COPPET Be Cash wants to revolutionize the payment terminal market. A boon for traders.

Adjusting any purchase with a card has become a common gesture. Therefore, who wants to open a business today can hardly afford a payment terminal. However, its acquisition is often very expensive. But thanks to new technologies, more ergonomic machines and at unbeatable prices are pouring into the market. This is the case of the models proposed since the beginning of the year by the start-up Be-Cash, based in Coppet. “We sell terminals at less than 100 francs, while the biggest players in the sector sell theirs between 2,000 and 3,000 francs,” says Malik Khalfi, director and co-founder of this SME born in 2014. “We come to give a kick off the anthill and end an oligopoly.” The latter does not hesitate to speak of revolution similar to that generated by Easyjet in the field of aviation.

A technological leap

If our entrepreneur can thus break the prices, it is thanks to the advent of an instrument which invaded our lives: the smartphone. Two years ago, the American company Square created a device to turn his phone or tablet into a mobile payment terminal. Since then, other companies have burst into the breach, like Germany’s SumUp, which joined forces with UBS last year. “But the market is still struggling to adhere to this type of products because it requires to own a mobile phone and leave it in the hands of its employees,” said Malik Khalfi. This is why he favored the model of autonomous payment terminals by buying from a Luxembourg manufacturer. Unlike conventional machines, those sold by the SME copétane are connected to the mobile phone network and wi-fi. A system that allows you to instantly charge the customer’s account. “With a traditional terminal, you often have to wait several days. A problem for small companies, who look closely at their cash. To the point that some refuse to make reminder bills for small amounts, because it costs them too much!”

Aim at the little bosses

But how does society expect to earn revenue if it does not produce its own machines? “We only receive money on transactions: 2.5% on credit cards and 1.5% on debit cards.” In other words, the company must generate a large volume of business to be profitable and profitable. Not enough to scare Xavier Niel mobile terminal. “Around 40,000 companies are created each year in Switzerland. We want to solicit small businesses, such as home technicians. And we are also targeting associations or other sports clubs, which would no longer have to cash their members’ contributions in cash.” To conquer this market quickly, he hopes to distribute his products in supermarkets as of this summer. Be that as it may, the consumers of tomorrow will only use electronic money, as presupposed by the advent of contactless payment. Indeed, most of the cards in circulation already have a chip which, by a simple passage in front of a terminal, make it possible to carry out a transaction directly. What to encourage traders to use increasingly mobile instruments. A paradigm shift perceived by BeCash, along with the big players in the sector, for that matter. The companies SIX, Aduno or CCV, in Gland, have launched or are preparing to do so, solutions similar to those of the little Tom Thumb of Coppet.

Article: Daniel Gonzalez (daniel.gonzalez@lacote.ch)
Photo: C. SANDOZ