This year’s attendance at EuroCIS broke previous records by attracting nearly 9,000 visitors from more than 60 countries. APG Cash Drawer was among the 318 exhibitors at the show, where we had the opportunity to demo products designed specifically for the European market and promote the Thin-bility concept.

Europe is in the process of adapting Mobile POS (mPOS). Based on what we saw, there is no question that Europe is ready for our Thin-bility solutions, which combine stationary and mobile POS elements to provide a convenient and pleasant shopping experience.

Our booth was separated by product type. The most active area was dedicated to the thin and mobile POS solutions. Our wireless-enabled cash drawers and tablet docking stations allow clerks to slide a tablet out of the docking station and walk it to anywhere in the store to complete a transaction. This makes it possible to process transactions at the point of decision, where the shopper actually decides whether to buy something, rather than forcing people to queue up at a POS station.

In addition to our Thin-bility solutions, attendees were excited about our new suite of five cash drawers designed specifically for the European marketplace. The drawers have several design features, ranging from increased coin capacity, to improved security through the implementation of a keyless design. Even with these operational improvements, the cash drawers will continue to fit existing European “check out” furniture/environments and retail operation requirements, reducing the cost of integration.

We feel our timing for these products is just right. After several years of economic slowdown, the European economy appears to be turning around. This is not true in all areas; with each country being its own micro-economy the turnaround will take some additional time. With the market leaders showing economic strength, we definitely sensed that things are getting better.

The positive sentiment may explain, at least partly, another trend we spotted: Similarly to the US, European payment processing companies are starting to develop integrated POS bundles to compete in the POS world. As in the United States, we see this as an opportunity as it expands our ability to reach the lower tiers of the marketplace.

APG has a long standing commitment to the European marketplace. Since our entrance, about 10 years ago, and we have learned a lot. Our commitment goes beyond products — we recently opened a warehouse and configuration center in Dusseldorf, Germany. This is in addition to our sales offices in Germany, Belgium and England. So, yes, we are optimistic about our European prospects.