Mobile card reader is an external hardware device that can be connected to a tablet or smartphones, for accepting payments from debit or credit cards, principally turning the smartphone into mPOS terminal. Growing digitization and increasing use of plastic money for transactions is expected to be the most prominent driver for the global mobile card reader market over the forecast period.

Ability to accept plastic money on the go is the prominent trend that will drive the global mobile card reader market growth

Large number of micro, small and medium enterprises are emerging across the globe, specifically in the emerging economies. According to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, around 97% of the enterprises in the APEC regions were small and medium enterprises, as in December 2013. Moreover, most of the small businesses that include startups, restaurants, and freelancers among many others, are increasingly driven towards these solutions owing to consumer tendency of making the payment through cards. ‘Cash only’ sign boards have become the most demotivating factor for consumers. This trending digitization of cash transactions through the use of plastic money is expected to prominently drive the demands for mobile card reader market through the forecast period.

Global Mobile Card Reader Market Taxonomy

On the basis of technology, the global mobile card reader market is classified into:

Magnetic stripe

Chip and PIN

Near field communication

On the basis of end users, the global mobile card reader market is classified into:

Micro and small enterprises

Medium enterprises

Large enterprises

Others

On the basis of regions, the global mobile card reader market is classified into:

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East

Africa

Growing ecommerce transactions will present strong growth prospects

Growth in penetration and adoption smartphones and other portable devices has led to considerable paradigm shift from website based revenue models to mobile app based models. According to Coherent Market Insights analysis, around 60% of the consumers utilize these portable devices for shopping and accessing other forms of on demand services, and also complete transaction through these devices. Considerable growth in revenue generation for ecommerce businesses through advent of consumer friendly payment methods is projected to drive the demands for mobile card reader market. Chief e-commerce industry participants in India that include Flipkart and Amazon among many others have already started accepting payment through these channels.

Growing concerns relating to security breach and loss of personal information is expected to hinder the growth of the global mobile card reader market

Increasing number of fraudulent activities and security breaches over the past few years has led to major concerns for people’s personal information and credentials security. Moreover, the technology is in its nascent adoption stage and the consumer confidence for adoption of the technology is relatively low in comparison to other payment means. Inadvertently, presence of large number of cash based economies that includes Mexico, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt among many others, will also present considerable growth challenge over the next few years.

U.S. held the largest mobile card reader market share in 2018

U.S. is expected to continue its industry share dominance over the next few years primarily owing to the government initiatives and increased consumer inclinations towards secure card transaction technologies. U.S. government agencies had begun the shift to the PIN EMV and chip payment standards in January 2015, as per the mandating by presidential executive order. Asia Pacific is expected to witness highest growth rates over the forecast period owing to the growing digitization and the increasing number of transactions through smart devices. In India, Digital India campaign (in July 2015) and Indian banknote demonetization (in November 2016) by the government had led to significant increase in demands for e-transaction. Such initiatives will also provide considerable growth opportunities for card readers over the next few years.

Global Mobile Card Reader Market: Key Players

The Key players in the global mobile card reader market include Electronic Merchant Systems, eWAY, Ezetap, Ingenico, JUSP, LifePay, Mswipe, Miura Systems, PayAnywhere, payleven, PayPal, Square, SumUp, and Verifone. Industry is expected to witness large number of strategic initiatives to enhance the security and functionality of their offerings. For instance, in June 2017, Barclays announced a launch of its new readers and improved visibility debit card to increasingly cater the disabled and old customers.

Global Mobile Card Reader Market: Key Developments