Square announced on Monday a handful of new tools that let business owners offer pickup services, accept payments while offline, and track their inventory.
As ReadWrite predicted earlier this year, Square is finally ready to enter the order-on-demand market, where it faces stiff competition from services like Eat24 and GrubHub. Where Square has the advantage, though, is its new pickup offering that integrates seamlessly with its e-commerce products Square Register and Square Market, which lets Square merchants take online orders.
With Square’s new pickup tool, businesses can post items on Square Market, and customers can order and pay online and pick up their products in-store.
“Research shows that food and beverage is the second most popular category among purchases made on smartphones, and that more and more people prefer to use their smartphones to pay,” Square said in a statement. “Square is helping local business owners match these trends and connect with customers.”
To simplify business transactions when there are technical difficulties, Square is introducing Offline Mode, which lets sellers use Square’s mobile point of sale products, like the credit card reader, to accept credit card payments even without an Internet connection. Square will log the information when the card is swiped, and store it until Internet service has resumed, which means Internet disruptions or outages be a problem of the past for business owners that use Square.
Additionally, businesses selling product from Square Registers or Square Market can now track their product inventories through their Web dashboard and set up notifications to be alerted when inventory is low.
Lead image courtesy of Square