Square Wants You to Skip Lines with Its New Order App
Square is shifting gears in the mobile wallet wars.
The payments company is scrapping its Wallet mobile app and replacing it with a new payment app called Order.
It’s currently available for iOS and is in beta for Android users.
While functionally the same in enabling consumers to pay for goods and services at Square-partnered retail locations, Order is shifting the focus to the increasingly popular food and beverage scene.
Order’s main selling point is that it will allow customers to order and pay ahead for their coffee or meals, and pick them up when they want at merchants participating in Square Pickup, skipping lines and eliminating the need to ever have to wait again.
It’s no surprise then that Square is launching Order in the hustle and bustle cities of New York and San Francisco, where ordering food through online or mobile is particularly popular, and there are plans to bring Order to cities nationwide.
One caveat – Square will be directly competing with online food-ordering companies such as GrubHub Seamless.
It’s a risk that Square may want to take if it can bolster its offerings and present itself to merchants as more than just a mobile credit card reader provider.
Square’s merchant services and tools already include Dashboard, Square Register, Stand, and Market.
If Square can add and find success in consumer-facing services such as Order, and its person-to-person payment service, Cash, it may lead to more merchants and retailers processing payments through Square since there’s a promise of driving more (efficient) business.
Square will initially take a 2.75 percent cut on purchases made through Order, and after July 1st, it will be up to 8 percent.