Dive Brief:

• Payment processor Global Payments has delayed the launch of its new point-of-sale software for restaurant and retail businesses.
• CEO Cameron Bready had previously identified the launch of new versions of the company’s Heartland retail and restaurant software occurring “later this year” during the Atlanta-based company’s second-quarter earnings call in August. On Tuesday, during the third-quarter earnings conference call, he referred to the launch happening in early 2024.
• The new POS is designed to be mobile-first, and “will deliver an improved user interface and more intuitive experiences across our iOS and Android-based solutions,” Bready said.

Dive Insight:

The company didn’t identify a reason for the delay. A Global Payments spokesperson said Wednesday the beta version of the platform launched this quarter, and the full commercial release of the platform will occur in the first quarter of next year. The spokesperson said that was the plan all along.

During a Goldman Sachs conference appearance in September, Bready said the new platform will “enhance the feature functionality and capabilities that we can bring to market” in the U.S., and position that segment of the business for further growth.

Given the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop and Global Payments’ ongoing integration of Evo Payments, which it paid $4 billion to purchase in August 2022, the new POS launch “gets a pass here,” TD Cowen Analyst Bryan Bergin said in an email. The company did “sound keen to lean into various POS and other (value-added services) offerings internationally” in 2024, including in countries where Evo has an established presence, Bergin noted.

Adjusted net revenue for Global Payments’ POS business is nearing $400 million annually, and Bready called it one of the fastest-growing areas of the business. Currently, about 80,000 merchant locations worldwide use Global Payments’ POS software, he said. 

In North America, the company’s Heartland cloud-based point-of-sale software is geared primarily toward small and medium-sized businesses in the restaurant and retail verticals. Those two verticals offer large addressable markets that are international in scope, Bready noted.

Those two are also highly competitive arenas in which providers, including Block’s Square, Fiserv’s Clover and restaurant fintech Toast, have a significant presence.  

“As we’ve seen in the U.S. over the course of time, the mode of competition around restaurant and retail for payments is really driven by the point-of-sale technology,” he told analysts during the call. Those trends are starting to play out outside of the U.S. as well, he added.

“A big part of our POS strategy is leveraging the capabilities that we have here in the U.S. market and being able to extend those into markets outside of the U.S.,” Bready said.

To that end, over the past year, the company has launched its entry-level, general purpose point-of-sale technology, GP POS, in Canada, the U.K., Spain and central Europe, Bready said. The company expects to move into Mexico, Poland, Germany and Ireland over the next two years.

Global Payments’ POS software and services are designed to grow with merchant customers as they scale, which Bready contended differentiates the company from rivals who try to serve small and large merchants with the same products and services.

POS competitors such as Square have sought to step up their sales approach this year. Global Payments goes to market in North America through about 300 dealers that cover most of the major markets across the U.S. and Canada, Bready said. The company also has about 1,700 salespeople, Bready said.

At the September conference appearance, Bready said the company would share more about its POS strategy going forward. “I don't think we've done the best job sort of framing up our point-of-sale software strategy, how we segment the market, where we're playing, how we're taking those assets to international markets,” he said.