NFC-Ready POS Terminal Shipment Doubles to 2.5M Units in 2011, Says Berg Insight

According to a new report from market research firm Berg Insight, the market for NFC-ready point of sale (POS) terminals grew tremendously last year, with annual shipments doubling to an estimated 2.5 million units worldwide. The research firm attributes this rapid growth to a transition in the NFC-payments ecosystem from performing trials to accelerating the rollout of NFC-ready payment infrastructure.

In fact, it marks the arrival of NFC-based mobile payment services, according to the Berg Insight report.

Berg Insight forecasts that the global installed base of NFC-ready POS terminals will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.4 percent, from 3.9 million units in 2011 to 43.4 million units in 2017. The analysis shows that the penetration rate for NFC-ready POS terminals will increase from 8 percent in 2011 to 53 percent in 2017.  

As per the Berg Insight study, the penetration rate is projected to be highest in North America, where an estimated 86 percent of the terminals will be NFC-ready by 2017. The penetration rate in Europe and the rest of the world will be 78 percent and 38 percent, respectively.  

According to Berg Insight, the emergence of mobile wallet services will be the most significant development in the payments industry during the next few years. 

“Mobile wallet services will create an unprecedented opportunity for retailers to interact with consumers in real-time while their purchasing decisions are being formed, for instance by delivering personalized offers in real-time while consumers are inside the shop,” said Berg’s telecom analyst Lars Kurkinen.

Support for value-added services such as coupons, loyalty cards and daily deals will need to be integrated at the POS terminal to enable a seamless shopping experience for the consumer.

The market research firm’s study also explores the use of mobile payments in market segments such as vending and parking. “In the parking market a growing share of transactions are initiated from mobile phones instead of parking meters. This development is pushing major parking meter vendors to diversify into the pay-by-phone parking market,” noted Kurkinen.

“SMS-based payments for vending are gaining momentum in some parts of Europe,” he added. “An example is Selecta, the leading European vending operator, which recently rolled out SMS-payments to all of its public vending machines in Switzerland.”