Merchants can set up their own Square shop to reach a broader audience
Mobile payments company Square has launched an online marketplace, an offering that an analyst said is similar to those from eBay, Amazon and Etsy, where merchants can sell products to consumers.
Square, known for its small, magnetic-stripe card reader that allows sellers to accept credit card payments by smartphone, opened an online store to allow U.S. merchants using its system to reach a broader audience, the company said on Wednesday.
Merchants can set up an online store and create an item library. Sales made via the market and sales made in a physical store are all viewable via the Square dashboard.
Square Market will be a direct competitor to similar online marketplaces from eBay, Amazon and other e-commerce vendors, said Rick Oglesby, senior analyst with Aite Group, in an email. "But it will also be a big threat to the other payment widget makers who don't offer similar services."
Square Market requires no monthly, listing or setup fee, but Square takes a 2.75 percent commission on sales, the service's setup page said. Merchants also can apply their own shipping costs to each item.
Rival Etsy, for instance, also has no membership fee, but charges €0.20(US$0.26) to list an item, and there is a 3.5 percent commission on sales according to Etsy's website.
To attract in-person visitors, Square Market merchants can create a page that shows their business by including photos, hours of operation and location. They can run a rewards program and offer first-visit specials, and also link their Twitter feeds to the online store.
Customers with a Square account can pay with their linked credit card. Shop owners get notified of every new order via email, can view order details online and also communicate with customers if they have questions about the transaction, it added.
According to Oglesby, Square is building out a comprehensive set of merchant services that includes marketing for finding customers and boosting branding; offline and online transaction processing; and order fulfillment.
"Those that continue to think about payment processing and widgets are already missing out; they need to be thinking about end to end business services," he said.
The faith people have in brands creates opportunity for those brands to become trusted advisors. In turn, this builds success by increasing the brand’s profile, letting it broaden its product offering and driving stronger customer loyalty.
The push to start new businesses continues. In Q1 2017, the number of seed and angel deals increased by 1.4 per cent compared to Q1 2016.
When we read articles about the need for increased diversity in marketing land, it is often through the lens of gender.
A business that cares about its customers is an easy thing to say; it’s much harder to do.
Educational activities is always a prestigious approaches in taking time for the smoother operational planning to implement in the long r...
ikuyo
Save the Children's marketing chief swaps not-for-profit for education
We all know that digital marketing in order to promote a brand, products and services is by the use of electronic media. The evolution of...
Helaina Berry
Predictions: 17 digital marketing trends for 2017
Interesting insight, well explained and the examples are just apt.Thanks for sharing!
FreshMindIdeas
The politics of branding - Brand science - CMO Australia
When the world that we live in floods with gigabytes of content every day, we have to learn to be selective about it. Such educational we...
Paulina Cameron
ADMA launches education program to tackle viewability, ad fraud and brand safety
Hi, i am an Aistralian ALK patient, been on xalkori dec 13 to oct 15 and achieved remission of disease, since been on Ceritinib until no...
gary packer
Pfizer Australia adopts AI-powered digital analyst tool for sales and marketing decision making