Clothing chain will use them for online ordering

There's a number of things the computer industry -- and specifically Apple products -- have helped hasten to being obsolete or antiquated, including the video rental store and the "feature" cell phone. The cash register and the stand-alone credit card payment terminal may be going the same way. Business app developer Global Bay has announced that Pacific Sunwear has joined a growing list of clients switching (mostly) to Apple mobile devices for inventory, sales aids and point-of-sale terminals.

All Things D reports that hardware chain Lowe's has followed behind Home Depot, Nordstrom, Old Navy, Urban Outfitters and Guess Jeans in rolling out handheld devices that will either accept payments on the spot, check product inventory or place special orders, self-service kiosks or a combination of these abilities and others. Lowe's alone plans on rolling out 42,000 of the devices, which are expected to be mainly if not solely Apple devices. Apple Stores have been using a similar system, developed mostly in-house, for some time.

In addition to large retailers, small and medium-sized businesses are also finding advantages over traditional merchant payment stations either in maximizing floor space, freeing salespeople to stay with customers or simply lowering the cost of running their business. Reporter Tricia Duryee mentions seeing iPads used as POS devices in a winery; others have seen print shops using iMacs with a USB-based credit card reader, and companies such as Square have been pushing a line of small card readers or special "backing" sleds that can plug into iPhones and iPod Touches to enable them to accept payments which are relayed to a central server, with the receipt being automatically mailed to the customer and a stylus (or finger) enabling the touch-screen signature.

Pacific Sunwear, a clothier specializing in surfer style outdoorwear and accessories, is implementing iPads in 300 stores immediately, with plans to incorporate them across the entire chain (some 927 stores total) by next year. The company plans to mainly use the devices to allow customers to instantly order online any items they want that are not available in-store.

According to Global Bay, who develops custom mobile apps for businesses using the devices, the trend with stores and companies is to use Apple products, though competitors are rising that could change some of that. Google and Verifone are just two of several companies who hope to establish their own brands of mobile sales and inventory-based assistive hardware and software.

More than just replacing traditional payment and computer-lookup systems, mobile devices encourage sales by being where the customer is as well as making payment as easy as swiping a card. Barcode-reader attachments and other accoutrements complement the iOS devices and turn them into sales machines that eliminate waiting in line to check-out. One un-named retailer in the report claimed that using an Apple-based sales system resulted in an average 12 percent increase per transaction in average orders.

Some logisitics have yet to be fully worked out, however. Duryee notes that questions about how to keep the units (and their wirelessly-transmitted financial data) secure, as well as how to protect the units from being dropped by salespeople or customers are still left for store owners to figure out. But forthcoming advancements in near-field communications (NFC) combined with ongoing innovations from Apple, other technology companies and business-commerce services are rapidly working to change the way we shop ... and pay for what we buy. [via AllThingsD]

by MacNN Staff