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Education

When innovation Transformation at hand

Retail in general is engaged in a massive transformation
comes to Main that has seen the crumbling of Sears, the humbling of
Macy's and J.C. Penney's, and the bankrupting of Toys R'
Street merchants Us, Radio Shack, and Bon-Ton, among others. Sales from
physical stores still vastly outnumber those of online
companies, but ecommerce and mobile technologies have
provided consumers with far greater choice and the ability
to quickly price-shop for better deals or find alternatives
when they have a less than positive in-store experience.

Larger retailers have substantial IT resources to develop
and implement new technologies in-store and integrate
their own ecommerce offerings. Smaller merchants don't
have those luxuries. Most are wearing multiple hats
on the job; they have little time to explore what devices
and apps could improve their operations. On a positive
note, existing infrastructure is less of a barrier for smaller
companies because they have so little to begin with.

This environment provides merchant level salespeople
By Peter Spee (MLSs) a target-rich environment of needy customers
AEVI and prospects who can benefit from tailored all-in-one
payment solutions that bring innovation to the in-store
n retail segments, the key to survival is innovation. environment.
Merchant payment solution providers must play a
crucial role in helping small to midsize merchants Moving from POS to POI
I claim a place in the winners' category. Government
data suggests that during good times the number of new The POS must evolve from the traditional single-purpose
U.S. private sector establishments opening in a calendar payment transaction, to a robust and flexible point of
quarter exceeds those that close by about 10 percent. interaction (POI) that improves the customer experience
During bad times those numbers reverse, and closings and improves business operations. The legacy, closed
overtake openings. environment payment terminal represents a dead end for
merchants and the MLSs and ISOs providing them with
Survival is rarely guaranteed, particularly for retail payment services.
merchants, who are often dealing with small profit
margins and unpredictable consumer behavior. Overall, Choice and flexibility are essential in meeting demands
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 44 percent of for innovative solutions. Merchants need the ability to
businesses fail within five years. modify their payment infrastructure fluidly as they and
consumers discover new ways of doing business and seek
Increasingly, retail establishments view innovation as the to take advantage of new capabilities. Solution providers
key to competitive survival and sales growth, according to can't afford to be locked into closed-environment payment
a survey conducted by Pymnts in collaboration with AEVI. terminals that lock you and your merchants into a tightly
That survey, which polled 400 U.S. retail businesses, found restricted set of hardware and software that promotes a
that 87.4 percent of small merchants believe they need to one-size-fits-all solution.
innovate to stay competitive, 75 percent say innovation is
necessary to drive sales, and 68 percent need it to enhance Today's merchant solution providers must match
customer loyalty. merchant needs to the growing potential of apps, value-
added services, and the cloud. They must provide a suite,
An analysis of the economic impact of U.S. retailers or bundle, of tailored apps and services that function
conducted for the National Retail Federation by across multiple types of devices from different hardware
PricewaterhouseCoopers points out that retailers are the vendors in an open environment. And these apps must be
heart of every local community – 98.6 percent employ integrated to work together in a fashion that adheres to
fewer than 50 workers; 95 percent operate a single merchant processes across multiple sites and devices.
location. Few of them have the resources or skills to
innovate effectively. Indeed, the Pymnts survey found the Unlike smartphone apps that work separately – such as
smaller the company, the less likely it is to focus time and Facebook and LinkedIn – merchant solutions must be able
resources on innovation. These smaller businesses face a to seamlessly share data. For example, when a customer
dilemma and need help. purchases items and wants home delivery, the POS and

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