As Square looks to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive mobile payment industry, Mobile Commerce Daily examines the benefits, and challenges, associated with the launch and adoption of these new tools. Pervasive was pleased to have Brian Stein, our Managing Director, quoted in the in an article entitled “Square pins mobile payment growth on non-swipe features”.
Square yesterday launched the ability for merchants using their Market mPOS and inventory applications to now accept online and mobile orders from their customers in advance and provide in-store pickup. This will enable them to attract customers who would otherwise be deterred by long lines and move traffic through their store more quickly.
It is unproven as to whether these features will attract net new customers to the merchants, or simply expedite the ordering process for existing customers. Regardless, Square believes the uplift in sales is worth a premium and is charging 8% of all pickup transactions (following an introductory period thru July 1st, in which transaction are charged the standard 2.75%). Unfortunately, if existing customers simply move to using pick-up, the change in behavior will actually cost merchants 5.25% in additional transaction fees.
Another feature being rolled is called offline mode, which lets merchants accept payments without being connected to the Internet. The third feature is called offline inventory, which pulls in alerts directly to Square Register when a company is running low on a certain product.
“Deployment of these capabilities requires merchants to manage the fulfillment of advance orders and pickup,” said Brian Stein, managing director at Pervasive Path, Cleveland, OH.
“Organizations which already have distinct ordering and fulfilling processes will be able to more seamlessly take advantage of this technology,” he said.
“Additionally, customer adoption is also likely to vary based on a number of factors, including product type, order complexity, order repeatability, integration with other mobile apps and loyalty programs and in-store experience.”
Read the full article on Mobile Commerce Daily here.
