Beware! Your Cards can be Hacked at ATMs and POS Terminals

With the recent reports of data breaches from ATMs involving over 3.5 million debit cards in India and banks rushing to block as many number of cards, warning bells should ring aloud for those who frequently flash their plastic cards anywhere and anytime to shop, specially at unauthenticated or unsecured point of sale or payment terminals.

The incident also threw open a serious debate on how far our ATMs and Point of Sale payment structures are safe when malware experts adopt all new techniques to export vital credit/debit card details from POS terminals to their far exist servers.

Though it is still not clear that how much money was siphoned off from card holders’ account and how banks are going to compensate customers, it is however, clear that debit and credit card holders can’t sit back and relax now.

Read full blog @Merinews.com

Stock Adequate POS Consumables to Avoid Checkout Fallouts

You own a retail store and have recently upgraded your point of sale or billing section with latest POS hardware and software to suit your business. Your customers are now happy to visit your (organized) store as they don’t need to spend hours and get frustrated as automated check-outs or manually-operated POS system can take care of scanning barcodes of goods, process payments and produce bills in just few seconds.

Modern technology helps retailers use mobile point of sale(mPOS) technology, which facilitates customers pay bills and take away goods from anywhere in the shop. These hand-held devices can produce instant bills like fixed Point of Sale printers but has great advantage due to its mobility factor and other features like Wi-fi and Cloud compatibility.

Read full blog here.

India to witness ten-fold rise in cashless transactions by 2020

With technology aiding the growth of retail industry, the global contactless transactions at Point of Sale (POS) through cards, mobiles and wearables will hit an all time high of $500 billion by 2017, and India whose cashless transactions currently valued at $50 billion will see a ten-fold increase by 2020, according to research reports.

Data obtained from Juniper Research has found that due to surge in contactless-enabled POS terminals across the globe which is aimed at giving customers improved shopping experience and easy check-outs, cashless transactions, which is currently at $321 billion, will surge to reach $500 billion next year.

Technology implementation has gone up globally and many card companies have obliged retailers’ demands by make POS terminals contactless-ready, said Juniper.

For example, financial services provider Visa has introduced 3.2 million terminals in Europe till April this year, which is 23 per cent more than 2.6 million terminals installed at the end of 2015, the report said.

In India, a recent report by Google India and Boston Consulting Group have predicted that by 2020, close to $500 billion worth transactions will happen electronically through e-wallets and other digital mode of payment systems, which is ten-fold increase from the present level. The driving force to wide-spread digital payment acceptance is due to sharp increase in the use of smart phones with internet connection and increase in demand for comfortable, easy and fast shopping, said the report.

The report titled “POS Terminals: Market Strategies and Segment Forecasts 2016-2021”, further said that while many countries still remain clueless about contactless payment system, several developing and developed nations are overwhelmingly using contactless payment terminals across all payment platforms.

The Juniper report has predicted that by 2020, two in every three POS terminals will be contactless enabled POS terminals paving the way for huge demand for such terminals and abundant opportunity for payment device manufacturers.

Contactless cards, the report said, will rule the major markets, and will represent one in every two payment cards issued by 2021, and smart phone and mobile-POS will witness 20 per cent of total retail POS transaction value. However, Juniper warned that despite the overwhelming growth of contactless payment market, the growth will be limited in some growing markets.

Nitin Bhas, the research author said, “This is primarily due to the less supply of POS contactless enabled POS terminals, and also that some potential markets like India and Germany are likely to remain cash-centric for few more years.”

Bhas predicts that Germany will remain cash-centric economy with around 57 per cent of in store transactions happening through cash, while in India still more than 90 per cent of retail transactions are happening through cash.

Written for JusTransact.com

MPOS can enhance your bakery business

If you are an experienced baker and running a single or chain of stores in a locality, you need to understand that just offering tasty, hand-made and fresh-baked items alone will not suffice to hold on to or improve the business, but should give immense importance to customer experience at your outlet for sustainability.

Modern customers generally go by the appearance and ease at which they could transact at Point Of Sale even during peak hours. So, it is essential that you take care of your shop’s inner and outer appearances besides improving the quality of the stuff you sell.

