Square continues its nimble ways by enlarging its footprint through partnerships. As the following article describes, Square has chosen to team with software developers Vend and TouchBistro, both of whom offer POS solutions.
Square Inc. unveiled deals with software startups Vend and TouchBistro, the latest partnerships that will offer its products to larger businesses that aren’t already customers of its electronic-payments system.
Vend provides point-of-sale software for more than 15,000 retailers, while TouchBistro has specialized point-of-sale software for restaurants in more than 35 countries. Merchants previously had to stitch together hardware and services from different providers. The agreements announced Monday will let these companies use Square’s payments and business-management services on top of their Vend or TouchBistro point-of-sale systems.
“In the last two to three years there’s been a clear intent and signal to the market that we’re becoming a more and more open platform,’ said Francoise Brougher, Square’s business lead and a former Google executive. “Sellers are using many different products and we want to respect their workflow, but make sure we are in the flow of the tools they use.”
Square started by selling smartphone plug-ins to let food truck vendors and other small businesses accept credit card payments. Now it also provides loans and tools for managing inventory and analyzing sales. The payments-processor has been gradually offering services to merchants using other systems. Earlier this month, it joined with Upserve to make loans available to customers of the restaurant technology startup.
Scale is the name of the game in the payments industry and this deal gives Square more merchant transaction volume to increase top line revenue. As Square indicated in a recent earnings call, their penetration of larger merchant customers is expanding, lessening their exposure to the more volatile small business market. Adding Vend and TouchBistro increases Square’s touch points in high volume vertical markets such as restaurants. Watch for other payments industry alliances and partnerships since this is the fastest way to gain new technology and integrated solutions for your own value chain.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Associate Director, Research Services at Mercator Advisory Group
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