Friday 27 June 2014

Research reveals only 2% of UK micro-businesses use an mPOS solution

  • Cash flow identified as the biggest barrier to growth for micro-businesses
  • Existing mPOS solutions fail to tackle this challenge  
  • Kalixa launches Kalixa Pro, offering the fastest settlement on the market to address merchants’ needs
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 ‘mPOS attitudes and adoption’, carried out by research firm MobileSquared on behalf of Kalixa Group, reveals that only 2% of micro-businesses in the UK use a Mobile Point-of-Sale (mPOS) to accept payments. It also identifies the number one barrier to business growth is cash flow. mPOS solutions enable businesses to accept a card payment using a smartphone instead of a traditional fixed point-of-sale terminal.

The research is based on responses from more than 1,000 UK micro-businesses (businesses of between one and nine employees in size) including market traders, fast food outlets, independent retailers, and mobile caterers. The announcement corresponds with the launch of Kalixa Pro, a low cost small business payment solution that includes a mPOS product.

The need for mPOS
The research reveals that many micro-businesses identify cash flow (45%) as the number one barrier to growth. In addition, nearly half (48%) of micro-businesses surveyed miss sales or face delayed settlement, with one in ten saying they miss sales because they don’t have the required payment capability. And more than half of respondents believe multi-channel payments will be important in the future.

Micro-businesses are looking to mPOS technology to help solve these challenges. 19% believe mPOS will help with cash flow and 17% expect it to remove payment issues. An encouraging 38% of respondents say they will adopt mPOS in the near future as long as their concerns are addressed. Given mPOS is a relatively new technology and micro-businesses are typically hard to reach, it is surprising that 47% of respondents correctly identified the actual definition of an mPOS.


Market adoption
Despite clear interest, understanding and awareness of mPOS, adoption remains exceptionally low. Just 2% of respondents currently use mPOS technology. One major reason is that current mPOS and POS offerings are too slow to settle payments and help businesses’ improve cash flow. The majority of existing mPOS services takes between 7-10 days to settle payments.

The research also reveals that mPOS security (56%) and connectivity (29%) are major concerns among micro-businesses. 

Kalixa Pro
Kalixa Pro is unique in that it overcomes the cash flow barrier challenge faced by micro-businesses by offering settlement in three business days - less than half the time of the majority of competitors. To truly disrupt the mPOS market, later this year Kalixa will extend its service to offer a fully integrated small business payments account. The account will enable micro-businesses to accept multi-channel payments using the mPOS and Kalixa’s online payments gateway, as well as access and make payments across all their settled funds using a prepaid MasterCard®.

“Micro-businesses are missing sales and face delayed settlement, with many citing current payment technology as the culprit and mobile as part of the solution. Yet market adoption simply isn’t there,” said Colin Swain, Global Head of Product at Kalixa Group. “We listened to what small businesses needed and have launched a unique service proposition that addresses these needs. We’re focused on helping to solve the cash flow challenge and provide merchants with an integrated service that takes care of all their payment needs - whether it’s making or accepting payments via mobile, online or on the high street.

“However, services can only go so far in solving the adoption problem. According to the research, with the right education 38% of businesses will adopt mPOS in the near future. The UK payments industry needs to tackle the issues of security and connectivity by educating consumers about how safe it is to accept cards using an mPOS, and educating businesses about how next generation networks are delivering near-ubiquitous connectivity. Kalixa is committed to working with the industry to educating consumers and businesses,” Swain added.

“Our extensive research talking to micro-businesses revealed that investment in an mPOS device is a major consideration for the majority of these companies that can often take 12-18 months to make, even though there is a marked increase in sales once that decision has been made,” said Nick Lane, Chief Analyst at mobilesquared. “It is clear from the research that education is key to addressing micro-business concerns around settlement speed, security and connectivity, but also to educate micro businesses and their customers that the ‘calculator-like’ device is as trustworthy and safe as every other POS device.”