Technology has changed the bakery business for good. Therefore it is necessary that you adopt the right technology for your store which can automate many of your sundry/routine daily works which otherwise consume considerable man-hours and lead to errors, if performed manually. 

Read full article here.

Enrich Your Shopping Through Mobile Wallet

A new payment system in the name of ‘mobile wallet’ is gripping the new age shoppers across the world and in India, with huge penetration of smart phones and customers constantly looking for improved shopping experience, it’s no surprise that mobile wallets have become the most favoured payment option among customers, whether they pay at physical stores or on-the-go.

According to a recent survey by eMarketer, in the days to come, more consumers are likely to pull out their smart phones to pay for services and goods they receive from retailers.

Real full article here.

How to Find Perfect POS for your Business

Finding the right POS solution for a retail business can be tricky though we have several payment options available these days. If you don’t get right advice, you may end up losing money by investing in wrong and incompatible POS setup for your store.

Each POS system offers a set of distinct features. Before making a big decision, you should understand the big picture such as how it works, what it provides, how easy to execute, whether you get good after-sales support from the vendor, etc. Before you understand what makes each POS solution good or bad for your business, you need to pay attention to certain overarching points.

Read full article here

JusTransact Throws Open Online Bazaar for Indian POS Sector

Press Release

Chennai, October 5, 2016: After its successful launch of India’s first E-commerce online market place for Point of Sale (POS) technology - JusTransact.com, Millennium India has added yet another ‘first’ to its credit by unveiling country’s only online B2B portal for POS brands and distributors who can converge at one place to transact simultaneously.

Aimed at cutting down the huge supply chain losses faced by thousands of hardware and software POS products vendors across India and improve sales volume of Brands, JusTransact’s Partner Zone also aimed at ‘empowering’ small, medium and large enterprises across the nation by automating their business with affordable, scalable and world-class POS technology.

Commenting on the launch of JusTransact’s Partner Network (http://partner.justransact.com/), Bhaskar Venkatraman, Founder and CEO of jusTransact.com said: “JusTransact’s partner network throws open a unique opportunity for both POS brands and resellers who can communicate directly on a single platform, thereby cutting the supply chain losses in terms of time and money. Resellers can directly get POS products from manufacturers at much lower price and can hence pass on the cost benefit to their customers, who are predominantly small and medium retail businesses. For brands, they can find all buyers in one place and hence get great traction and growth. In short, it is a win-win condition for both brands and vendors.”

For partner network, jusTransact plays a pivotal role in connecting both POS brands across India and local vendors who can be either main/region-wise distributors, vendors, stockists, software service providers, or stores selling POS products to retail businesses.

Further listing the advantages of partner portal, Bhaskar, who is also one of the pioneers in introducing POS technology in India, said: “POS Manufacturers need not have to look for distributors for their products, but can simply register with us and sell their products. Their products can be seen only by registered vendors, who can order POS products with appropriate quantity instantly. To facilitate fast and reliable goods movement, we offer free logistics service. We pick, pack and ship to buyer’s address wherever they are.”

To make it attractive, jusTransact has kept registration ‘free’ for partners and also introduced JusMoney wallet where points are credited for every purchase which can be adjusted against the purchase value.

JusTransact currently deals with over 1000 POS products of more than 40 top brands including Epson, Honeywell, Toshiba, Posiflex, Godex, TVSE, Opticon, Casio, Bixolon, Zebra, Essae, to name a few.

Bhaskar expects that more POS brands will make use of Partner Network Zone and offer their products such as POS terminals, barcode scanners, barcode printers, automatic cash drawers, receipt printers, mobile POS, hand held terminals, etc at attractive prices to vendors, who otherwise get them from local distributors at much higher price. “The partner network will also help to speed up the automation process of India’s retail sector where more than one million traders are still following traditional transactional practices,” he said.

The Justransact partner network for POS will also create a level playing field as every vendor – from main distributors to local stockists – across India will get their goods at same price thereby avoiding unethical business practices, opined Bhaskar.

