Asia Pacific Wireless POS Terminal Industry

APAC POS Terminal Market Analysis

The Asia Pacific POS Terminal Market is expected to register a CAGR of 8.4% during the forecast period.

• The rising financial frauds worldwide have influenced the government regulatory bodies to secure payment transactions over the past few years. With customers demanding safe and reliable digital transactions, the need for using secure payment processes has increased. Therefore, these regulatory bodies have positively impacted the adoption of POS terminals. With the increasing mobility trends worldwide, mobile POS terminals are gaining traction. With the advent of cashless transactional technologies, POS has witnessed an increase in adoption rates.
• The growth in e-commerce in the Asia Pacific region is also a factor that presents new opportunities for the POS terminals market. According to a study by Google conducted in the first half of 2021, in the region, regular 'a few times a month' online shoppers are now outpacing their offline counterparts by 42% vs. 31%, and those who shop online 'once every few months' leapfrog offline shoppers by 66%. Also, according to the study, the region has leapfrogged as much as five times, already meeting projections for 2025 (n=13,000).
• Card fraud is evolving heavily, driven by increased customer demands for fast and easy payments. The coronavirus pandemic is also fueling explosive growth in card fraud activity. Point-of-Sale fraud is largely caused by merchants failing to leverage point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solutions to safeguard POS data. Several merchants depend on transmission-level encryption for POS transactions, where card data is encrypted while moving from the POS terminal to the payment processor. The lack of encryption of the card data drives security concerns and adds a risk factor in transactions.
• Various businesses have deployed contactless payment options to offer customers touch-free alternatives in response to social distancing requirements and consumer preference for not using cash. As customers are becoming more used to using these payment options, they expect more firms to provide them with these options.
• In March 2021, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) partnered with SBI Payments to launch a RuPay SoftPoSsolution for Indian merchants. The solution turns NFC-enabled smartphones into PoSterminals for retailers. With the solution, merchants can accept contactless payments of up to INR 5000 through simple tap and pay mechanisms on smartphones. Such efforts by the government are also pushing the growth of contactless payment.
• Also, in August 2021, BharatPe formed a strategic partnership with Axis Bank, under which the private lender will act as the acquiring bank for BharatPe's point of sale (PoS) business BharatSwipe. This partnership will help BharatPe enhance the merchant experience by leveraging the advanced technology platform Axis Bank offers.

APAC POS Terminal Market Trends

Healthcare Segment will Significantly Contribute to the Growth of Market

• The healthcare industry is a prominent adopter of POS terminals. The segment is expected to grow due to several factors, such as government initiatives and vendor activities. The demand for securing information of patients is one of the significant drivers of POS terminals in the healthcare industry. According to MHLW (Japan), the overall number of hospitals established by medical businesses in Japan as of January 2021 was 5,686 facilities. Such a huge number of hospitals will drive the studied market for payment methods.
• With the rapid digitization of the healthcare sector in different parts of the world, the need for modern POS terminals is also increasing to process pandemic-related information, payment processes, and manage patient information. Furthermore, the region's large presence of healthcare facilities has aided the market's growth. According to the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan, there were medical corporations in Japan in 2021.
• Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered the demand for acceptance of cashless payments at the hospitals, stimulating the demand for POS terminals in the healthcare industry. In September 2021, Mswipe went live with e-RUPI for all its 675 thousand POS and 1.1 million QR merchants to boost digital payment acceptance by MSMEs across India. Mswipehas powered hospitals and healthcare facilities to accept digital vouchers from beneficiaries, thereby increasing the vaccination drive against COVID-19.
• Also, in July 2021, the Commercial Bank of Ceylon deployed all-in-one, Android-powered Point-of-Sale terminals to DurdansHospital in Colombo to enable customers to make convenient and secure tap-and-go and scan-and-pay payments. With these new devices, DurdansHospital can adopt QR-based wallet payments under LANKAQR and secure Near Field Communication (NFC) technology at its premises in a single device to offer safety to its customers in terms of minimizing touch points through contactless-payment options.
• Furthermore, with the rise in the number of patients across the hospitals, hospital food service management companies are working to overcome their reputation of having in-room dining options. Modernization of hospital POS has come to the forefront in the region, as the light continues to shed on quality food service in hospitals as essential to the health and healing process.

Cashless Payment is Driving the Market Growth

• Asia Pacific is a region that is at the forefront of technology adoption, which is influencing the growth of the market for POS terminals as well. The prominence of cashless payments in different countries is also a factor that is creating new opportunities for the market.
• According to Worldpay, with almost 40% of payments in 2021, digital or mobile wallets held the biggest share of point-of-sale payment methods in the Asia-Pacific region. In contrast, 16% of point-of-sale transactions in the Asia-Pacific area in 2021 used cash payments.
• According to the South China Morning Post report published in February 2022, China has taken two steps closer to a fully cashless economy after two small private Chinese banks announced last month that they would end services related to banknotes and coins. Beijing-based ZhongguancunBank will end cash services, including over-the-counter deposits and withdrawals and cash services on ATMs, in April 2022, while NewUpBank of Liaoning will end its cash services in March 2022.
• Further, government bodies in the region are taking the initiative to enhance the digital payment solution. Moreover, according to Worldpay, In Asia-Pacific, digital or mobile wallets accounted for the biggest percentage of point-of-sale payment methods in 2021, with over 40% of transactions. Comparatively, in the Asia-Pacific area in 2021, 16% of point-of-sale payments were made in cash.
• Due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government introduced the Movement Control order (MCO), accelerating Malaysia's cashless push. For instance, GrabPayMalaysia's cashless transactions have grown by about 1.7 times. Maybank, the top Malaysian bank, has registered twice as many users as usual for its MAE e-wallet.

APAC POS Terminal Industry Overview

The Asia Pacific POS terminal market is moderately consolidated, with the presence of a few major companies. The companies continuously invest in strategic partnerships and product developments to gain more market share. Some of the recent developments in the market are:

• March 2022 - Ingenico, a Worldline brand, and BharatPe, one of India's fastest-growing Fintech businesses, recently announced a five-year strategic agreement to accelerate the use of POS devices. As part of the collaboration, Ingenico will roll out 100,000 of its Axium line of Android Smart POS and PPaaS (Ingenico's Payments Platform as a Service) to the merchant network of BharatPe in India over the course of the following 12 months. Axium DX8000 Android-based terminals and PPaaS give BharatPe, the unicorn company based in Delhi, a technology stack that is intended to meet the demands of a quickly expanding and changing market.
• March 2022 - A new holographic point-of-sale system is currently being tested in 7-Eleven stores around Japan. This device enables consumers to make contactless payments via a holographic screen that is projected from the self-checkout terminal. The Digi POS system, created by Toshiba, gives the impression that a touchscreen interface is suspended in front of a customer. The virtual touchscreen graphics that are shown on the holographic displays can be interacted with thanks to Neonode's Touch Sensor Modules.

APAC POS Terminal Market Leaders

APAC POS Terminal Market News

June 2022 - Stripe's in-store point-of-sale (POS) system, Stripe Terminal, was first presented in Singapore. Using adaptable developer tools and card readers, Stripe Terminal combines businesses' online and offline transactions. Using Terminal's APIs and SDK, customers can personalize their checkouts (SDK). Stripe Terminal also provides fleet management for companies to manage their gear across numerous sites.

December 2021 - UnionPay International (UPI) of China has introduced its SoftPOS product using the Fasstap payment technology solution offered by Soft Space, a SoftPOS provider. The system launched in Malaysia aims to turn consumer-grade NFC Android handsets into a payment terminal to support contactless UnionPay transactions.