Cynergy Mixes Mobile Payments with Merchant Services

Payment processor Cynergy is getting into the mobile point of sale game, hoping its existing mix of merchant services and mobile technology will capture attention in a crowded market.

"I'm not just saying you can accept payments, but be a true point of sale," says Alvin Mayers, senior vice president of product at Cynergy Data.

"You can keep track of inventory, utilize Quickbooks, etc." Mayers says. "It's not a separate engagement to do mobile payments and these other services."

Cynergy's traditional core businesses include merchant online applications, daily deals, pricing modules for ISOs and merchants, PCI compliant payment processing and collection technology to enable fund raising. The company is positioning its mobile point of sale service, called Vwalaa Mobile Pay, as part of a suite of merchant services that can work in tandem with mobile payments.

Vwalaa was built and tested earlier this summer, using technology from Roam. Roam is an Ingenico unit that sells mobile payment technology through third parties and via partnerships with companies such as iPayment. It also offers EMV-chip card migration services.

Cynergy is using Roam's G4X secure mobile card reader, the Roampay X4 application and the myRoam management portal. Roam's technology will allow Cynergy Data to offer offline processing, configurable inventory management, previous purchase recognition and personalized receipts.

Cynergy offers Vwalaa, and its customizable dongles, on a white label basis. While a number of Cynergy's clients, such as ISOs, can and do offer their own mobile point of sale technology, Cynergy predicts its wider suite and existing relationships will prove attractive.

Vwalaa is entering a market overflowing with mobile card acceptance options, though Cynergy's point of sale/merchant services model is current with broader trends in the mobile point of sale industry.

Square is targeting larger merchants with a wider suite of services through Square Stand and the company's business in a box bundle.

PayPal, which offers mobile point of sale via PayPal Here, bundles its mobile point of sale with other services such as sales tracking and a virtual cash drawer. PayPal targets larger merchants through partnerships with other mobile point of sale vendors.

Leaf, whose point of sale technology includes inventory management and broader merchant services, sells a dedicated payments tablet called LeafPresenter. Leaf has additionally opened its technology to third party developers to build payment apps.

Payleven, a Berlin-based mobile point of sale company, has also been expanding its services to broaden its appeal to a wider range of merchants.

Mobile point of sale or mobile acceptance has been evolving from being a service aimed primarily at micro-merchants offered by independent companies to being part of the overall proposition offered by traditional retailers and their sales channels to a broader range of merchants, including some of the large retailers, says Zil Bareisis, a senior analyst at Celent's banking group.

"It works particularly well where … mobility gives a higher chance to close the sale," Bareisis says. "For example, mobile point of sale devices are not threatening to replace the POS terminals at the supermarket check-out lanes any time soon, but a boutique section of a large department store might be very interested in giving such stools to their sales people."