A new study forecasts that the global transaction value processed via SoftPOS will reach $11.8 billion by 2028, up from $1 billion in 2023.
Growth will be driven by Apple’s launch of Tap to Pay, coupled with the low cost of acceptance, which will lead to significant small business adoption of SoftPOS – which allows NFC‑enabled smartphones or tablets to accept contactless payments, without requiring additional hardware.
The number of merchants accepting electronic payments will grow by a third over the next five years.
It’s widely understood that growing digitalization and changing consumer behaviours have accelerated the decline of cash around the world: however, the secondary effects of this trend are less well appreciated, including the high number of merchants now looking to adopt electronic payments for the first time.
According to research by Payments Cards & Mobile, the number of merchants accepting electronic payments is set to grow by a third over the next five years in Europe alone.
61 million SoftPOS users
The research anticipates that the number of smartphones using SoftPOS by 2028 will reach 61 million globally, growing 683% from 2023.
This is largely due to Apple’s roll-out of its Tap to Pay solution in markets with high numbers of smaller merchants, such as Brazil, France and the UK.
The report advised payment companies to focus on bundling SoftPOS solutions with other business tools, such as cashflow management, to maximise success.
POS software unlocks business efficiencies
Alongside SoftPOS, the research urged merchants to implement other POS software for unlocking centralised sales management, inventory, customer data and more.
Market leaders in POS have an expansive list of technology partners, meaning services can be bundled with capabilities such as AI analytics.
“With the growing use of SDK integration, small businesses and merchants can access advanced software, such as loyalty & reward schemes and inventory management,” highlights research author Daniel Bedford.
“POS software bundles reduce the financial barriers to accessing POS technology; helping businesses readily scale their operations.”
