Square is reportedly looking to offer more merchants custom rates.
According to TechCrunch, the company is “aggressively working to do more custom pricing for merchants, especially chains and big names” as a move to get bigger brands using its services.
Last week, Square announced its first major partnership since the big Starbucks deal a year and a half ago, with entry into Whole Foods Markets. While it’s certainly a major brand, Whole Foods hasn’t entirely committed to Square (which got some bad press from a pissed off small business last week as well).
Square Register and Square Stand will be used in Whole Foods sandwich counters, juice and coffee bars, pizzerias, and beer and wine bars, but apparently not in the regular grocery checkout lines, at least for now. Some of the stores will serve as “lab stores” testing additional Square integrations, so perhaps Square will make it into these lines in such locations.
As TechCrunch notes, Square’s deal with Starbucks included custom pricing, and it’s likely that this is the case for Whole Foods as well. Leena Rao writes:
Now, any larger chain merchant can apply for custom pricing via Square’s site. For example, Square tells TechCrunch that the Butterfly Studio Salon in New York City is processing millions in payments per year, and has negotiated a custom rate of 2 percent for each swipe using Square. The custom pricing allows merchants who are growing to stay with Square instead of moving to a POS system with better rates.
Indeed, Square offers a form for “larger businesses with growing sales” here, noting that pricing starts at 2.75% and gets lower as you grow.
“We want to make sure you know exactly how Square can meet your business’ unique needs,” it says.
Service options include Beauty and Personal Care; Charities, Education and Membership; Food and Drink; Health Care and Fitness; Home and Repair; Leisure and Entertainment; Professional Services; Retail; Transportation; and Casual Use.
Businesses are then prompted to select their estimated annual revenue, and enter their email address, phone number business name and name.
According to Rao, Square is also ramping up its sales force, which will be used to seek out more of these custom deals.
Last week, Square launched a new feature for its Square Cash product, which lets users easily email money to one another. Now, users can also request money from those who owe using a similar format.
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