The new generation of TPAs: what changes for traders and customers?

In recent years, new technologies and software have served as the basis for the development of a new generation of TPAs that promises a 180-degree change in the way retail payments are made and received.

From IBM 360 (1970), first TPA in historyThis was followed by the possibility for a business to accept payments on mobile POS (1977) and the first network of retailers equipped with automatic payment terminals in Portugal (1986), a lot has changed in the TPA universe over the years and a new revolution is on the horizon.

What defines the new generation of payment terminals (POS)?

The first word that can be associated with the new TPA technologies is undoubtedly, "personalisation"personalisation of the offer and types of payment that a business makes available to its customers.

Long gone are the days when being able to pay with a card was the pinnacle of evolution of payment terminals. Nowadays, however, there is a wide range of payment methods available to consumers, such as contactless card payments or fully digital payments through e-wallets or MB WAY.

This dematerialisation of payments goes hand in hand with the dematerialisation of payments themselves. Physical TPAsuch as REDUNIQ Softan app that allows you to turn your smartphone or tablet into a real Android POS able to accept NFC paymentscontactless or QR Code at virtually any time and any place.

In addition to the greater variety of transaction types, the new payment trends for merchants are characterised by the inclusion of mobile applications that make the POS not only an instrument for accepting transactions, but above all a real business management tool.

Benefits of the new TPAs for traders

The aim of developing new More mobile and digital TPAssuch as REDUNIQ Smart is, as you can see, to help retailers improve their business performance and customer service.

These advantages include:

• Acceptance of card payments (national and international) via chip, contactless, Google Pay, Apple Pay and MB WAY, QR Code and NFC;

• Access and visualisation of transactions carried out on the terminal screen;

• Offering management applications in line with the nature of your business;

• Possibility of making returns without the card being present;

• Sending the receipt and/or invoice to the customer's email address;

• Personalise the receipt according to the customer's needs;

• Sending the terminal's closing information by email or printout to facilitate the financial management of businesses via the terminal;

• Back-office for managing functionalities such as remote closing, returns, transaction history, etc.

• Accept payments anywhere, wherever your business is;

• Possibility of accessing the terminal from your smartphone or tablet;

• Access to a more digital service, without the need to print receipts, and therefore more sustainable;

• The monthly fee accompanies your business turnover;

• Customers can pay by card in their home currency with the service DCC - Currency Conversion and pay in interest-free instalments.

How do modern TPAs improve the customer experience?

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, the customer is at the centre of the development of new generation APTs.

By offering you a wide range of payment methods aligned with your needs and consumption habits, these terminals ensure that the entire payment experience is as comfortable, familiar, fast and simple as possible for the customer.

What's more, by offering applications that, among other things, enable, for example, the payment instalments of customer purchases in between 2 and 6 interest-free monthly instalments directly at your Payment Terminal or online via the solution Instalment plan with UNICREIn the case of a new business, they ensure better management of the customer's personal and financial life and offer them greater flexibility when it comes to paying for their purchases and even when it comes to asking for their money back.

More recently, these REDUNIQ terminals have been able to receive PIX payments, one of the most widely used payment methods in Brazil and which arrived in Portugal through partnership between UNICRE and Braza Bankto facilitate transactions for the more than one million Brazilian tourists who visit our country every year.

How to prepare your business for the new generation of TPAs?

To prepare your business for this new wave of automatic payment terminals, it's important to take several variables into account, such as

• the nature of your activity
• the level of monthly invoicing
• your customers' payment preferences
• security
• the costs you may or may not incur with the TPA

For example, if your business has a low monthly turnover, you can benefit from everything that a state-of-the-art POS can offer you.

With the REDUNIQ Easy, a payment terminal designed for seasonal or low turnover businessesWith a fixed monthly fee adjusted to the monthly turnover of your business, no commissions, loyalty period or minimum revenue, it allows you to accept credit and debit card payments (Visa, Mastercard brands) via PIN, Contactless and MB WAY.

You already have a very busy business, e.g. in the catering sectoror a veterinary clinic who makes house calls and is looking for a payment method that offers mobility, simplicity and management services that make your business easier, the solution could be the Android payment terminal – REDUNIQ Smart or by REDUNIQ Soft App which, as we have seen, turns your smartphone into a payment terminal completely mobile and literally digital.