I have recently become a Market Manager for Strideline Socks. A large part of my work with Strideline is selling the socks and spreading brand awareness on the East Coast. In order to accommodate all of my consumers, I created a Square account and now have two Square readers. Square has so many great features and they have just made some huge moves to improve their company and make it more versatile.
Mobile Payments
Sending mobile payments has been a new trend which has made paying friends and family back super easy and convenient. The biggest player, and probably the most popular for mobile payments is Venmo. However, Facebook and GMail have both entered into the mobile payment market… And now, Snapchat. So now, you are probably wondering how this relates to Square?
Square is a huge partner in Snapchat payments because they will be powering the payments that are sent through Snapchat. In Snapchat’s blog about “Snapcashing” we see their enthusiasm about teaming up with a company like Square. Additionally, since security will be held by Square, consumers should feel pretty safe with using this feature. Square puts an emphasis on keeping consumer card information safe and all card numbers are encrypted.
Apple & Square Team Up
Square currently is known as a register for merchants who want to accept credit cards as well as cash. Nonetheless, we are moving to a world in which cards will be no longer. Apple, as usual, knows that this trend is coming and has introduced Apple Pay. Apple Pay allows consumers to input their card information in their phone for easy payment. Apple Pay is currently accepted in limited locations and stores but will become more popular as consumers realize that their information is safe being stored in the phone. Nevertheless, Square knows that this trend is up and coming and in 2015 will be accepting Apple Pay Payments. Jack Dorsey, the Founder and CEO of Square, says,
“We’re not building a credit card. We’re not building a payment device. We’re building a [cash] register, and this register accepts all these forms of payments.”
We All Love Gift Cards
Square accepting Apple Pay will be super convenient but we are all used to the physical motion of swiping cards. With this in mind, Square has introduced their own way of keeping consumers coming back to their merchants. As a merchant, you will now be able to customize and purchase gift cards from Square for your business. Each card will cost $1.50. With the holidays around the corner, this is definitely a smart way for repeat business and I’ll definitely have to look into this for my own business.
Do you think Square has made some smart changes and improvements. Let me know in the comments below or feel free to tweet me @ceek22!