Square Payments In Self-Checkout
When creating self-checkout for your enterprise, your payment processor is a critical decision that impacts customer experience since transactions will be handled by consumers rather than trained cashiers.
Square is the leader in enterprise self-checkout payment processing with its sleek, minimalist hardware and support for custom consumer-facing software interfaces. Here are factors to review when considering Square as your self-checkout payment partner.
Hardware Customer Experience
The first impressions your customers will have upon arriving to your self-checkout kiosks will be shaped by your hardware. Will customers perceive your brand’s hardware as outdated and bulky, or modern and elegant?
Karla Guarino of Kiosk Group shared, “In my 20 years of experience in the kiosk industry, Square creates the most attractive and light footprint consumer-facing payment hardware that fits elegantly with self-service.”
Your hardware also impacts transaction speed. According to a whitepaper on EMV and NFC by Square, 86% of consumers are frustrated with slow chip card transaction speeds. This increases wait times, which is problematic since 37% of consumers reported that long lines are their biggest pain point during the checkout process. Thus, anything that can be done to reduce the processing time enhances customer satisfaction.
The easiest way to reduce processing speed is to avoid terminals with pin pads that add multiple steps to the checkout process and confuse customers about what is expected of them. The Square chip card reader has such a simple design that any consumer knows how to quickly complete a transaction. By removing the friction of pin pads, Square increases throughput and boosts customer satisfaction.
“IN MY 20 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN THE KIOSK INDUSTRY, SQUARE CREATES THE MOST ATTRACTIVE AND LIGHT FOOTPRINT CONSUMER-FACING PAYMENT PROCESSING HARDWARE THAT FITS ELEGANTLY WITH SELF-SERVICE”
— KARLA GUARINO OF KIOSK GROUP
Software Customer Experience
Your payment processor should support an intuitive and beautiful software workflow during the transaction process. The software should guide customers on what payment methods are accepted, where to insert their card, how much they will be charged, and when to complete the transaction. Square allows this simple software workflow via its Newline partnership for consumer-facing interfaces.
Nick Bauer, General Manger of a Silverstein Properties food hall in Downtown Manhattan, shared, “We decided to build a branded self-checkout software with Square’s partner Newline and to take payments with Square. This was a no brainer since we wanted to create a beautiful, modern feeling that represented our brand. Customers are more connected to our brand after completing an order.”
After completing a transaction, customers should be given an option to receive a receipt by email or text. Square supports both receipt options. This is vital since according to Harris Interactive, 64% of consumers think companies who text value their time, are progressive and would recommend them to others.
Your backend staff should have an easy process for managing orders. In the case that customers request a refund, a staff member should easily be able to process the refund on the backend. With Square, cashiers can process a refund in seconds. Through Square’s Newline partnership, your staff is able to view and expedite orders in a simple Kitchen Display System to optimize throughput.
Payment Method Options
In addition to traditional credit card payments, consumers have come to expect support for additional payment methods when completing an in-store transaction.
Customers particularly want support for mobile NFC payment methods like Apple Pay and Android Pay. In-store contactless payments volume is projected to reach $2 trillion in 2020, according to PYMNTS.
Square supports contactless payment methods like Apple Pay and Android Pay since contactless payments enhances customer experience. Square reported, “Consumers most value speed, security, and convenience in a shopping experience. As NFC hits all those marks, businesses that adopt and encourage NFC usage are likely to facilitate a more satisfying checkout experience.”
Further, accepting contactless payments increases revenue. In a survey, most Apple Pay and Android Pay users said they would be likely to seek out businesses that accept mobile payments. Customers also stated they tend to spend more money when using NFC.
Customer Loyalty
Customer engagement and retention require a robust loyalty program. Customers who enroll in Square’s loyalty program are twice as likely to be repeat customers and spend an average of 37% more.
Customer loyalty programs are especially attractive to millennials. Bond Brand Loyalty found that 68% of 20- to 34-year-olds said they would change where they shopped if it meant getting more rewards. With Square as a partner, your enterprise can appeal more to millennials as a result of Square’s extensive experience with loyalty programs.
“Above everything, loyalty is our number one priority,” stated Nick Bauer. “We are able to leverage Square’s loyalty programs in our kiosks through Newline. House accounts and loyalty programs reward our tenants and allows us to better market to them within the food hall. We know their likes, their dislikes, and can tailor this to each specific tenant for their future purchases. ”
Analytics
From an analytics perspective, Square is a natural choice for a self-checkout partner. Square lets businesses collect valuable data on consumers, like name, phone, email, and order history.
In collaboration with Square’s enterprise-level data tracking capabilities, Newline built a recommendation engine that personalizes the checkout process for each customer. This machine learning makes smart upsell recommendations at the moment a customer is making a purchase. Knowing which items to promote when results in 30% revenue boost.
Scalability and Maintenance
It is important that your payment processor be integrated to your Point of Sale for seamless and scalable operations. Square lets businesses download their inventory to their Newline software through an instant sync and to manage multiple locations in a single point of control.
When selecting a payment processor, also consider maintenance. Should you spend six or seven figures annually to hire a team of software experts to maintain PCI compliant payment processing integrations in-house, or work with an expert self-checkout platform like Newline whose specialty is handling all the maintenance for you in partnership with your team?
In summary, Square is the leading payment processor for enterprise self-checkout when evaluating their modern and intuitive hardware, support for custom software interfaces, payment method options, customer loyalty support, robust analytics, and scalability and ease of maintenance.
Create a digital kitchen with Bump KDS for Square.