Methodology
  • mobilesquared surveyed 1,005 micro-businesses from across the UK
  • Micro-businesses were classed as having between one and nine employees
  • The research was conducted in January and February 2014
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Infographic hi-res
Executive Summary

Thursday 26 June 2014

Kalixa Group launches new mobile Chip & PIN payment service – Kalixa Pro

Allows SMEs and sole traders to take face to face card payments, anytime and anywhere in the UK and offers the fastest settlement on the market.


Kalixa Group, a next generation financial technology company, today announced the launch of Kalixa Pro; an mPOS solution, that enables small businesses, sole traders and mobile workers to accept face to face card payments from customers, on their smartphone. Kalixa Pro combines a low, flat rate transaction fee of just 1.99%*** with the fastest settlement on the market to address small businesses’ need to improve cash flow and increase sales.
 




The new Kalixa Pro service is quick and easy to set up and there are no long term annual fees or monthly contract commitment, instead it offers a simple pay as you go service, so businesses can use it as much or as little as they like.

Kalixa Pro is unique in that it overcomes the cash flow barrier faced by many small businesses, offering settlement and access to cash within three working days. This is less than half the time of the majority of competitor services that take between 7-10 days to settle payments and typically charge a monthly fee.

So whatever your small business, whether you are a mobile hairdresser, B&B owner, plumber, self-employed accountant, café owner or nursery owner, Kalixa Pro allows you to securely take face to face card payments from customers, wherever you are in the UK, to help boost your sales and reduce cash flow issues.

The MasterCard and Visa certified solution, combines a FREE, simple to use,  mobile app (Android and iOS) with a secure Chip and PIN card reader so users can quickly and securely take card payments with just a few taps on their smartphone. The device accepts secure payments from MasterCard, Visa and Maestro, offering consumers a reliable, convenient and stress-free way to pay, and ensuring small businesses need never miss a sale again or be limited by the cash in a potential customer’s wallet.

Kalixa Pro allows small business and sole traders to benefit from a range of additional features including; instant updates on incoming payments as and when they happen, allowing users to keep a close eye on their finances. Merchants can also use the app to provide customers with discounts, refunds, email receipts and reduced transaction times to provide an improved customer experience and as sensitive data is never stored on merchants mobile device both customer and trader can be confident that the solution is completely secure.

Independent research** carried out on behalf of Kalixa Pro shows that 45% of micro-businesses feel that cash flow is the biggest barrier to growth for their business. The research also suggests that in the UK alone up to 65-70% of micro businesses in the UK do not currently accept debit or credit card payments and approximately 423,000 businesses recognise they are missing out on sales as a result.

Colin Swain, Global Head of Product at Kalixa Group, commented: “The UK’s sole traders and small businesses are getting a rough deal from banks today to take card payment; with high prices, poor service and delayed settlement leading to real problems with cash flow.  As a result they’re not accepting cards and are missing out on sales. We listened to what small businesses need and have launched Kalixa Pro, which will provide these  businesses with a game changing payment service designed to help solve the cash flow challenge and enable increased sales. Finally there is a service on the market that makes it commercially feasible for small businesses to offer their customers a face to face card payment facility, wherever their business takes them.  

“The benefits of the product are threefold; firstly it gives customers another way to pay, so they’ll buy more readily, thereby enabling small businesses to increase their revenues. In addition it will reduce the amount of time that tradespeople spend chasing up late payments and it allows sole traders and small businesses to portray a more professional image and provide a better service to their customers.

 “Sole traders and small businesses are the lifeblood of the UK and as such Kalixa is committed to supporting the growth of this vital part of the UK economy by providing an integrated service that takes care of all their payment needs.” concluded Swain.

Small businesses and sole traders can order online at www.kalixa.com/pro. For a one off fee of £59.99 +VAT the reader will be sent out FREE via next day delivery* so once the mobile app is downloaded, users can be up and running, receiving secure mobile payments on the move usually the very next business day.

*UK Mainland only; orders made on Friday and weekends will be delivered on a Tuesday
**Kalixa commissioned research into micro business in 2014. Research was carried out by mobile squared.
*** Until 31 December 2014