Would you like a Countertop or Mobile POS Terminal?

In this week’s update, we consider whether the countertop or mobile POS Terminal is the right choice for your business.

Choosing the right terminal for use by a business can depend on many different factors. What works for one business type may be totally inappropriate for another, meaning that careful consideration is needed in order to ensure the correct choice has been made.

Perhaps the biggest decision necessary is whether to use a terminal that is available at the counter or can be taken to your customer.

Need for Speed?

The speed in which you need to serve your customers is always an important part of the decision making process. Whilst some business environments are relaxed and longer payment times can form part of an enhanced customer experience, in others a swift and hassle-free transaction process is demanded and forms part of profit maximization

or those businesses looking for speed, a countertop terminal can sometimes take a bit longer to process due to the nature of the way they send and receive data. Whilst this may come in at just a few seconds more, in a busy retail establishment over the course of the day the extra time can mount up and decrease the number of transactions possible.

Freedom to Move?

For any business that needs a terminal that can be easily transported to the customer, a mobile terminal is the best option. Restaurants, cafes and market stalls are obvious examples of those favouring a mobile option, whilst shops are much more content to have the customer come to a checkout point and use a countertop terminal.

For a business that takes telephone and virtual orders, a wired countertop terminal is the best option as this can stored on a countertop close to your computer and the payment gateway services you require.

Also of consideration here is whether a business requires the card machine to be passed between staff; something that is made much easier when using one that is mobile.

How Much?

Regardless of whether your business is small or large, the costs involved in renting a terminal are an important factor when deciding the right options for your business.

Countertop terminals will need to use a phone line to conduct transactions, which may form part of any consideration in terms of the cost of line rental.

Careful consideration is also needed to ensure the location of your business will not impact upon the signal needed to keep your mobile terminal available at all times.

Being Prepared and Organised

As well as having the freedom to be able to take your terminal to the customer, you also need to consider the action required to ensure that your mobile terminal is always ready to be used. A mobile terminal will need to be periodically recharged, which will require them to be removed from service at some point. In an environment in which terminals are needed for 24-hour use this may prove to be a problem, or of course, require that more terminals are obtained in order to cover the charging periods.

A business may also want customers to conduct their payments in set areas and by specific staff members; something that is far easier to do when dealing with countertop terminals and can assist with receipt and record keeping efficiency. Staff can be monitored more thoroughly when contained in one area, which for bigger businesses may be all part of a larger scale approach to organization.

Whatever your decision, by working with Card Cutters we can help find the POS right terminal for your business.