Moniepoint mirrors Jack-Dorsey’s Square with new POS

Moniepoint is testing an all-in-one point-of-sale (POS) terminal that combines payment processing, inventory management, and transaction reconciliation. The product is a result of Moniepoint’s December 2023 acquisition of Grocel, a fintech company that focused on inventory management solutions. The acquisition allowed Moniepoint to retain Grocel’s team, which has been working on integrating business management capabilities into Moniepoint’s POS terminals.

Many physical stores commonly use POS devices for card payments and money transfers. However, Moniepoint’s new POS will manage the entire gamut of business processes for enterprises of all sizes and aims to replace the existing approach. Currently, businesses use separate methods or technologies for bookkeeping and inventory management, creating a theft and error-prone analogue nightmare.

“It is pretty much like the roadmap of Square,[ a payment company in the U.S. that provides retail management POS devices],” said one Moniepoint executive who asked not to be named discussing a product under development. The only difference is that it is “more rugged,” the person said, adding that roadside vendors can use the device.

Moniepoint will use distribution as its competitive advantage in a space where startups like Mira already provide all-in-one POS devices and terminals to retailers. The fintech unicorn has over 800,000 POS terminals in circulation and 2 million enterprise users to whom it will market the new device before the end of the quarter.

Despite a billion-dollar valuation, success in new product lines isn’t always guaranteed.

The CEO of Mira, Ted Oladele, suggests that fintechs entering the space might be limited by their focus on payments. “Businesses have peculiarities and established fintech startups may not have the appetite to build individual modules to meet unique business needs,” Oladele added.

Furthermore,  all-in-one POS solutions must be adaptable to cater to the diverse needs of complex businesses, especially in industries like retail and food service, where each business has peculiar needs.  For example, while handheld POS terminals offer convenience for tableside ordering in restaurants, many establishments also require kitchen display systems (KDS) for a centralised overview of orders, tables, and operations.  An established fintech may find the work required to meet these unique needs a distraction to its main business.

It’s exciting to see more startups entering the market, as this creates new opportunities,” Oladele said.

The idea of an all-in-one solution for enterprise users is not new. In 2023, fintech startup Nomba launched Nomba MAX, a POS device that combined payment processing with inventory management for restaurants—features that enable them to connect their transactions to payments directly.

There are also global examples: Stripe, the parent company of Paystack, provides restaurants with POS solutions that go beyond basic payment processing. These solutions enable businesses to document sales, automate reconciliation, manage both dine-in and online orders, integrate with logistics companies, and more.

Customising point-of-sale hardware to meet specific business needs is a powerful retention strategy. It gives enterprise customers compelling reasons to stay with a fintech company and attracts new users who were previously underserved by existing solutions. By empowering businesses to grow their businesses by streamlining operations and enhancing customer experiences, Moniepoint can increase payment processing volume on their platforms, which translates to increased revenue through transaction fees.