Square: People’s Insights Volume 2, Issue 20

What is Square?

Square [1] is a card reader and set of mobile apps that is reinventing credit card transactions. Square was founded in 2012 by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Jim McKelvey and Tristan O’Tierney. The technology is used by 4.2 million merchants in the U.S., Canada and Japan, and also brands like Starbucks and Burberry.

Issie Lapowsky reported [2] :

“In 2010, Square introduced the Card Reader, a 1-inch-square white dongle that plugs into a headset jack and, voilà, turns any iPhone, iPad, or Android phone or tablet into a credit card processor.”

Beyond revolutionizing transactions for business owners and service sector professionals with the Square Register app [3] , Square is also changing the way people pay for things with the Square Wallet app [4] .

Mobile transactions with Square Reader

The Square card reader offers two key benefits.

First, the reader can turn any iOS or Android smart phone or tablet into a mobile card reader, allowing merchants to accept payments almost anywhere.

Source: squareup.com [5]

Sonya Chudgar explains [6] how it works:

“Square offers a small credit card reader that plugs into iPhones, iPads, and most Android devices. Businesses download the free Square Register app to link the credit card reader to their bank accounts, plug the one-inch reader into the device of their choice, and are set to accept credit cards for a fixed 2.75 percent swipe fee.”

Square user Tori Wall commented [7] :

“This app is awesome! Especially for small mobile businesses like craft vendors.”

Square’s dependence on the smart phone or tablet’s battery and connectivity has an added advantage, as Leo Raudys tweeted [8] :

Second, Square drastically reduces the cost of processing credit card transaction, enabling more people to start accepting credit card payments.

The square reader and Register app come free of cost, leading to additional savings for small businesses. Business owner Adam Schneider pointed out [9] :

 “A standard POS and credit card system would have set me back about $5,000â€"$10,000. But, like a lot of people, I already had an iPad.”

Issie Lapowsky reported [10] :

“Square charges merchants just 2.75 percent per swipe or, for merchants who swipe less than $250,000 a year, a flat fee of $275 per month. For small-business owners accustomed to hidden fees and rates that can run in the ballpark of 4 percent per swipe, this transparency is the cherry on top.”

In addition, the company promises next day deposits while traditional players take up to 5-10 days to make deposits. Square user Elizabeth Haley commented [11] :

“This app is amazing! The app is free, the reader is free, and the cost is very low. No hassle, just a nice deposit the next day!”

Business analytics with Square Register

The Square Register app [12] works on iOS and Android devices and functions like a traditional register. Merchants can create their own inventory, complete with product/service names, photos, order modifiers and prices. They can also categorize products and create a page of ‘favorites’ for faster checkouts.

Source: squareup.com/register [13]

At the end of the transaction, customers can touch-type their signature on the app itself. When applicable, Square also displays information about their loyalty program (“two more visits to earn 10% off”).

Source: squareup.com/register [14]

Square Register also acts as a business analytics solution. Merchants can view their transaction activity, review daily sale summaries, identify popular products and review deposit schedules via a dynamic dashboard with interactive graphs. (For more, watch Square Register: Business Analytics [15] )

Business owners are consumers too

The wide and quick adoption of Square shows that business owners and service sector professionals are people first, professionals second. They are just as interested in using attractively designed apps and gadgets to track their data â€" much like people use sleek apps like Mint.com [16] to manage their money and gadgets like the Nike FuelBand [17] to track their workouts.

TIME’s Harry McCracken wrote [18] :

“Consumers are used to a pretty high standards when it comes to hardware and software design these day, but point-of-sale systems have still been stuck in the clunky-and-ugly era. One of the multiple disruptive things about Square as a company is that it’s telling businessfolk â€" with the Square Reader and now the Square Stand â€" that they deserve better.”

Square redefines the PoS experience further with the Square Stand â€" a stand designed to hold up an iPad-turned-register with an integrated card reader at the base.

Source: squareup.com/register [19]

In addition to acknowledging merchants’ design tastes, Square also understands their tech habits and environmental concerns. Square Register lets merchants download reports as spreadsheets and share by email and also supports print outs.

Source: squareup.com/register [20]

Similarly, Square Register lets customers choose how they receive receipts â€" via email, SMS or a print out.

Source: squareup.com/register [21]

Business Owners: Square is affordable, convenient, a great PoS solution

Here’s what merchants have to say about Square.

