Compensated Awareness Post View
Disclaimer
Net Element, Inc. (NETE) Mobile, POS Solutions Help Even Small Businesses Cost-Effectively Tap Into Booming NFC-Based Retail Paradigm Shift
One of the most exciting up-and-comers in the world of mobile payments and POS (point of sale) systems today is the developer of the next-gen, cloud-based Aptito platform, Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE). Engineered and distributed via the company’s wholly-owned Aptito subsidiary, this suite of products, including the company’s core Aptito POS system, as well as the Aptito mPOS system, Aptito Digital Menus and Aptito Kiosk solution, allows restaurants, cafeterias and other retailers to execute truly modern, gorgeous menu and POS systems based around the iPad, iPhone, and rock-solid iOS operating system.
Technavio recently forecast the global mobile POS systems market as growing at a CAGR of 9.6% through 2019 on the strength of smartphone and tablet proliferation. The other major contributing factors to this growth are increasing consumer awareness of the key NFC (near-field communications) technologies and the fact that more and more retail locations are installing POS terminals, offering customers the option to pay via mobile. As more retailers offer the option to consumers, sentiment grows, encouraging yet more retailers to upgrade as well.
The mobile wallet technologies that go hand-in-hand with the POS systems have become a very convenient way for consumers to keep their funds handy and make purchases both quickly and easily. This technology is now rapidly displacing traditional card-based payment methods across the retail space, with leading efforts by Google (Google Wallet) and Apple (Apple Pay) making huge waves in the sprawling world of mcommerce.
According to analysts at renowned research firm, Forrester Research, mobile-based payments in the U.S. alone are on track to hit $142 billion by 2019, a 148% jump from 2014 figures. With all expectations pointing to a rapid spike in this market, which has matured significantly in the last five or more years and is now poised for considerable growth, top offerings like Apple Pay are expected to help drive that growth substantially. Forrester analysts see Apple Pay’s slice of the pie as growing to an impressive 24% market share by 2019, or around $34 billion.
Net Element provides Apple Pay services for their secure mobile-transaction platform, enabling the handling and processing of Apple Pay transactions when NFC-enabled iPhones are used. With Apple Pay currently accepted at over 700k locations and the system working natively on iPhone 6 generation devices and the Apple Watch wearable, or additionally on the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 when purchases are made via apps, NETE is shrewdly setting itself up as the go-to POS system provider in this market. Forrester Research predicts that remote mobile payments via apps will be the hottest growth segment of the mcommerce market as well, forecasting that the lion’s share of upside will be in this area over the next few years.
The company’s Aptito platform can help businesses revolutionize their retail workflow and the entire system is so cost-effective that it can be easily implemented by anyone, whether it is a large restaurant chain, or a simple snack bar.
Net Element’s powerful, all-in-one mobile Apple software also helps improve personnel efficiency, reduce inventory waste through tighter stock controls, and increase overall sales volumes due to improved user experience, the attractive high-res photo menus, and typically much faster turnover rates. The ability to present restaurant patrons in particular with up to date, full-color images of the food they will be ordering, via an easy to use interactive digital menu that can be easily updated to reflect new dishes that have been added (or specials), is a key feature that really helps to push sales volumes higher.
The facts that the wait staff can send orders directly to the kitchen electronically, the menus are synced to the register, and all this data is being fed through a single framework, means the level of situational awareness obtained via the Aptito platform can help managers ensure not just profitability, but overall operational efficiency like never before. And the fact that the entire system is implemented using relatively cheap, off the shelf iPad’s and iPhones, means that the solution is easy to manage, and affordable enough for even small businesses to roll out.
Aptito’s smart inventory capabilities are perhaps even more important than the other advantages the system provides when it comes to the bottom line, allowing managers to quickly inspect inventory in real-time, track sales within a framework that can show profitability versus cost, and even do automatic restocking. This same architecture allows managers to complete detailed, flexible work scheduling tasks and employees can actually use the system to clock in and out as well. This same capability also allows Aptito to be used in order to execute a real-time reservation system and provide customers with up to date takeout options.
Lean more about Net Element at www.netelement.com