PR for: http://www.justransact.com/media/press-release/justransact-unveils-partner-network-zone-for-pos-vendors

PR Released through PR News Wire to Indian Media

In-Store Efficiency Key to Better Customer Experience

Despite the strong belief that the days of brick-and-mortar retailing are numbered, several studies show that people will continue to shop in physical outlets in the years to come though e-tailing has become the most favourable mode of shopping among young shoppers these days.

Fearing losing business, the real-world retailers are now forced to provide shoppers with optimized in-store facilities to match with online shopping sites. Fortunately, retailers who run physical stores have innovative technologies available at their disposal to modernize their retail operations so that they can provide the best customer experience to outwit even the well known brands in their locality.

Read my full article at Justransact.com

Indian POS Terminal Market Sets for Makeover

Indian point of sale (POS) terminal market has grown up to worth INR 2.15 billion in 2015 and is poised to reach INR 3.86 billion by 2022 aided by unprecedented demand triggered by government’s move to open millions of bank accounts with ATM/debit/credit card facility, according to an analysis by the leading international research firm, Frost & Sullivan.

With government opening up banking sector to rural folks, India’s payment infrastructure is set to witness an explosive growth, and the country, which is presently the 13th largest plastic economy in the world, has a great potential to scale up the ranking as more retail businesses are being introduced to POS systems.

Read full blog @ JusTransact.com

How to Keep Your Customers Satisfied at POS

In today’s highly competitive and consumer-driven retail market, technology plays a crucial role in engaging with customers who wish to complete transaction across all possible channels as per their convenience.

Though quality, price and range are given importance for success of any retail business, data available from various research findings show that customers give high value on loyalty, in-store experience and quality of services.

Retailers are able to attract more customers while retaining existing customer base only when they promote customer experience at their stores and open up optimum POS channels for them to transact with elan.  Omni-channel POS technology, which has several advantages, can transform retailers’ operations and improve customers experience.

Read full blog here.

MedKart Asks Doctors to Shun Brands and Promote Generic Drugs

Ahmadabad, August 9, 2016:  Despite repeated assertions and directives by Medical Council of India (MCI) and government agencies to make doctors prescribe low-cost generic drugs to patients, the directives remain still on papers much to the chagrin of common man.

In the absence of stringent regulations, lack of awareness and misconception about using low-cost medicines, pharma companies are encouraged to connive with medical practitioners, both in government and private hospitals and clinics, to sell their brands to gullible patients at much higher prices.

“Thanks to the strong lobby by the influential multi-national drug companies, which account for over 90 per cent of drug distribution in India, supported by doctors and medical stores, generic medicines still remain a far-cry for the poor in India. High medicine cost and huge hospitalisation bills push many families into deep debt. In the absence of accountability and stringent regulations, doctors are at their own freewill to prescribe branded drugs, which cost much higher than generic drugs, to hapless patients, who have no option but to buy such medicines even if that means draining their lifetime savings,” rues Ankur Agarwal, CEO, MedKart Pharmacy, who has been spearheading a campaign to promote life-saving low-cost generic medicines in India.

The government recently came out strongly on doctors for taking patients for a ride by prescribing them costly medicines instead of low cost variants. The Chemicals and Fertilizers ministry is said to be in consultation with Health ministry to draw up a proposal to rein in on errant medicos who refuse to prescribe generic medicines, and pharmacists, who don’t stock low-cost generics.

Not all medicos flout MCI rules and help multi-national companies to fill their coffers, but unfortunately majority of them do. They should stop entertaining touts and medical reps around their workplaces and promote generic medicines for the welfare of patients. To bring defaulters to book, laws should be suitably amended to make it punishable if doctors write brand names instead of generics, with an exception to patented drugs, says Ankur.

Another problem the Indian generic market faces is people’s mind-set. As most of them are used to having branded medicines all along, they often find it uncomfortable to ask doctors to prescribe generic names.

“People hesitate to ask their physicians for generics instead of branded medicines, and doctors too, in general, don’t encourage such practice. However, the Constitution has given them the right to ask for generic medicines. Sadly, the awareness level among people on generics is abysmally low. For most of the patients, even among urban folks, ‘generics’ still remains an alien. It is time people understand their rights to demand low-cost medicines,” feels Ankur.

