businessinfomag.uk
magazine
32
A new generation of tablet-based tills are giving small retailers
greater insight into customer transactions
Small retailers are being invited by
the likes of Worldpay, The Good Till
and EE to replace clunky old tills with
smarter, tablet-based solutions that
offer greater business insight and
more flexibility.
Payment processor Worldpay has
launched My Business Hub to help
small businesses level the playing field
with larger businesses. The all-in-one
till integrates a tablet, receipt printer,
card payment device and app to process
payments securely.
The tablet and card machine can
be detached from the base unit and
carried around the store, enabling small
businesses to take advantage of assisted
selling.
Integration with the My Business
Dashboard tool, which can be accessed
online and and from the Hub itself,
gives owners a complete overview of
their business, helping them to reduce
the admin burden and operate more
efficiently. According to research by
Worldpay, small business owners typically
spend one day a week on paperwork.
James Frost, Chief Marketing
Officer, said: “The big retailers have all
got very powerful insight teams and
analytics teams that pore over all of
their transaction data and provide really
helpful insights. The small business owner
hasn’t traditionally had the benefit of
that. My Business Dashboard takes all the
payments that we processed and makes
all of that data available the next day in
a really user-friendly, intuitive interface
that allows the small business owner to
look at trends over time.”
Worldpay is offering two subscription
models for My Business Hub: a monthly
payment of £50, plus a £250 upfront
payment; or a monthly payment of £65
with no upfront payment.
Customisable and convenient
The Good Till is another tablet-based
till solution aimed at small businesses.
Utilising user-friendly flexible software
and cloud technology, it, too, claims
to give small retailers access to the
intelligence that big businesses enjoy,
but at a fraction of the cost.
Its solution is completely
customisable, integrates seamlessly with
applications like Xero and Exact, and
allows businesses to provide customers
with email receipts, which as well as
being more convenient and eco-friendly
help with data capture.
The Good Till is available as a
software-only solution for £25
per month or as an integrated
hardware and software package.
Pop-up shop solution
EE has been meeting the needs of stores
and pop-up retailers for a number of
years with 4G-based payment solutions.
Its Connected Retail package is a fully
integrated retail solution comprising a
superfast 4G data connection; Shopwave
POS software; an iPad Air 2, plus stand;
Smarter retailing
an iZettle wireless card reader; a cash
drawer; and a receipt printer.
Shopwave replaces the traditional
till with an app that manages stock,
payment transactions and product
catalogues through a single interface.
Prices for the Connected Retail package
begin at £59 per month.
For pop-up businesses, EE provides
a range of flexible pop-up bundles with
short term internet plans.
Rewarding shoppers
Taking a different approach, the global
data insights and mobile payment
platform Zapper has adapted its Pay-
at-Counter solution to give customers
in convenience retail outlets a fast
payment option.
To pay, shoppers simply open the
app and scan a unique QR code at the
till point. If they choose to do so, they
can then leave a starred rating and
feedback for the retailer. Zapper also
helps businesses to engage with
shoppers, as its Z-Beacon technology can
send offers and alerts directly to the app
to attract shoppers.
James Frost,
Chief Marketing
Officer,WorldPay
Mobile
UNSHACKLED.com is a UK start-up that
plans to overhaul the mobile phone industry
by allowing consumers to buy their handset
and SIM separately and switch networks any
time, without being tied into costly 24 month
contracts.
According to a report by
Which?
, the average
UK consumer currently overpays by an average of
£159 per year.
Established by three mobile phone industry
experts, the independent and impartial service
aims to transform the way consumers buy mobile
phones by offering every phone and SIM on the
market and letting customers choose a device
and tariff separately.
A consumer will also be able to change their
phone and/or SIM whenever they choose to. The
MobileWatch service will even notify consumers
if a better deal comes along and, with flexible
financing provided by Zopa, customers will be
able to make additional payments and pay off
handsets early at no extra cost.
CEO JohnWhittle said: “Separating the phone
and SIM purchase is the best option for the vast
majority of consumers. Major networks and
mobile phone retailers know this but actively
choose not to explain it to their customers
as they’re focused on profit not people.
UNSHACKLED.com scans the market and does
all the research leaving customers with a bespoke
shortlist of options that will save them both
money and time.”
UNSHACKLED.com estimates that it can save
the average consumer £330.
Cut your mobile bill
