PoS device vendors: Choosing a SIM card provider

Fitting point-of-sale (PoS) devices with the right SIM cards is critical for vendors aiming to provide competitive, reliable products at scale. But not every SIM card is created equal.

Imagine a bustling Black Friday sale where a retailer's PoS device loses connectivity due to an inferior SIM card. The immediate revenue loss from halted transactions, coupled with the potential damage to brand reputation from frustrated customers, can be devastating.

Conversely, think of a cafe owner overpaying for a data package they barely utilize, simply because their SIM provider lacks a pay-as-you-go option. Such overheads can significantly eat into profits.

Vendors with access to a standby mode feature can stock up on PoS devices without the burden of high monthly fees, ensuring readiness for peak seasons. Moreover, for those eyeing international markets, a multi-network SIM is a necessity, ensuring smooth transactions whether in New York or New Delhi.

The right SIM card provider directly impacts a vendor's bottom line, customer satisfaction, and scalability. In this blog, we highlight five key features PoS device vendors should consider when choosing a SIM card provider.

1. Opt for per megabyte, pay-as-you-go pricing

A single transaction generally uses around 10KB of data, but many SIM providers only offer package pricing. For most businesses, paying hundreds of dollars a month for a huge data allowance is money wasted—especially if your customers’ sales, like most retailers, fluctuate seasonally.

2. Prioritize standby mode for seamless activation

Stocking ready-to-use PoS devices allows for shortened sales cycles and faster order fulfillments, resulting in faster business growth and happier customers. But many SIM card providers don’t offer functionality for programmatic, remote SIM activation with low-cost standby mode. When evaluating providers, make sure you avoid high monthly fees before your SIMs are in use, and select a provider that delivers a seamless activation process once devices turn on.

3. Ensure continuous connectivity with multi-network SIMs

Spotty connectivity results in declined payments, missed sales, and frustrated customers. Even if a PoS device is capable of processing payments in “offline mode,” your customers stand to lose revenue.

Let’s say a shopper uses their card to buy an item. They leave with their new purchase while the offline payment terminal stores the transaction data in-cache. Later, when the PoS device is back online, it processes the payment, only to relay that the card has been declined. Now, your merchant has handed out free products at their own expense.

Fortunately, PoS device vendors can minimize network dependencies with multi-network SIMs. These SIMs are able to connect to multiple major carriers so coverage never drops. More advanced models will intelligently measure signal strength and switch to the network with the best coverage. By fitting your PoS devices with intelligent multi-network SIMs, you can optimize transaction speed and empower customers to deliver seamless experiences.

Multi-network SIMs are also critical to international expansion, which, for a PoS device vendor, is likely inevitable. Whether you’re scaling your business independently or in support of existing customers, international network coverage is essential. But working with network operators on a per-country basis is taxing—both in setting up partnerships and in maintaining them.

Individual operator partnerships can create situations where you’re managing different devices with different SKUs and SIM cards for every country you’re operating in. Instead, look for one global SIM card with multi-network coverage in the countries you’re operating in or want to expand into.

4. Leverage your provider’s telecommunications expertise

Running apps that rely on cellular connectivity at scale gets complicated quickly—international regulations and carrier relations can get increasingly difficult to navigate. A provider with proven telecommunications expertise and a history of successfully onboarded PoS customers will be more able to support and advise you on effective SIM deployment. By leaving complex networking and regulatory work to an expert partner, you’re able to build things right the first time around, and focus on scaling efficiently.

5. Expand offerings with a suite of communications tools

PoS vendors are strengthening customer relationships by offering more than payment processing services. Customer engagement and support solutions can become part of your arsenal with very little legwork. All it takes is partnering with a connectivity provider that offers communications solutions across messaging, voice, and other popular channels.

The applications of combined payment and communications solutions are expansive:

• Enable your customers to send transaction receipts to customers via SMS.
• Add a consent tick-box on your receipts so merchants can send customers personalized offers.
• Use SMS receipts so merchants can link customer records to purchasing activity.

By providing communication tools in conjunction with a payment solution, you empower your customers to better understand their shoppers and deliver integrated shopping experiences.

Partner with a cellular data provider that scales with you

As a PoS vendor, you may want to enter new global markets and service new industries. With the right connectivity infrastructure in place, you’ll only have to focus on serving your new and existing customers. When evaluating your PoS device connectivity, make sure your devices are SIM-friendly, so you can fit the devices with multi-network SIM cards that offer reliable global connectivity, programmatic configuration, and fair pricing.

Telnyx offers multi-network SIM cards that leverage 650+ global carrier connections and coverage in 180+ countries, along with an API to manage and monitor SIMs remotely and programmatically. With standby mode, pay-as-you-go, per-megabyte billing, and zone-based pricing, we power efficient data coverage at scale. Our suite of tools is ready to use when you’re set to expand your offering.

Contact a member of our team today to explore our IoT SIM card offerings and discover how we can help your business thrive in IoT