‘Pay With Square'
Square is rebranding its Card Case app, which lets users set up virtual tabs with merchants to pay for goods using their mobile phones, as ‘Pay With Square’. The move is designed to clarify what service the app performs, as Square attempts to boost adoption a year after launching the product, and introduce a more “human” retail experience. Square is also upgrading the Android version of the app with geo-fencing technology that alerts users to nearby shops and restaurants that accepts mobile payments from Square as it tries to increase its visibility in the mobile payment space. A new Yelp-like feature also prompts users to recommend merchants via SMS, Twitter and Facebook.
The firm is hoping the move will boost merchant discoverability and that it will profit from strengthening relationships between merchants and prospective customers. Already claiming to have signed up more than 75,000 merchants in the US, Square is attempting to consolidate its position in the market. The move comes after PayPal launched a card reader to accept mobile payments that is seen as taking aim at Square’s own flagship plug-in device.
“Before we ever had credit cards, there was a lot more personality involved,” says Square engineering manager Will Henderson. “We’re trying to get the technology to the point where it’s invisible.”
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