Pay With Square
Beijing time on July 20th news, according to foreign media reports, columnist David Pogue wrote an article about the characteristics of Pay With Square and similar payment systems. He believes that voice payment is the general trend, and we are expected to say goodbye to the wallet in the foreseeable future.
The following is a full text summary:
Many of the things we do today will make grandchildren laugh. For example, we used to drive to the store to rent discs. For example, there are many places in the United States that do not have cell phone signals. For example, we use green paper (US dollar bills) and plastic cards (credit cards) to settle accounts.
If these little rabbits don't believe it, we can turn the history book into 2012 – the era of cash and credit card smashing. It is from this year that you only need to tell your store cashier your name and you can check out and leave.
Square background introduction
But first, let's take a look at some background. In 2010, a company called Square invented a credit card reader that looked like a small white plastic box. Plug it into the headphone jack of your iPhone, Android phone or tablet, and install a simple and beautiful app, you can brush (meaning scanning, not letting you steal) someone else's credit card.
Suddenly, nannies, taxi drivers, food truckers, piano teachers, personal trainers, carpenters, lawn trimmers... anyone can accept credit card payments.
Square draws 2.75% from each transaction. Unlike traditional credit cards, Square has no monthly fees, minimum purchases, installation fees, and so on. Even the device does not need money: the headphone jack reader is free. There are really no other fees.
Square spread like a virus. Now, the company says that two million Americans are happy to use it to swipe their cards.
However, as long as there is a hot concept, there will be plagiarism. But the followers' products are similar to the Square: a free plastic accessory that plugs into the phone's headphone jack - just the rate is different from the target market.
For example, Intuit's product name is GoPayment, and its mobile phone accessories are larger and the rate structure is more complicated. (The ad says it’s 2.7%, but in some cases you have to pay 3.7%.)
There is also a company called mPower that serves large companies that want funds to go directly to their accounts – and Square, Intuit and others will deposit funds into an H-cash account. The distinguishing feature of PayAnywhere is that its rate is currently the lowest: 2.69%.
There is also the giant PayPal in this field. The rate is a bit lower than Square (2.7%), and its reader is triangular, not square. When you swipe your card, the PayPal reader is more stable than Square. But its size is also relatively large.
In short, this payment method is heating up. But for Square, it's all just "warming up." A more subversive highlight is behind: Pay With Square.
Pay With Square subverts checkout
When you walk into a store or coffee shop, the cashier knows where you are, because your name and small avatar will appear on his iPad screen. When you want to check out, he will click on your name on the iPad.
Then there is the magic moment: you only need to say your name to pay. The cashier will compare your live and your photos on the iPad screen, then click "OK" to complete the transaction. No cash, no cards, no signatures - you don't even need to pull your phone out of your pocket.
This way the checkout method makes the customer feel very cool, because the speed is much faster and the trouble is much less. Businesses are also very happy, because less trouble means better business. The merchant-side iPad Register app also provides a useful "analysis" tool that shows you what is being sold on the iPad. Whether it's for merchants (except for 2.7% Square fees) or for customers, it's free.
When setting up a mobile app, you need to use your own photos and bundle your account with your credit card. The app uses Global Positioning System GPS to automatically list stores and coffee shops near your Pay With Square collection service. If you rotate your phone 90 degrees, you will see a map with some pins showing the location of these stores. Square said that 75,000 merchants now accept Pay With Square payments.
I tried to use Pay With Square at a coffee shop in San Francisco. I clicked on the app's name and clicked "Open a Tab".
At the counter, I asked for a mocha and a muffin. When the clerk went to take the muffin, I went to peek at the iPad he installed on the stage. To my surprise, the screen also showed photos of the other two customers - it can be seen that the Square app is installed on all three of us. The cashier end application uses GPS and other location services to find out when these people are in the store.
When the cashier came back, I said, "I am David." He said, "I know." He clicked on the screen, it was as simple as that. I only finished my payment by saying my name.
Last month, Square upgraded the system to make customers feel better. Now, merchants can offer new customers a first purchase of five discounts, old customers for the tenth purchase discount, and other rewards. These rewards are displayed on your mobile app, on a list of nearby businesses.
This service is not available for all businesses. For example, only small businesses are suitable – smaller businesses can use mobile Square readers, and larger stores require fully functional commercial POS systems. Pay With Square requires a home printer to be a cash register, and merchants need to import all products sold in the store into the system. So if you have thousands of items in your store, you might think that Pay With Square is not working.
After I bought the muffin, I also talked to the cashier. He said that his coffee shop is very cool with Pay With Square. But the problem is that customers sometimes use pictures of cats or SpongeBobs as avatars, which destroys the main security mechanism of Pay With Square: the cashier uses his avatar to suit your identity. (Square said that if a customer or business encounters a theft of funds, it will take the appropriate approach to deal with it.)
There are not many 75,000 stores. In any particular city, only a handful of stores have Pay With Square. But I won't say it is bad. This system is really convenient for buyers and sellers. Square said that the merchants using it reported that their traffic has increased and the loyalty of customers using the app has increased.
PayPal also introduced the system's follow-up version, PayPal Local, which can be used with the company's card readers or commercial electronic cashier products from companies such as Leapset, ShopKeep, Vend and Erply. PayPal says there are 50,000 stores with cash registers that can be upgraded with PayPal Local software, and those shop owners can use PayPal Local whenever they want.
Future payment methods
Using any of these systems means handing over some of the privacy you thought you had. Now merchants can track the frequency of your visits to the store, the type of things you buy, your size and color preferences. Of course, they may have been doing this for many years - but now, advertising has made these promotions a benefit.
But if you don't care about this, waiting ahead for you is a new world that is more convenient and more cost-effective. Pay With Square and its competitors offer loyalty programs, which means more stores will work harder to increase customer satisfaction. The analytical capabilities of this type of system also allow shops and coffee shops to better manage inventory and track sales.
In short, Pay With Square and its followers give you a glimpse of the future of payment. By that time, you don't have to carry your wallet with you anymore, just take your cell phone.
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