Press Release

Global electronic point-of-sale market recovering: Study

September 27, 2010

The market for programmable electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) terminals was adversely affected by the economic recession in 2009, but market recovery has already begun in many areas and is expected to continue steadily over the next few years, according to the 2010 edition of the annual Global EPOS and Self-Checkout study from RBR, a United Kingdom-based research house and consultant to the retail banking industry.

RBR said it found that the number of EPOS terminals shipped worldwide fell by nearly a quarter to 1.2 million between 2008 and 2009. While the recession had a worldwide impact, it was felt most keenly in North America, which saw a 40 percent decline in programmable EPOS shipments in 2009 and fell from being the world’s largest region for shipments in 2008 to the third largest.

RBR’s research shows that total expenditure on programmable EPOS hardware and maintenance services also fell in 2009. Price erosion for programmable EPOS reflects increased commoditization, led by competition from “lower-cost” vendors based in markets such as China and Taiwan.

Many of North America’s major retailers and hospitality operators abandoned or scaled back on new outlet openings and many also postponed terminal replacements, the latter having a greater impact on the market in absolute terms. Nevertheless, there are already signs that such trends are reversing, according to RBR.

Other regions fared better. For example, EPOS shipment numbers to the Asia-Pacific region more or less stabilized in 2009. China was almost single-handedly responsible for keeping shipment numbers to the region steady. Indeed, some domestic Chinese EPOS vendors claim not to have suffered any tangible effects from the economic crisis at all during the year. Shipments to the country actually grew in 2009 by 17 percent and going forward China promises to be the powerhouse behind EPOS market growth in the region. India, too, has excellent growth prospects.

On a global level IBM, NCR, Wincor Nixdorf and Toshiba TEC are the largest programmable EPOS terminal manufacturers, both in terms of the number of shipments they delivered, and the size of their installed bases. These four vendors account for approximately half the world market for programmable EPOS terminals.

The report predicts that by 2015 global EPOS terminal shipments will exceed the two million, an increase of 70 percent on the 2009 figure.

In Asia Pacific, shipments are forecast to increase by 61 percent, while Western Europe and North America will grow by 43 percent and 103 percent respectively over the same period. In comparison, the market for EPOS shipments to the three smaller regions is likely to have doubled in size by 2015 compared to 2009.