This article will give an insight into the high probability of the Point of Sale (POS) business enriching whoever chooses to explore the field.
Why Go Into POS business?
The agent banking system or Point of Sale system was introduced in Nigeria by CBN in 2013 but it started witnessing considerable growth in the country between 2019 to 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown, ever since, it has become a reliable alternative to regular banking.
This is the reason the profitability of a Point of Sale (POS) business is almost guaranteed once one follows a set of laid down guidelines. In 2022 POS transactions saw a growth of 29.3 percent in the country.
Operation
Setting up any business and making money from it requires some key factors to be considered like doing market research, having capital, registering the company, getting a good location, developing customer relations skills, to mention a few, and all these also apply to running a POS business.
The number of people patronising POS centres across the country to carry out financial transactions is on the steady increase, even without an agent doing any marketing.
It is more profitable in rural areas and remote locations because there is a little to no bank presence, so POS agents have become the de-facto banks.
Now, to the business of making money through POS, one would first need to get a capital of between N50k to N150k or N150k to N250k depending on the variety and volume of transactions you wish to provide services for.
With a good location, you can take home between N6,000 to 12,000 daily and at the end of the month, make as much as N180,000 to N360,000 which covers the capital used to start the business.
Start Up Capital
Let’s say you want to start the business with N100,000.
You first get a wooden shop for N35,000
Rent the land at N36,000 per annum depending on your state of residence.
Then you furnish the shop with N15,000 and add miscellaneous expenditure of N5,000
Total Expenditure = N91,000
However, if you want to use an umbrella instead of a shop;
The cost of Umbrella is about N6,000
Purchase of table and Chairs for N3,000
If the space you intend to use requires rent payment, you budget N20,000 per annum
Total Expenditure: N29,000
It is important to note that the huge profit might not come in the first three months of running this business, but with consistency, usage of the right financial service provider and reasonable charges, it will grow.
POS charges
The financial agent determines what the POS operator charges and how they make their money, but commercial bank POS is usually higher than that of the fintech banks.
On the average, POS machine charge on commercial banks ranges from 100 Naira to 300 Naira with a share percentage of 60% to 40% (60% goes to the business owner and 40% for the commercial bank).
However, some POS operators disclosed that institutions like Access, FCMB and First bank give 70% to 30% – which means you will get 70% while 30% goes to the bank.
The share percentage is inclusive of withdrawals, deposits and transfers.
For the Fintech banks, they have the cheapest and most beneficial percentage share of; 0.05% per N1,000 and a flat charge of N100 from N20,000 upward.
What this means for the POS business operator is that for every N50,000 transaction and a charge of N300, you get N200.
Also, they have a flat charge of N20 per transfer on any amount.
Retaining Clientele
Why it is risky to charge outrageous amounts for transactions, like N600 on N50,000 just to make high profit margin of like N500, is that you will end up losing customers to competitors and even if you have a monopoly in the area, the high charge will make it easy for other competitors to emerge.
But if your charges are as low as N300 per N50,000, using the fintech pos machine you can make a margin of N200 per every 50,000.
With strict adherance to the above procedures, one can be guaranteed will be able to attract a daily transaction of 120 per day.
Multiply that 120 transactions by an average margin of 100 Naira = N12,000 per day.
By month end you will be going home with N360,000 that’s when you multiply 12,000 by 30 days = N360,000, which is more than what many bank managers earn.
Below are samples of common charges/pricelist operators use in running their POS business:
| WITHDRAWAL | CHARGES |
| N1000 to N10,000 | N100 |
| N10,001 to N20,000 | N200 |
| N20,001 to N30,000 | N300 |
| N30,001 to N40,000 | N400 |
| Above N40,000 | N500 |
DEPOSIT CHARGES/PRICE LIST
| DEPOSIT | CHARGES |
| N1000 to N510000 | N100 |
| N10,001 to N20,000 | N200 |
| N20,001 to N30,000 | N300 |
| N30,001 to N40,000 | N400 |
| Above N40,000 | N500 |
Note: This pricing is for highly competitive areas and you can make your profit with this pricing and be competitive.
Check out: Things You Need Before Going Into POS Business In Nigeria
