Touchmart is a Cape Town based company that is focused on the development, operation and management of our self-service terminals called TAP.

An Overview of the TAP Solution

The TAP (“Transaction Access Point”) has been developed by Touchmart as a solution to enable the general public to access a broad range of products and services at their convenience and using payment methods that are accessible to them.

Until now the vast majority of South Africans have been excluded from convenient access to online transacting for three primary reasons:

• No physical access to the internet
• Lack of computer and internet skills
• Lack of a credit card which is required for internet purchases

		Convenience Quarter: Functionality meets Accessibility

By locating TAPs in convenient sites, consumers now have access to a device that enables them to transact using their debit cards and potentially cash as well. Great care has been taken to develop an intuitive, graphical and multilingual interface that overcomes the requirement for computer and internet surfing skills.

Through TAP, Touchmart has created a generic electronic distribution platform that can be used by any business, organisation or government to make information, products and services available anywhere in the country in real time.

The TAP enables any store owner or entrepreneur to provide their customers with a significant array of additional products and services and to potentially generate additional revenues there from.

A number of retailers are addressing the need for consumers to access a broader range of products and services, but so far they have only been able to do this with attended and staffed solutions that are tying up their cashiers and other resources and irritating their customers with increased queue time.

The TAPs run on the cellular network and so can be placed anywhere there is a power point and cell phone reception without the need for network cabling to be installed.

The solution has been locally designed; developed and manufactured specifically to meet the requirements of the local market, but has significant potential in other developed and developing countries.