There is also a strong misconception among people that cheap generic medicines are ineffective and only branded and costly medicines are safe for consumption. However, it has been proved by studies, both in India and abroad, that generics are as effective and same in every aspect as compared to patented or branded counterparts promoted by pharma companies, explains Ankur.

Unfortunately, doctors and pharmaceutical companies capitalize this belief to promote their brands, which are sometime 10 times costlier than low-cost alternatives.

In plain terms, except for patented medicine, almost all branded medicines have generic alternatives available in the market. These medicines contain the same chemicals as of branded ones and are approved by appellate medical boards concerned for safety and health, explains Ankur, who appeals to the medical fraternity to come out in support of generic medicines for the welfare of poor patients.

About MedKart Pharmacy

Medkart Pharmacy is a leading generic medicine store which guides patients to get low-cost and quality generic alternatives from the best pharmaceutical companies following international quality standards. In the last 18 months alone, MedKart has helped over 35000 patients to save over Rs 8 crore by switching to generics. 

The purpose of launching Medkart was not just to spread the idea and availability of generic drugs among people but also ignite a campaign against doctors who are forcing patients to buy the prescribed branded medicines. Medkart, which has an exhaustive list of medicines, also offers online support to find the most authentic generic medicine with complete details.

Released through PR Newswire and published in major websites and print publications.

Choose the Right Receipt Printer for your Store

Every purchase in the retail outlets ends up with printing receipts at Point of Sale (POS). With hand-made bills becoming a passé, receipt printers play an important role in modern point of sale system.

Receipt printers are used by every retail business to print credit card bills or customer purchase receipts. Receipt printers can be found in varied industrial applications such as in textile showrooms, medical stores, kirana shops, super and hyper markets, hospitals, and food and beverage industry.  

In hotels for example, receipt printers are used to print orders at bar or kitchen. These printers are classified into three types viz. thermal, ink jet and dot matrix printers.

Read the full blog here.

Why do you need mobile POS for your restaurant

 Whether you own a brick-and-mortar eating joint, order and carry food court or any other eatery, having a perfect POS system can help you accept payment efficiently and quickly from customers wherever they are without making a beeline to cash counter.

Having a Mobile POS device can complement your traditional POS system and can give your customers an unforgettable dining experience in your restaurant. Mobile POS are simple to use, handy, cost efficient, trendy and holds host of features to simplify your business activities.

So, what is mobile POS?

Mobile POS or mPOS devices look similar to your smart phones or tablets but are programmed in such a way that it act as individual POS terminals doing all the works of traditional billing devices and can be carried to any part of the restaurant or business places for instant and secured transaction.

Read full blog here.

Bixolon Provides Cutting-edge Technology for Businesses in India, says Anton Jebadurai

Bixolon is the world leader in providing cutting-edge technology products to various industries with their application oriented devices. The technology giant from Korea has created a niche for itself in supplying world-class Mobile printers, Mobile POS devices, POS printers, Label printers, POS peripherals and accessories to leading manufacturers and retailers across the globe. 

Growing at a rapid pace in India, Bixolon has a huge catalogue of products to cater to Indian retailer and non-retailer community. C Anton Jebadurai, country Manager, Bixolon India speaks to JusTransact.com about company’s growth projection, future plans, product line-ups and speciality on mobile printers and their advantages. Excerpts…

You are one of the world’s leading POS & Mobile Printer brands. What are your plans for India?

We have been developing advanced Receipt, Label and Mobile Printers and maintaining our position as world leader in this segment. We have been chosen as world’s leading mobile printer brand by the leading research analyst Chunichisha for the last three consecutive years. We are extremely proud of this prestigious honor.

Read full Interview article here.

How POS Technology can Manage your Business

Relying solely on manpower without the help of technology for managing store operations is a daunting task for brands. To better manage and understand the challenges faced by franchisers, technology solution providers are being roped in to pace up store operations and reduce the hiccups encountered by manpower. 

Brands prefer to automate their operations and some of them even adopt SAP platform to manage complete store solutions. 

