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In a nod to merchants’ need for more favorable point-of-sale pricing as a way to counterbalance the decline in business many have incurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, cloud-based POS-services provider Sky Systemz has introduced the Sky Terminal.
Priced at $749, Sky Systemz’s contactless point-of-sale terminal features a merchant-facing screen in addition to one that faces the customer, but is intended to be a lower-priced alternative to similar hardware from Square Inc. and Fiserv Inc.’s Clover point-of-sale technology.
By comparison, a fully integrated POS terminal from Square lists at $799 and a full Clover Station POS system is $1,200. But hardware aside, Sky Systemz is also competing on transaction fees. Merchants are not locked into a monthly processing contract and pay a flat 2.5% per in-person transaction. Square charges 2.6% plus 10 cents for in-person transactions. Clover offers two pricing plans. Merchants in its Register Lite program pay 2.7% plus 10 cents and a $14 monthly fee, while merchants in its Register program pay 2.3% plus a dime and a $29 monthly fee for in-person transactions.
For card-not-present transactions, Sky Systemz charges 3.2% plus 15 cents, compared to 3.5% plus 15 cents for Square and 3.5% plus a dime for both Clover pricing plans.
“Having no contract, lower transaction fees, and a lower-cost terminal is important to merchants in this economic climate, especially those that have been fighting to keep their businesses open,” says Jenna Winzenburg, marketing manager for Lexington, Ky.-based Sky Systemz.
The Sky Systemz device includes business-management software that enables merchants to invoice customers and manage inventory, among other tasks, at no additional cost.
The inclusion of business-management software, on top of low pricing, is expected to make Sky Systemz’s terminal attractive to merchants, experts say.
“Value-added services are increasingly important as small business owners are short of both time and capital, so anything that can lessen the workload and simplify processes is a benefit,” Thad Peterson, a senior analyst at Aite Group, a Boston-based research firm, says by email. “Price sensitivity is just one component in a decision for a POS system, but the package that they’re offering, low-cost terminal and low-cost transactions, should be competitive.”
