AI-Ready Payment Terminals: Prepare for the Future of the Point of Sale

AI-ready payment terminals enable advanced capabilities at the point of sale. They can support conversational assistance, operational analytics, contextual recommendations, and vision-enabled services. To achieve experiences enhanced with these benefits, retailers need to use a hybrid system of edge and cloud computing with the payment terminal as the interaction point.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the verge of revolutionizing commerce. It has the potential to increase efficiency and automate routine tasks so employees can focus on meeting customer expectations and increasing revenue. AI also empowers retailers to personalize service, using customer data to make relevant offers, remember customer preferences, and enhance security. However, for AI to deliver those benefits, retailers need the right technology solutions. AI-ready payment terminals allow retailers to bring intelligence to interactions at the point of sale.

The Evolving Role of the Payment Terminal

Competitive retailers know that payment terminals provide more value when they’re more than a transaction endpoint. Payment devices, particularly Android payment terminals, that allow retailers to run business applications in addition to payments software, can be effective customer engagement tools. When the payment terminal is a connected interaction point, it helps retailers meet today’s digital-first customers’ expectations, build loyalty, and increase sales.

What AI-Ready Payment Terminals Can Do that Traditional Devices Can’t

Modern payment terminals can securely interact with digital services, including external AI solutions, which allow retailers to transform the point of sale with:

Conversational Assistance

Generative AI allows customers to use voice input instead of using a keypad or touchscreen. AI can respond by guiding customers through transactions, answering questions, and even upselling. This feature adds convenience and makes interactions more natural for any customer. However, it is a game-changer for consumers with visual impairments or other disabilities that make traditional inputs difficult.

Operational Analytics

AI-ready payment terminals allow retailers to use services that analyze data and inform operational decision-making in real time. With data from the point of sale, analysis can help predict customer behaviors, forecast sales, make pricing decisions, and optimize schedules.

Contextual Recommendations

Retail AI solutions can recognize customers based on their payment methods or loyalty data and use that information to access and analyze their shopping histories. Processing that data in real time allows retailers to tailor interactions to each customer, removing friction for faster checkout, even when the customer needs to confirm proof of age, claim a discount, or accrue loyalty rewards.

Vision-Enabled Service

Machine vision allows point of sale systems to see and respond to activity at the checkout. For example, machine vision can detect if someone is looking over a customer’s shoulder during PIN entry and go dark until the customer has privacy again. An AI-ready payment terminal can also work with machine vision services to optimize payment flows in addition to increasing security.

Making AI Work at the Point of Sale

To create an instant response at the point of sale, retailers need to adapt how they process data. The best model leverages both edge and cloud computing:

Edge Computing

Edge computing processes data at the source, reducing latency that can occur when data flows to and from the cloud. With real-time processing at the edge, retailers can personalize interactions with no delays.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing allows retailers to use advanced services rather than being limited by what their on-site infrastructure can support. Cloud gives retailers a wide range of options for enhancing customer experiences at a more affordable cost than hosting on-premises and the flexibility to adapt and scale with a changing industry.

Overall, the cloud allows retailers to use AI services, and edge computing delivers no-delay user engagements at the point of sale. Combining both types of data processing gives retailers the freedom to create unique user experiences with seamless responses.

Next-Gen AXIUM Terminals Are AI-Ready, Now

Ingenico is leading the industry in AI-ready payment terminals. Next-Gen AXIUM terminals integrate with cloud-based AI services and enable data processing at the edge. With AXIUM AI-ready terminals, retailers don’t need specialized hardware like embedded GPUs or neural processors. The terminal functions as the interaction point to connect with cloud services like advanced analytics or generative AI. Additionally, some hardware configurations can support lightweight AI processing for time-sensitive tasks.

The Outlook for AI at the Point of Sale

Research confirms that retailers are adopting AI. NVIDIA research shows that about 90% of retailers are using AI or actively evaluating solutions, 87% see or predict a positive impact on revenues, and 94% expect a reduction in operating costs. AI-ready payment terminals make a connected point of interaction and bring the benefits of intelligent engagement to customer experiences.

Learn more about integrating AI in the point of sale and Ingenico Next-Gen AXIUM payment terminals in our ebook, Next-Gen AI: Preparing the Point of Sale for AI. Download now!