Point of Sales (POS) plays a key part in the overall retail ecosystem ensuring smoother purchase of goods and services with the usage of credit/debit cards. With the advent of E-tail and e-commerce which have a significant component of services and goods delivered at home, mobile POS or mPOS devices are becoming a key to successful Cash on Delivery (CoD) Model. Square was an early pioneer in the mPOS systems which disrupted the market with its handy and portable credit card readers which could be hooked to the Audio port of an iPhone device. System involves capturing and reading the credit card information and transferring the data as encrypted audio waves to the phone. A secure app in the phone then transfers the data to the backend verification fulfilling the transaction. Where the legacy POS devices needed their own GPRS/3G connections, mPOS devices leverages Smart Phone’s connectivity to complete authentication and transaction. With the ubiquitous and affordable Androi...

It is estimated that almost 75% of the transactions in India transpire in cash. Of this, EY reports 50-80% of online transaction are Cash-on-delivery(COD). Consumers are gaining confidence in using their cards with heightened security on card transactions. With over 400 million cards in circulation, a large majority of debit cards are still not active for purchases, driving e-tailers to term COD as a ‘necessary evil’. Operationally it poses a number of challenges in collection cycles, pressurised cash-flows, pilferage in cash handling and expensive returns. The question arises how does one fulfill 100 million orders on COD as the segment continues to post growth YoY? There are one million POS machines for 12 million merchants in the country. Traditional POS machines are expensive infrastructure, and their viability is proven only above a certain minimum transaction volume. Bulky POS devices make it a cumbersome task to serve a ‘on the go’ transaction at the customers doorstep. ...