Since it’s launch in 2010, the Square App created by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, has become an integral part of many small businesses. It allows companies to accept credit card payments by simply using a smartphone or tablet. The Square App system consists of a credit card reader and two applications: Square Register for merchants and Square Wallet f0r consumers.
What was initially designed for small retailers that could not afford traditional credit card systems, has now be embraced by large multi-nationals like Starbucks.
Square App Seeks New Clients
This week Square announced new updates to better serve merchants in the food services industry. These updates are aimed at optimizing customer experience, by moving Register a step closer to a traditional Point-of-Sale terminal. The new features allow merchants to modify and send specific order information to a ticket printer located in the food preparation area.
The Square App updates and business implications are discussed by Bloomberg’s Sarah Frier:
“It marks Square’s biggest push into the food business since it introduced mobile payments in 7,000 Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) stores last year. Square began offering a stamp-sized credit-card reader in 2009 that lets merchants accept payments on the go, and is now seeking to replace cash registers by companies including NCR Corp. (NCR) and increase competition with devices by Intuit Inc. (INTU) and EBay Inc. (EBAY)’s PayPal.
The majority of Square’s merchants are still individuals, Dorsey, who is Chief Executive officer, said in an interview. Targeting specific industries will help the company compete for cash registers as well as securing more of the market for mobile payments for physical goods, which is set to top $170 billion in transactions by 2015, according to Juniper Research.
“No. 1 right now is still individual services like the personal trainer, the dog walker, the golf instructor, the piano teacher,” Dorsey said in an interview at Little Muenster, a Manhattan restaurant that uses Square’s updated service. “Food is a daily occurrence and we think we can add a lot of value to that. We can remove a lot of friction and make it easier.”
More than 3 million merchants are able to use Square’s card swiper and the company is processing more than $12 billion in payments on an annual basis, it said in the statement. Square doesn’t break out its revenue into categories of users. “Individuals” are most active, followed by “retail” and “services,” said Faryl Ury, a spokeswoman for the company.”
Square App: Helping Small Business Grow
The Square App has seen growth in many small business dominated industries, but none greater than the food service industry. Square’s food related transactions tripled in 2012 with the amount of dollars processed quadrupling. Their system is easy to setup, simple to use, and straight-forward in its fees and pricing.