Square user Elizabeth Haley highlighted [22] the convenience of the integrated analytics features:

“Being able to track both cash and card transactions makes settling up at the end of the day so much easier! It is no longer just a credit card app, it is an entire point of sale solution!”

Square user Catherine Benns applauded [23] the versatility:

“This app is excellent in cost and effectiveness, quality of equipment and capabilities of coexistence between computer and phone or tablet!”

Several users hail Square as the iPod of PoS technology, and hope it will become a one-stop shop for all their needs. Square user Tori Wall  commented [24] :

“I wish there was a way to link this to my website and be able to accept payments there too ”

Square user Jman987670 suggested [25] :

“What I think will be a great idea is to add a optical barcode scanner in the app. You can use the iPad camera to scan product or you can use your iPhone to scan things have it sent to the iPad. Something cool to have as a feature and would save money for small business.”

The three year old technology isn’t perfect though. Users continually share feedback on each app upgrade, especially when small tweaks in design impact their earnings.

Square user LeoLashes criticized [26] the latest design’s impact on tipping:

“I don’t like the latest update. It does not give the option for the client to sign and give a tip percentage on the same page where they sign. They have to go to next page in order to do that and many clients don’t.”

Others are unhappy with the tech-only approach to customer service and demand human-support since credit card transactions and money are involved.

Blogger Ben Dwyer noted [27] :

“Square excels at some things, but customer service is not one of them. The company goes out of its way to avoid verbal contact with customers, and contacting Square customer service is not an easy task.”

Easier payments with Square Wallet

Square brings changes to customer’s transaction experience with the Square Wallet app [28] . People can download the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play, set up their bank information and make purchases directly through the app.

Source: squareup.com/wallet [29]

Matt Warman explains [30] how the new “cardless” experience works:

“But the idea is a simple one: anyone who has linked their credit card to their account can identify themselves to a merchant, and use their presence in a shop to verify that they want to make a purchase.

“Put simply, a user tells a shop assistant who they are, and the system brings up an image of their face that allows the store to verify they are that person.”

Here’s what people have to say about the experience.

 

But convenience isn’t necessarily a good thing according to everyone. Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, authors of the book Happy Spending [31] caution [32] the impact of “instant gratification”:

“Technologies that push payment into the future, making paying so convenient that it’s practically painless, put us in danger of overspending.”

Square Wallet also acts as a discovery tool

Square Wallet also includes a search friendly directory that lets people identify Square merchants near them.

CNET’s Daniel Terdiman noted [33] :

“One of the cool things about the Square Wallet app is that it’s got a nice set of built-in discovery tools. On the one hand, it shows you merchants who accept it, listed in order by proximity, and pulled from Square’s directory of more than 200,000 businesses that accept the service. And on the other, it lets you search by business name or even by keyword like, say, “cupcake” or “pizza.””

Source: itunes.apple.com [34]

As more merchants begin using Square, location-based search players like Foursquare are sure to take notice. Nidhi Makhija, member of the MSLGROUP Insights Network [35] commented:

“It will be interesting to see how players like Foursquare react to Square. Will they see Square as a threat, or will they partner to explore synergies?”

People: Square helps avoid unnecessary fees 

Like merchants, tech savvy people too are aware that Square helps them save money.

As more people talk about this alternative, brands may feel the pressure to support Square payments.

Implications for financial companies

In 2009, GigaOm’s Om Malik predicted [36] that PoS device manufacturers would feel the brunt of technology like Square:

“My view is that Square (or something like Square) is going to disrupt the businesses of companies such as VeriFone and Symbol, a division of Motorola that makes point-of-sale devices. Verifone makes a $900 wireless credit card terminal vs. Square, which runs on a $299 iPod touch.”

Today, financial institutions â€" both banking and non-banking â€" are paying attention to the mobile payment space and even releasing their own solutions.

Issie Lapowsky reported [37] :

“Bank of America recently undercut Square’s prices with its mobile card reader, which charges vendors 2.7 percent per swipe. And Visa signed a deal with Samsung to equip Samsung’s next generation of phones with Visa’s PayWave app. PayPal, Intuit, and Groupon are also on Square’s ever-growing list of competitors.” [38] [39]

Business Insider’s Josh Luger pointed out [40] :

“In-store mobile payments nearly quadrupled last year, card readers are building up real scale, and mobile payments as part of mobile commerce is exploding (PayPal alone processed $14 billion in mobile payments last year).”

