Mobile Point-of-Sale: Bringing Transactions Wherever Business Happens

Today's customers expect convenient service, shorter wait times, and flexible ways to complete transactions. Mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) helps businesses meet those expectations by allowing employees to process transactions using mobile devices instead of relying exclusively on stationary checkout terminals.

With compatible rugged tablets, MSR readers, and NFC capabilities, businesses can bring payment and identification workflows directly to the customer, whether on a retail sales floor, at a restaurant table, onboard a cruise ship, or at a customer's location.

Why Mobile POS Matters

A mobile POS solution can help businesses:

• Serve customers wherever they are — Bring checkout directly to the sales floor, table, event space, or service location.
• Reduce checkout bottlenecks — Add flexible payment options during busy periods without relying solely on fixed registers.
• Support multiple transaction methods — Use compatible MSR readers and NFC technology for different card-reading and contactless workflows.
• Simplify employee workflows — Combine payment processing with barcode scanning, product information, and other business applications.
• Enable convenient identification and access — Support NFC-based credential interactions for applications such as employee authentication and controlled access.
• Support demanding environments — Equip employees with rugged tablets designed for everyday business use.

Which Industries Can Benefit from Mobile POS?

Mobile POS can support a wide range of industries where employees need flexible payment, identification, or access capabilities. 

Retail

Help customers on the sales floor, reduce lines, and provide additional checkout options. Associates can use compatible tablets with MSR readers to support card-reading workflows and combine transactions with barcode scanning.

Restaurants and Hospitality

Bring payment capabilities to dining areas, service counters, and other locations throughout a property. NFC-enabled workflows can also support compatible guest credentials, room cards, or account-based services when integrated with the appropriate systems.

Cruise Lines and Resorts

Support transactions and guest services across retail shops, dining areas, and onboard or resort amenities. NFC credentials, such as compatible cruise cards or resort cards, can potentially support account identification and access workflows. With the right system integration, businesses can also support charging eligible purchases to a guest's account.

Casinos and Gaming

Support payment workflows across retail, hospitality, and guest services. NFC credentials can also be incorporated into authorized access-control applications, such as verifying eligibility for VIP areas or exclusive entertainment spaces.

Entertainment and Events

Provide flexible checkout options at concerts, festivals, sporting events, and other venues. Compatible NFC credentials may also support identification or entry workflows for designated areas, depending on the venue's access-control system.

Car Washes

Support transactions at service lanes, entrance points, and other designated locations. Mobile POS can help employees manage payment workflows while keeping the customer experience moving.

Field Service

Allow technicians and mobile service teams to collect payments at a customer's location. Compatible MSR and payment devices can help connect the service experience with the transaction, while NFC may support additional identification workflows where appropriate.

MSR and NFC: Supporting Different Mobile Workflows

 MSR and NFC can both extend a rugged tablet's capabilities, but they serve different purposes. Selecting the right technology depends on the payment hardware, applications, and business systems involved. 

MSR and Payment Readers

Magnetic-stripe readers (MSRs) provide a way to read compatible magnetic-stripe cards. MobileDemand offers MSR and payment-device options from providers including Ingenico, Verifone, and MagTek.

These solutions can support mobile POS applications where employees need to read cards and process transactions through compatible payment systems.

Potential applications include:

• Retail checkout and line-busting.
• Hospitality and tableside transactions.
• Mobile payment workflows in field service.
• Card-reading applications involving compatible room or guest cards.

Reading a card does not automatically authorize a payment or charge it to an account. The payment device, application, and backend system must support the intended transaction.

NFC: Contactless Identification and Interaction

Near-field communication (NFC) enables compatible devices and credentials to communicate over a short distance. Depending on the hardware and software, NFC can support contactless identification, authentication, and other credential-based workflows.

For hospitality, cruise lines, and resorts, NFC can be particularly useful when incorporated into systems that use guest credentials.

Potential applications include:

• Tap-to-identify: Guests tap a compatible phone, card, wristband, cruise card, or resort card to identify themselves within a supported system.
• Charge-to-account workflows: NFC credentials can be used to identify a guest or account so an integrated system can associate an eligible purchase with that account.
• Access control: Verify compatible credentials as part of an access-control system for designated areas, VIP experiences, or exclusive entertainment.
• Employee authentication: Support credential-based identification and authentication for approved applications.

NFC itself does not determine account permissions, authorize charges, or grant access. Those functions depend on the connected software, credential system, and business rules.

MobileDemand Rugged Tablets and Compatible Add-Ons

 MobileDemand offers rugged tablets that can be configured with compatible MSR, payment, and NFC capabilities to support mobile workflows. 

MSR and Payment Device Compatibility

NFC Compatible Tablets

• xTablet Flex 10D
• xTablet Flex 12C
• Forge L5
• Forge X11
• Microsoft Surface Pro
• xTablet T1175
• xTablet T1195
• xTablet T8655

 Compatibility varies by tablet, accessory, and configuration. Confirm the selected hardware and software support your intended payment, credential, or access-control application. 

Explore our tablet accessories and add-on capabilities to learn more.

Build a Mobile POS Solution Around Your Business

From MSR-based card-reading workflows to NFC-enabled identification and access applications, mobile technology gives businesses more flexibility in how they serve customers and support employees.

Pairing a compatible rugged tablet with the appropriate payment devices, NFC capabilities, and software can help organizations create a solution tailored to their environment - whether that's a retail sales floor, hospitality property, cruise ship, entertainment venue, or field service operation.

Ready to explore your options? Contact MobileDemand to discuss compatible rugged tablets, MSR and payment accessories, NFC capabilities, and mobile POS configurations for your business.