers enjoy much faster service and more enjoyable experiences. 

SoftPOS solutions are also much cheaper compared to traditional POS terminals and in many cases are free to download in basic versions – ideal for smaller or micro merchants in particular. Without the reliance on dedicated POS hardware, SoftPOS implementations can take place much faster and at a minimal cost compared to standard payment infrastructure. 

There’s also no need for merchants to rip out their dedicated POS terminals and throw them in the skip – SoftPOS can complement existing infrastructure and offer additional acceptance points on the move. 

SoftPOS solutions can also communicate through open APIs with a merchant’s other systems, like stock and inventory systems, cashflow management, and CRM platforms. Weaving these often disparate systems together in a seamlessly integrated SoftPOS solution can solve several business challenges in one go and provide a holistic, 360-degree view on the merchant’s business and its customers. 

While there are many differing market estimates about the potential for SoftPOS, all are agreed on one thing – the only way is up.  According to Juniper Research, the global transaction value processed via SoftPOS will reach $11.8 billion by 2028, up from $1 billion in 2023, or growth of 1,050%.

The great news is that merchants, especially those with fragile margins and facing new pressures on profitability, can offload the search for smart SoftPOS solutions to specialist payment technology partners (ahem…), who do the hard work of building the proprietary tech and bundling in the analytics and other services merchants are looking for, ensuring faster time to market and a quicker runway to value.

That’s why Tribe Payments is launching our own SoftPOS Tap on Phone solution, enabling Android smartphones to accept contactless payments, helping merchants to eliminate the upfront investment associated with physical POS terminals, and the associated running costs and ongoing expenses. 

Want to know more about it? Get in touch with us now!

AND - if you're you interested in learning more about how SoftPOS can supercharge sales and save customers from lengthy queues, watch this space for our brand-new research report diving into the true value of SoftPOS – out next month!