Edgy brands like Warby Parker too are experimenting with home-grown solutions.

Source: venturebeat.com [41]

*

MSLGROUP [42] ’s People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform and approach [43] helps organizations tap into people’s insights for innovation, storytelling and change. The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform also enables our distinctive insights and foresight approach, which consists of four elements: organic conversation analysis, MSLGROUP’s own insight communities, client-specific insights communities, and ethnographic deep dives into these communities.

[Can't see this Slideshare presentation? Click here [44] to view it directly on Slideshare.net]

As an example, 100+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects on corporate citizenship, crowdsourcing, storytelling and social data on the MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every week, we pick up one project and do a deep dive into conversations around it â€" on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web â€" to distill insights and foresights. We share these insights and foresights with you on our People’s Insights blog [45] and compile the best insights from the network and the blog in the People’s Lab Quarterly Magazine [46] , as a showcase of our capabilities. We have further synthesized the insights from  2012 to provide foresights for business leaders and changemakers â€" in the ten-part  People’s Insights Annual Report titled Now & Next: Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement [47] , now available as a Kindle eBook [48] .

As you can imagine, we can bring the same innovative approach to help you distill insights and foresights from conversations and communities. To start a conversation on how we can help you win with insights and foresights, write to Pascal Beucler at pascal.beucler@mslgroup [49] .com.

Links

1. ^{^} Square (squareup.com)
2. ^{^} reported (www.inc.com)
3. ^{^} Square Register app (squareup.com)
4. ^{^} Square Wallet app (squareup.com)
5. ^{^} squareup.com (squareup.com)
6. ^{^} explains (www.qsrmagazine.com)
7. ^{^} commented (play.google.com)
8. ^{^} tweeted (twitter.com)
9. ^{^} pointed out (www.qsrmagazine.com)
10. ^{^} reported (www.inc.com)
11. ^{^} commented (play.google.com)
12. ^{^} Square Register app (squareup.com)
13. ^{^} squareup.com/register (squareup.com)
14. ^{^} squareup.com/register (squareup.com)
15. ^{^} Square Register: Business Analytics (vimeo.com)
16. ^{^} Mint.com (peopleslab.mslgroup.com)
17. ^{^} Nike FuelBand (peopleslab.mslgroup.com)
18. ^{^} wrote (techland.time.com)
19. ^{^} squareup.com/register (squareup.com)
20. ^{^} squareup.com/register (squareup.com)
21. ^{^} squareup.com/register (squareup.com)
22. ^{^} highlighted (play.google.com)
23. ^{^} applauded (play.google.com)
24. ^{^} commented (play.google.com)
25. ^{^} suggested (play.google.com)
26. ^{^} criticized (itunes.apple.com)
27. ^{^} noted (www.cardfellow.com)
28. ^{^} Square Wallet app (squareup.com)
29. ^{^} squareup.com/wallet (squareup.com)
30. ^{^} explains (www.telegraph.co.uk)
31. ^{^} Happy Spending (books.simonandschuster.com)
32. ^{^} caution (www.nytimes.com)
33. ^{^} noted (news.cnet.com)
34. ^{^} itunes.apple.com (itunes.apple.com)
35. ^{^} MSLGROUP Insights Network (peopleslab.mslgroup.com)
36. ^{^} predicted (gigaom.com)
37. ^{^} reported (www.inc.com)
38. ^{^} PayPal (play.google.com)
39. ^{^} Intuit (play.google.com)
40. ^{^} pointed out (www.businessinsider.com)
41. ^{^} venturebeat.com (venturebeat.com)
42. ^{^} MSLGROUP (mslgroup.com)
43. ^{^} People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform and approach (www.slideshare.net)
44. ^{^} Click here (www.slideshare.net)
45. ^{^} People’s Insights blog (peopleslab.mslgroup.com)
46. ^{^} People’s Lab Quarterly Magazine (peopleslab.mslgroup.com)
47. ^{^} Now & Next: Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement (peopleslab.mslgroup.com)
48. ^{^} Kindle eBook (www.amazon.com)
49. ^{^} @mslgroup (twitter.com)

source: india.mslgroup.com