POS business is a successful business in locations where there are no banks and in metropolitan areas where there aren’t enough ATMs to match the demand for financial services. This includes areas where there aren’t enough banks in rural areas.
The industry of point-of-sale banking, also known as agent banking, is an expansion of the services that banks already provide in order to make it simpler for a wider variety of customers to obtain the things they require.
Customers are able to carry out a wide variety of financial dealings at any of today’s point-of-sale (POS) shops, which can be found on virtually every street corner in this day and age.
As a result of this factor, the point-of-sale (POS) market in Nigeria has developed into a well-liked and lucrative sector. As is the case with any new enterprise, everybody is excited to get involved in the action.
Have you given any thought to launching your own version of this company? Don’t worry; I’ll teach you all you need to know to run a profitable POS business from the ground up.
How the POS Machine Business Works
A POS agent is an independent contractor who works for a point-of-sale (POS) service provider like a bank or financial technology company.
A point-of-sale (POS) agent is not a bank employee. Instead, they work on their own as a retail channel that the bank provides. The agent keeps the cash on hand that is needed for transactions that result in bank fees.
Some of the services that POS businesses offer their customers are wire transfers, cash withdrawals, the sale of airtime, and the payment of bills for services like GOTV, DSTV, Startimes, PHCN, and others.
It is used in shops, offices, grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, restaurants, and many other places where people buy and sell things.
A customer can use a point-of-sale terminal to make cash withdrawals, fund transfers, bill payments, and even open new checking accounts.
A point-of-sale terminal lets an employee do any kind of cash transaction with a customer’s debit card. To start, it’s up to the customer to put their debit card into the POS terminal.
Before the customer comes in, the salesperson chooses the right transaction to do on the POS computer and puts in the right amount of money. The customer then puts in his or her four-digit personal identification number (PIN).
If the transaction is approved by the bank’s server, the GPRS network will print receipts for both the agent and the customer.
How to start a small POS business
If you meet the host bank’s requirements, starting a point-of-sale business is easy and can be done in as little as one to four weeks.
Startup Capital
How much money would it take to start up and run a POS business? Okay, let’s get straight to the point: there is no set minimum charge. How big you want your business to be will directly affect how much money you’ll need to start it up.
To get things going, you will need enough money to pay for both the machine and the money that customers pay you. There is a chance that starting a business could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000, which would include the money needed to buy a POS machine.
Strategic Location
A place is thought to be in a strategic position if it has a lot of people who need to do every day financial transactions.
Because there is less competition for customers’ attention in these places, they could be great places to start a business. These include small towns, college campuses, marketplaces, and places with few banks and ATMs.
Get a Shop
People will be able to use this as their local or closest financial institution. They will be able to do basic things like withdraw money, make payments, transfer money between banks, and so on.
Customers should be able to tell from the look of your storefront or kiosk that you run a point-of-sale (POS) business.
To do this, all you have to do is put up a small sign in front of your business to let people who are looking for a POS terminal from a long way away know where it is.
Because of how the business works, you have to deal with a lot of cash every day.
You want to make sure that your investment is safe, but you also don’t want your customers to be afraid of being robbed when they make a withdrawal, because you don’t want that fear to keep them from coming to you.
Stay away from places that have a bad reputation for having a lot of crime or frequent fights between different groups.
Get the POS Machine
In addition, this is one of the most essential responsibilities of the company. According to those knowledgeable in the subject, acquiring a point-of-sale system can be done in one of two ways: either through commercial banks or through other financial agencies.
The price of purchasing a POS machine differs depending on the issuing agent and the level of robustness or sophistication of the connection.
There are some criteria that need to be satisfied before a financial institution will provide a POS machine.
But, it is to your advantage to have an active account with any bank you end up going to, regardless of which bank you choose to approach.
The machine can be purchased for a relatively low price, and some banks will allow for payments to be made in installments if the prospective business owners cannot pay the full amount at once.
On the other hand, POS machines can also be obtained from other locations, such as microfinance institutions and mobile carrier companies.
Even while the commission could be quite enticing, you won’t make much money if your customers continue to have problems connecting to the network.
Do a significant amount of research before committing to working with any mobile money service provider.
Find out from residents in the area which operating systems they are currently using and how often they face outages.
You wish to steer clear of problems in which you are unable to confirm a transaction for a number of hours due to the absence of a network.
In the event that you have an emergency and need to get in touch with the support team, how easy is it to do so? How quickly are disagreements typically settled?
In the event that a transaction is unsuccessful, will you be required to make daily trips to their office for the next thirty days before a reversal can be handled, or will it be done immediately?
This is significant because even if the mistake was not made by your company, your customers will still hold you responsible for the way they were treated, not the company.
Hence, before making a decision, ensure that you have conducted an adequate amount of research to satisfy your needs.
You are in the business for money. Examine the fees and commissions that are associated with each of the available choices you have provided, and then pick the one that gives you the best overall deal.
Is POS business Profitable?
The point-of-sale (POS) business is very profitable. Most of the time, this is because people who live in rural areas and other small towns don’t have access to banks.
If you have a good site and have earned the trust of the locals, you might be able to make between $200 and $500 per day.
In the point-of-sale (POS) business, you can make a lot of money. It is a field that is growing quickly, so people who want to start their own business have been very interested in it.
A point-of-sale (POS) company is a great place to invest, especially for people who are just starting out in the job market and want to start their own small business.
Because point-of-sale (POS) systems have been around for a while and have proven to be very useful for businesses that want to make sure they get paid on time and correctly, it is a good idea to use one.
Because of the above, if you choose to run your business in this way, you won’t have any trouble getting customers or clients.
POS businesses make it possible for financial institutions to reach parts of the population they haven’t been able to reach before.
But the problems that agent banking services can solve are not limited to one. Customers leave Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) in large numbers because they have to wait for a long time and the network service isn’t always good. Because of this, customers look for other ways to get money or do business.
Also, it lets customers withdraw money right away, even if the nearest ATM is a long way away.
In other words, point-of-sale (POS) providers make it easier for customers to get the cash they need for a fee by charging the customers.
There is a lot of doubt about how profitable such a business could be. On the other hand, this company has a large and diverse customer base.
Anyone with a bank account who wants to do any kind of transaction can use this company. There is no doubt that this part of the economy is very profitable.
Even though point-of-sale (POS) agents are a retail channel that banks offer, they are not directly employed by banks. This means that they are in charge of the companies for which they work.
Here’s a list of all the ways that POS business owners can make money to show how profitable they can be and put to rest any doubts that people might have.
