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First Data Corp.’s Clover point-of-sale system now is available in a mobile version that enables merchants to roam their store aisles with the device.
Dubbed Clover Mobile, the service can be paired with the stationary Clover Station or used as a standalone service, First Data says. Like Clover Station, Clover Mobile also uses the Clover App Market where merchants find analytics, gift and loyalty apps from First Data and from other developers.
Clover Mobile includes a magnetic-stripe reader and chip-card reader for credit and debit cards that use the Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) standard. It also has a near-field communications (NFC) antenna to accept contactless payments, and a barcode scanner. A mobile printer also is available.
The ability for merchants to accept payments wherever the consumer is inside their stores is vital because many are combatting showrooming, which is what happens when consumers check out products using their smart phones in physical stores before buying them at a lower price from online merchants.
The brick-and-mortar merchant can turn the sales exchange in the aisle into a point-of-purchase action, potentially retaining a sale that otherwise might be lost.
First Data says Clover Mobile will be available globally in 2015 following ongoing tests.
Since launching Clover Station earlier this year, First Data says more than 26,000 units have been distributed.
