Net at fingertips on shop counter

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Advantage Group has set its sights on turning the country's estimated 70,000 Eftpos machines into internet appliances.

The Auckland listed company, which says it has 65 per cent of the Eftpos terminal market, will begin delivering the first of a family of web-enabled models, the ICE 5000, next month.

Advantage point-of-sale general manager John Tait said the company had spent a year developing software to allow the terminal to run on the New Zealand Eftpos system, and a further three months to be certified by ETSL, which administers the network.

Mr Tait said the terminal could display advertising, and could print coupons or receipts featuring logos that could be updated within a day, which compared with up to eight weeks for conventionally printed coupons.

The ICE 5000, made by Arizona-based Hypercom, features a 60x80 pixel monochrome touch screen and includes a stylus for capturing electronic signatures. The terminal can function as a web browser and can send and receive e-mails, but Mr Tait said ETSL had not yet certified these features.

"We are application-driven on this to some extent. If a customer wants it, we will deliver it."

Mr Tait agreed that demand for web-browsing might be limited, but e-mail could be used to make transactions such as hotel bookings very efficient.

Eftpos terminals used as advertising would reach a wide audience.

"There might be 10 million internet log-ons a month but in the same period 33 million Eftpos transactions take place."

Furthermore, consumers were very focused on Eftpos terminals while they were waiting for their transactions to be accepted or declined.

Hypercom Australia general manager David Howard said his company's research showed advertisers in Australia saw enormous appeal in being able to deliver closely targeted messages.

He admitted there could be some danger of the market for advertising being swamped by similar services soon to be provided by bank ATMs and internet kiosks.

But Mr Howard thought the ICE terminal differed by giving consumers up to four choices of coupons or offers. "That's what really excites advertisers."

Mr Tait said the ICE 5000 would be priced at close to the $19 to $20 a week charged for other premium terminals on three-year contracts.