Commenting on adoption of modern technology at POS and in-store supported by suitable software solution, Bhaskar Venkatraman, Founder and Director of JusTransact.com, a leading e-commerce firm handling Point of Sale technology products for retail and non-retail industry in India, says: “To speed up the delivery cycles, process and customer satisfaction, brands use SAP technology to efficiently manage POS and in-store activities. In retail business, where too many sub-systems need to be merged and equated to get results, complex but simplifying process such as SAP brings together ledgers, sales, production, all in one line.”

Read full PR article here.

GST will Benefit India, Augur Economic Growth, feel Experts

The long awaited Goods and Service Tax (GST) has passed the last mile hurdle with country’s upper house of Parliament clearing the Bill on Wednesday, after much deliberations and amendments to appease the strong opposition. How does this tax reform going to benefit the retail sector which has been making a strident growth and become one of the fastest growing sectors? We asked a few industry veterans about the pros and cons of GST implementation. Excerpts…

Baskaramoorthy, VP Sales, Posiflex India: “End users might end up paying additional taxes if percentage of taxes under GST regime is increased from the current VAT level. However, it will help traders and manufacturers to leverage business across India with effective supply chain and distribution of products.  The biggest relief is that GST will do away with the current C-form and interstate forms which are presently collected at the end of each year.”

Bhaskar Venkatraman, Director, Millennium India, a veteran in Point of Sale technology in India: “GST in the present format is going to benefit the economy, businesses and consumers alike. As it is going to replace 17 indirect taxes, tax procedures will be more simple and transparent. 

Apart from pushing up tax revenues, the corruption at check posts and slow-movement of trucks will become the things of the past. Since calculation of tax is going to be uniform across all states, finance people will heave a sigh of relief as they no longer muddle with complex forms while dealing with inter-state goods movements.”

C Anton Jabadurai, Country Head, Bixolon India: “GST will facilitate the possibility of automation in tax calculation and goods processing, which will increase the requirement of POS hardware across India. Apart from smoothening the supply chain management, GST implementation will create a transparent tax regime across all states which will benefit both traders and end-customers. In the long run, the frequent price rise due to high transportation and warehousing cost will come down drastically.”

Anuj Puri – Chairman & Country Head, JLL India: “The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is the most essential taxation reform which is going to alter India’s economic prospects. Single taxation, covering all goods and services, is a welcome change. GST will eliminate cascading effect of taxes, and will boost tax collection while reducing overall taxation levels. However, post GST, the results will be evident only after two-three years from now.”

Slated to increase the country's GDP by one point, the GST era, which is going to unfurl from April 2017, will surely be the new chapter in India's tax history post Independence. How far it will benefit the country and common man, one has to wait and see.

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Indian Digital Shopping Bags to Worth $500 Billion by 2020

The phenomenal rise in smart phones usage coupled with internet penetration, availability of several easy payment options among banking and non-banking institutions through POS and positive changes in regulatory norms are increasingly driving Indians to adopt digital payment option, which is likely to worth a whopping $500 billion by 2020, according to a report.

A new study by internet giant Google and Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) pointed out that Asia’s third largest economy will witness its overall spend through digital means reaching a ten-fold rise to reach $500 million in four years from now, which is country’s 15% of current GDP.

“Aided by smart phone penetration and progressive regulatory policies, India’s digital payment industry is all set to witness a ten-fold increase by 2020. Top 100 million internet users having smart phones or otherwise, are likely to contribute 70 % of Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), which indicates the increasing trend of people preferring digital payment option,” says Rajan Anandan, Google’s vice-president for India and South-East Asia.

Experts believe that the trend will drive more POS machines like pos printers, barcode scanners, barcode printers, MSRs, Touch POS, tablet POS or mobile payment solutions such as mobile POS, etc., into retail sector, where more number of transactions happens through non-cash modes such as credit/debit cards, unified payment interface (UPI), mobile wallets, net-banking, cheques or demand drafts.

