How AXIUM EX2 Helps Acquirers, ISVs, and PSPs Serve the SMB Market

AXIUM EX2 gives acquirers, ISVs, and PSPs a device for serving the evolving SMB market, helping simplify payment estates, strengthen merchant relationships, and expand value-added service opportunities. The key is secure, flexible, future-ready Android technology that adapts to the rapidly evolving retail space. 

Acquiring banks, independent software vendors (ISVs), and payment service providers (PSPs) are facing a big ask from small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs): payment terminals that support both business applications and payments and that deliver powerful processing, reliability, and security in a compact and cost-effective form factor.

SMB merchants aren’t making that request lightly. They’re operating in an increasingly complex environment, where rising costs, labor shortages, and heightened customer expectations for fast, convenient, personalized payment experiences are commonplace. Furthermore, merchants don’t see the logic of a standalone payment terminal for card acceptance, another for the POS system, and possibly another to run business applications. They are looking for a solution running on a single device that can provide all the features and services they need to optimize customer experiences, such as digital receipts, loyalty recognition and rewards, inventory management, and customer engagement.

Mobility has also risen in priority, as SMB merchants seize opportunities to sell in pop-up locations, offer curbside service, take payments on delivery, and provide convenient, on-the-spot service in the store. However, with limited IT resources on their payrolls, they also need payment technology that’s easy to deploy and manage. 

Legacy point of sale (POS) and payment solutions simply don’t meet SMB retailers’ needs. Many use aging hardware that becomes outdated too quickly, has limited application support, and is difficult to adapt to new use cases. Merchants also lack visibility into their payment device estates, so they cannot address issues proactively and prevent unexpected downtime. They are turning to their payment solution providers for answers. 

How Acquiring Banks, ISVs, and PSPs Can Serve Diverse SMB Merchants’ Needs

To meet their SMB merchants’ needs, acquirers, ISVs, and PSPs serving the SMB market need flexible solutions that scale across different markets without creating complexity for their own operations. A small café, retail chain, delivery company, and pop-up shop have different requirements for the payments and business applications that keep their businesses running. Offering a versatile, comprehensive platform that supports a wide range of merchant segments, while delivering ease of use, security, and reliability, helps to meet SMBs’ needs while reducing portfolio fragmentation. 

The need for versatile payment solutions is one of the reasons that the migration to Android-based payment platforms has accelerated. Open Android enables integrated commerce experiences in which payments, loyalty, customer engagement, inventory management, and other business applications work together. Additionally, a modern Android platform, in combination with the latest in-device technology, sets the stage for AI integration into payments, driving the next generation of payment experiences with intelligent security, automation, and customer engagement. 

Finding a reliable payment solution that integrates with all the applications and value-added services SMB merchants need can help banks, ISVs, and PSPS build merchant retention and reduce the likelihood of competitive replacement. 

Why Ingenico Developed the AXIUM EX2

To give partners a solution that meets SMB demands for a compact, high-performance Android payment terminal that combines mobility, security, and long-term investment protection, Ingenico developed the AXIUM EX2.

Top design priorities for the AXIUM EX2 were:

• A device that is built to last

• The latest PCI PTS v7 standards for long-term compliance
• Android 14 OS, upgradable in the field
• Enhanced processing power and expanded memory capacity
• Deployment ease
• Compact and ergonomic design
• Flexible connectivity options
• AI-ready 
• Adaptability across multiple merchant environments 

While all of those features are resonating with SMB markets, the feature that immediately captures decision-makers' attention is the compact form factor. AXIUM EX2 is smaller than an iPhone 10, while accepting the full range of payment types, supporting business applications, adapting to evolving security requirements, and, with field OS upgradability, delivering a long deployment life. 

Another of AXIUM EX2’s key differentiators is that it supports multiple deployment models from a single platform. Docking options allow the same device to transition between mobile and semi-attended countertop environments. This gives SMB merchants greater operational efficiency and reduces employee cross-training requirements for cashiers, mobile sales, associates, or delivery drivers. 

The payment device is particularly well-suited to small and medium-sized merchants that value mobility, flexibility, and access to modern business applications, such as retail, hospitality, field services, transportation, carrier services, healthcare, and pop-up stores. 

Next-Gen AXIUM EX2 builds upon the success of Ingenico’s LINK/2500 LE Series and the AXIUM EX4000 to address market demands for a powerful, compact, flexible, future-ready device.

The Business Benefits of the AXIUM EX2 for Acquirers and Partners

Although Ingenico developed AXIUM EX2 to solve the problem of meeting SMB demands for a modern payment device, Ingenico also set a goal of designing a device that would benefit banks and other Ingenico partner businesses in these four key ways:

1. Enables standardizing on one flexible device

Versatile AXIUM EX2 reduces the number of specialized devices necessary to meet the diverse needs of the SMB market. A more standardized hardware platform means simplified procurement, certification, deployment, inventory management, support, and estate lifecycle planning. 

2. Strengthens merchant retention

By supporting business applications, enhanced services, and flexible deployment models, banks and other Ingenico partners can build deeper merchant relationships and reduce churn. 

3. Supports selling deeper into merchant accounts 

The AXIUM EX2’s Android-based architecture, and the new Developer Experience which is part of the Ingenico 360 cloud platform creates opportunities for a broad range of value-added services, including loyalty, digital rewards, business applications, analytics, and customer engagement solutions. Partners can create new revenue streams while helping merchants operate more effectively. 

4. Empowers partners with agility 

Merchant needs continually evolve. The adaptable AXIUM EX2 allows partners to respond without entirely replacing hardware. It helps merchants protect their investments and allows partners to meet demands for new capabilities as needs change. 

Is It Time to Refresh Your Payment Estate? 

Although acquirers, ISVs, and PSPs need to meet SMB’s demands for versatile payment solutions today, organizations should look beyond immediate requirements and evaluate how their payment solution can support future business needs. Choosing a secure, Android-based platform with strong performance and deployment flexibility can help extend device longevity, simplify operations, and unlock new opportunities for payment innovation in the future. 

AXIUM EX2 delivers enterprise-grade security, Android-powered flexibility, and versatile deployment options in a compact, future-ready platform that helps merchants and acquirers grow with confidence. Contact Ingenico to learn how adding the AXIUM EX2 to your portfolio can benefit your business. 

Learn More About AXIUM EX2 here.