Across central and eastern Europe, the move to digital payments is an unstoppable wave – a trend that started before but accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Governments in the region have recognised the advantages of moving payments into the digital realm, as electronic payments are faster, more cost-effective, secure and efficient, as well as provide an audit trail to help prevent money laundering and tax evasion.
As such, many countries are bringing in new regulations to further drive payments digitisation.
For example, as of June 16th, all Romanian companies are required to offer customers the ability to pay for purchased goods and services with credit and debit cards, or risk a €1,000 fine.
Hungary implemented a similar law in January 2021, obliging merchants to offer a cashless payment option to their customers.
In the face of this regulatory push, many micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) feel that they are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
These businesses have historically shied away from the high costs of renting and operating traditional point-of-sale (POS) card machines, which include specialised hardware, installation and maintenance fees.
SoftPOS gaining traction
However, a new solution is gaining traction across the region.
To support our MSME client base in their digital payments transformation, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) has launched a soft point-of-sale (SoftPOS) digital payment solution, RaiPOS, which effectively turns every mobile phone with NFC capability into an acceptance terminal.
No additional hardware is required. MSMEs benefit from lower fees, greater flexibility, ease of set up and a better customer experience.
The software-as-a-service solution can also be integrated as payment possibilities into existing apps.
One example of a third-party integration using RaiPOS is already live with Regio Calatori, the largest private passenger rail provider in Romania.
RaiPOS is integrated in the ticketing application used by conductor and allows passengers to pay their fares by simply tapping their contactless bank card or digital wallet in the train carriage.
The payment process takes a few seconds, after which the passenger receives a paper ticket.
The solution provides a pleasant, secure and extremely quick customer experience. Currently, the train company uses more than 300 terminals.
This example shows that while our SoftPOS solution is ideal for MSMEs, RaiPOS also has great potential for larger businesses, including delivery companies, taxi firms with mobile agents, and big retailers.
For the latter, a salesperson can walk the shop floor with their phone acting as a mobile terminal – which may also have an inventory management tool on it – to allow customers to quickly make their purchase without needing to queue at the cash register.
Importantly, RaiPOS is as secure as a standard POS terminal.
The latest version of the RaiPOS app is Payment Card Industry (PCI) Mobile Payments on Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) certified, which means that it follows the PCI requirements for payment acceptance on COTS mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets.
This new standard allows businesses to accept payments more quickly and easily, regardless of the mobile device they use.
Today, RaiPOS is live in seven countries: Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine.
As of the end of June, it is used by around 20,000 customers and on 26,000 terminals. On average, it processes more than half a million transactions per month.
And watch this space – RaiPOS is soon coming to Hungary.
MSMEs need a low cost, convenient and flexible solution to enable secure digital payments. RaiPOS turns every NFC mobile phone into an POS terminal, without the need for additional hardware and the associated costs. It is quick and easy to roll out, has top level security and delivers an exceptional customer experience.
To find out more about RaiPOS in all above-mentioned countries, CLICK HERE
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