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Challenges Of POS Terminal Business In Nigeria And Possible Solutions

Challenges Of POS Terminal In Nigeria And Possible Solutions
POS business has become popular of recent because of the great role it's playing in relieving the stress of having to stand in ATM queues.
With your ATM cards, you easily visit any POS terminal around to withdraw at a little charge. As the POS terminal business is becoming popular, reports of failed transactions are increasing and posing challenges to the new business.
This issue of failure in some of the transactions is affecting the cashless policy being adapted by the Nigerian government and it's a major concern to the Nigerian Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

It is true that no business runs without challenges, but we as humans need to device means of combating our challenges. As a business owner or someone interested in venturing into the POS terminal business, you have to be aware of the situations so you'd know how to tackle them.

Why Nigerians Prefer POS Terminals To The ATMs

• Faulty ATMs

Nigerians are scared of losing their cards to the ATMs around, especially due to faulty machines. If you visit any ATM order than your banks own and your card gets stuck, the next step will be to head to your bank for a new one.
In the case of the POS, if your card gets rejected, you'll just have to visit any of your bank's branch around to ratify the issue.

• Fast withdrawal

Sometimes you'll have to join a queue of 100+ people in a regular ATM and before it reaches your turn,you must have been exhausted.
However in the case of the POS terminals, you might not meet more than 10 people in a busy day. This is because people still prefer the regular bank ATMs.

• Lower charges

If I say low charges, I mean if you're withdrawing something less than ₦5,000. An ATM will charge you ₦60 per transaction but a POS terminal will charge ₦50. The both charges are low but some people prefer the lower charges.
Also, when you'd have to board a taxi in order to withdraw from an ATM, using a POS terminal becomes a wise decision.

• Insufficient funds

This is popular among university students and you might have experienced it before. When you want to remove the last ₦1,000 in your account and the ATM will charge you ₦60, you simply have to go with ₦50 cash to a POS terminal and in a few minutes, you're money will be in your hands.

Problems Of POS Terminal Business In Nigeria

If you're aware of the challenges and problems facing POS terminal business in Nigeria, it'd help you in running your business successfully.
Some of the challenges include:

• Cost of POS machines

Many start-ups prefer going for cheaper tools instead of better ones. This is not so good and later affect the business progress in the long run.
Investing in a good POS machine will not only save you from inconveniences, but also prevent troubles that might be associated with the other.

• Network problems

This is not only experienced in the POS machines, nut also in the ATM terminals. Sometimes you'd see a long queue of individuals waiting for network to become clear so they can start withdrawing again.
This issue of faulty network can lead to delay in transactions or in worst cases, failure. As a POS agent, you'll need to go for a reliable provider.

• Delay in reversal of customers' monies

Sometime ago I went to a POS machine to withdraw some money. The transaction didn't go through but my bank debited me. I went to the bank, filed a complaint with expectations of getting the money back in 24 hours. To my greatest surprise, I had to wait for more than 2 weeks before it was finally reverted back to me.

This is similar to what many other Nigerians experience regularly. In the shopping malls and supermarkets, you'd occasionally hear complaints of people being debited in failed transactions. The bank should do something about this issue. Nobody is perfect and transactions might fail due to certain issues, but delaying in reverting the customers' money is unfair and should be stopped.

• Security issues

POS machines can easily be compromised and your customers' card details hacked. This is a serious crime and can land you in a police net even if you're innocent. In order to prevent this, you have to ensure that the agency you're buying the machine from provides anti-virus for your POS terminal.

Conclusion

POS terminals are helpful to us, but more improvements still need to be done to ensure the streamless flow of business transactions. The banks and the POS agents should all work together towards protecting the customers.
Banks should upgrade their system to suit the growing population and individuals should renew their cards when due. This will also help in combating the challenges.
Thanks for reading along,don't forget to drop us a comment and share with your friends. You can check out our next article on 5 profitable businesses you can start without capital in Nigeria.
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