Small Biz POS News Roundup: Clover, Nav, Square and More

Small businesses are being impacted by a constant state of change in the point-of-sale (POS) industry, with new products, partnership and acquisitions announced on an almost daily basis. Here are a few of the key POS news items affecting SMBs over the past couple of weeks.

Clover and Nav

Clover and Nav this week announced a partnership to provide U.S.-based Clover users with free access to their Experian Intelliscore Plus v2 and Dun & Bradstreet PAYDEX business credit scores via a Nav widget on their point-of-sale dashboard.

Users will also be provided with 24/7 business credit monitoring with alerts and comprehensive credit health reports, along with access to over 110 financing and credit card options, including SBA and long-term loans, lines of credit, invoice financing and medical practice loans.

“This partnership is an industry first, and instrumental to closing the knowledge gap related to business credit and financing,” Nav CEO and co-founder Levi King said in a statement.

“When small business owners have easier access to their data and finance options, they are more likely to succeed, making this a mutually beneficial partnership for our companies and merchants,” King added.

Square Terminal

Square last week launched Square Terminal, a new integrated solution designed to provide small businesses with an all-in-one solution to replace legacy payment terminals.

The company calls it “the best solution for businesses that use their own point-of-sale solution or manually key in a payment amount,” with a flat rate of 2.6 percent plus 10 cents for every transaction regardless of card type.

“Payment terminals are everywhere, from liquor stores to dry cleaners to dentists, and with Square Terminal we can now serve these sellers better with new, elegant hardware on top of Square’s fair and secure payments service,” Square head of hardware Jesse Dorogusker said in a statement.

“Square Terminal is designed from the ground up to ensure a feeling of familiarity, so sellers and their customers can use it right away,” Dorogusker added.

The device retails for $399, but it’s available to new Square users for $99 after a $300 processing credit.

NCR Buys JetPay

NCR this week announced a definitive agreement to acquire the end-to-end payment processing provider JetPay. The deal will enable NCR to integrate a cloud-based payments platform into its POS solutions for the retail and hospitality industries.

IDC research director for worldwide payment strategies Rivka Gewirtz Little said the deal reflects a larger trend of consolidation in the payments ecosystem. “This acquisition allows NCR to couple stickier, feature-rich POS and payment acceptance applications with payment processing,” she said.

“Additionally, both NCR and JetPay have provided services to the SMB market where retailers are likely to be open for the adoption of a unified POS and payments processing offering,” Little said. “This consolidated offering means maintaining simpler relationships with fewer vendors without compromising on features.”

… and EMS Buys Total Touch

Similarly, Electronic Merchant Systems ( EMS) this week announced the acquisition of the hospitality point-of-sale solutions provider Total Touch POS. Total Touch will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of EMS, strengthening EMS’ offerings for the hospitality industry.

“By joining forces with EMS, we can fortify our software with the newest technology – equipping us to better serve the table and counter service segments of the restaurant industry,” Total Touch vice president Vince Becker said in a statement.

“We will continue to leverage Total Touch POS’ integrations (e.g. liquor control systems, online mobile ordering, tokenization of credit transactions and kiosks), while benefiting from EMS’ financial strength, payments expertise, and product offerings,” Becker added.

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