Read full PR article @ JusTransact.com

Media contact:

K Ramanathan

kr.iyar@gmail.com

Pharma-Doctors Nexus Denies Low-cost Medicine for Poor: MedKart

Ahmadabad, July 29, 2016: The unholy nexus between drug makers and doctors to prevent affordable generic medicines reaching poor is a blatant violation of Medical Council of India (MCI)’s directives and also against the Constitution, which guarantees citizen their right to access quality, safe and affordable medicines.

According to an MCI notification, all registered medical professionals in India should write the generic or chemical names of drugs in their prescriptions and not the brand names. But how many doctors in our neighbourhood follow this practice religiously?

Ankur Agarwal

“Medical practitioners, who are supposed to serve patients’ interests, are unfortunately aiding to fill the coffers of pharmaceutical companies who swamp their clinics and make doctors prescribe their costly drugs to gullible patients, denying them the cheaper generic alternatives. This leaves “no-medicine” for poor who can’t afford to buy branded drugs from chemists, who seldom keep generics owing to low demand and unprofitable margin,” says Ankur Agarwal, CEO of MedKart Pharmacy, which offers life-saving generic medicines to needy through physical and online outlets.

The exorbitant prices of branded medicines and non-availability of affordable generic alternatives force poor patients to go without medicines thereby risking their lives. The vicious cycle continues to haunt them every time they fall sick, as in India a good 26 per cent go below poverty line in every hospitalization, says Ankur.

There is, however, a silver lining in the otherwise dark side of the generic medicines market in India. People can still reach out to government health centres and hospitals to buy affordable medicines and treatment. But seeing the poor upkeep and quality of health services available across these places, people have no option but to depend on private clinics, hospitals or medical practitioners to get their illness treated. But, the branded medicines prescribed by doctors are out of bound for them who are invariably caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

However, there is an argument that even if doctors prescribe generic names, it is the pharmacists who are going to choose the medicine from a series of generic brands available with the same chemical formula. These drug stores can easily be influenced by manufacturers who want to popularize their version. Will this not put patients at serious health risk of getting substandard medicines?

Though agreeing the possibility of druggists getting influenced by pharma companies, Ankur argues that such possibility can be nullified with the improved awareness among people on generic drugs and doctors pitching in to ensure that the store representatives offer the right medicine with correct combination as majority of neighborhood drug stores are associated with the nearby clinics or hospitals.

The government should make suitable amendments in the existing laws to break the nexus between medical practitioners and drug makers, regulate druggists supplying generics and open up more Jan Aushadhi stores across India to provide low-cost and quality medicines to all, says Ankur, who has been spearheading a relentless campaign to spread the awareness on generic medicines among masses and medical fraternity.

According to an ASSOCHAM study, the domestic generic drug market will worth USD 28 billion from the current USD 13 billion by 2020 registering over 16 per cent growth annually due to USFDA approvals to several Indian generic drugs and ending of patent to 21 drugs by 2019 which the domestic drug makers is likely to capitalize.

About MedKart Pharmacy

Medkart Pharmacy is a leading generic medicine store which guides patients to get low-cost and quality generic alternatives from the best pharmaceutical companies following international quality standards. In the last 18 months alone, MedKart has helped over 35000 patients to save over Rs 8 crore by switching to generics. 

The purpose of launching Medkart was not just to spread the idea and availability of generic drugs among people but also ignite a campaign against doctors who are forcing patients to buy the prescribed branded medicines. Medkart, which has an exhaustive list of medicines, also offers online support to find the most authentic generic medicine with complete details.

Following PR websites published the article:

http://www.merinews.com/article/pharma-doctors-nexus-deprives-poor-of-low-cost-medicine/15918288.shtml

http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/pharma-doctors-nexus-deprives-patients-low-cost-medicine

http://www.briefingwire.com/pr/pharma-docs-nexus-deprives-poor-of-low-cost-medicine-medkart

http://www.einnews.com/pr_news/337247230/pharma-docs-nexus-deprives-poor-of-low-cost-medicine-medkart

http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/health-care/20160728418898.htm

http://www.freeprnow.com/pr/pharma-docs-nexus-denies-poor-low-cost-medicine-medkart

Media contact:

K Ramanathan

kr.iyar@gmail.com