January POS Recap: What's Making Headlines in the Point of Sale

2/2/2015
Tablet solutions and security, particularly EMV-certification, were making headlines in the point of sale landscape throughout the month of January. At the NRF BIG Show, many vendors announced the latest in mobile releases and rollouts, while payment security companies were sharing ways to prepare for the impending liability shift.  Among the top headlines were a breakdown of six key payment trends for 2015; a tablet deployment at TGI Friday’s and Hardee’s piloting self-order kiosks. These stories, and more, are presented here in Hospitality Technology’s January POS recap.

Ingenico Group and Beamm Launch EMV-Certified Tablet POS Solution
Ingenico Group has launched a new multi-channel commerce solution for small business owners. Called the smart tabletPOS and available immediately, it combines powerful tablet POS software integrated with cloud-based tools to help merchants ring up sales, manage their business, engage customers and drive revenue.

Six Key Payment Trends for 2015
From security strategies to mobile payment, the payment space is poised for major changes in the year ahead. With huge disruptions in the payment space including EMV and the debut of Apple Pa, 2014 was a watershed year for payments technology. Ingenico summarizes six key payments trends, including EMV, NFC and P2PE, that hospitality tech executives need to know about in 2015.  

Elavon and Verizon Partner to Provide Turnkey Mobile POS
By joining forces with Verizon, the global communications company, and talech, a provider of mobile point of sale solutions, Elavon is introducing a turnkey mobile POS system for small and medium businesses in the United States.

Wingstop Announces Data Security Incident Affecting Four Franchise Locations
Wingstop has released information about a data security attack on point-of-sale (POS) systems that could have enabled attackers to capture customer payment card information such as account number, expiration date or cardholder name at possibly four locations.

Panasonic Debuts Expanded Solutions In Tablet POS
Panasonic has announced a number of new technologies at the 104th annual National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show. These retail solutions, including mobile and fixed point of sales devices and smart shelving technology, are part of the company’s expanding solutions portfolio targeting retailers of various sizes and sub markets including table service restaurants, quick service restaurants (QSR), hotels and more.

Wincor Nixdorf Announces Updates to Four POS Products
Wincor Nixdorf has announced updates to four of its products that are used to automate point of sale, streamline back office activities, and provide consumers with a seamless omnichannel experience.  These hardware and software enhancements are designed to help improve conversion rates and promote cross-selling opportunities that increase the basket size for each order.  

PCMS Launches Integrated Tablet Mobile POS
PCMS has partnered with Box Solutions, Logic Group and Miura Systems to develop an integrated tablet, mobile point of sale software and payment device. The device will combine a Cielo tablet with Logic Group's payment application and Miura's chip and PIN device, all seamlessly tied together with PCMS' award-winning VISION BeanStore mobile point of sale software.

Tablet Rollout Helps TGI Fridays Streamline Orders and Improve Customer Service
TGI Fridays Inc., in relationship with Microsoft Corp., is transforming its guests’ experience by equipping servers with 8-inch tablets so they can quickly and accurately process orders and payments while at the table. Using the new Fridays Service Style technology powered by Windows 8.1, servers can carry their tablets from table to table to take orders and respond promptly to guest requests.

NEC Showcases Integrated POS with Biometric-enabled Solutions
NEC Corporation of America (NEC) has announced the debut of its retail Stanchion® 3.0 solution, which integrates hardware, software and services to enable store managers and staff greater access to data, improved communications and increased productivity within their store environments. The scalable and customizable solution helps retail employees collect real-time data and make ordering, forecasting and operational decisions more streamlined and quickly from the store floor. This type of approach can help retailers deliver a better customer experience to today's increasingly tech-savvy consumers and react to market changes at enterprise and hyper-local levels.

Hardee's Pilots Self-Order Kiosks to Offer Personalized Experience
Microsoft Corp. and CKE Restaurants Inc. (parent company of Hardee’s® and Carl’s Jr.®) showcased a self-order kiosk solution running on Windows 8 devices that enables Hardee’s customers to customize and place their own orders. The Dell Optiplex 3030 All-in-One devices are currently deployed as a pilot test in 30 restaurants, including a newly redesigned kiosk-featured restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee. As part of its pilot, Hardee’s will continue to roll out kiosks to additional restaurants in the next few months.

Shift4 Delivers EMV Functionality with Tokenization and Encryption to Prevent Breaches
Shift4 Corporation has brought together a trio of mature solutions that will provide true security against breaches, simplify PCI compliance efforts, and ensure retailers are ready for EMV well in advance of the October liability shift date. Shift4 is working with leading device manufacturers Ingenico and Verifone to provide EMV-capable devices that also allow for these additional security measures.

McDonald's Enhances Customer Experience & Lowers Business Costs with Digital Menu Boards Across 650+ Locations
McDonald’s is deploying Digital Menu Boards to an additional 650+ company-owned restaurants. The new Digital Menu Boards are designed to enhance customer’s in-restaurant experience while helping the business lower operating costs and digitally deliver content for menu options and promotions to McDonald’s restaurants. AT&T* has collaborated with STRATACACHE and LG Electronics to provide a completely integrated solution with the Digital Menu Boards.

NRF Opposes Supreme Court Decision on Swipe Fees
The National Retail Federation has expressed disappointment at the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement that it would not review an appellate court ruling on whether the Federal Reserve set a 2011 cap on debit card swipe fees higher than the level sought by Congress in legislation passed the year before.

EAT24 Launches its Own Competitor with New App
EAT24, the app for ordering food online, has announced it's releasing a new food delivery app called HANGRY. Similar to the EAT24 app, HANGRY facilitates online ordering but with one crucial difference: Rather than display a long list of restaurant and food options, the HANGRY app randomly chooses a restaurant and generates an order for the user, like food roulette.
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