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Tag: square market

  • Square Directory Goes Away With Launch Of Square Market

    Square Directory Goes Away With Launch Of Square Market

    Square has apparently shut down the Square Directory in favor of the new Square Market. The URL for the former is now redirecting to the latter.

    This is interesting, considering that Square Directory was only launched this past October. It hardly had time to realize its full potential. It would appear that with Square’s new ecommerce ambitions, the Directory would just be redundant. The Market does have a search engine. For some reason, Square doesn’t appear to have mentioned the Directory with its new Market announcement.

    When it announced Square Directory, the company called it “the first web-based search engine that enables customers to discover their favorite places by location or specific items; as well as find loyalty deals and specials.”

    “Square directory gives people the power to instantly find whatever they are craving, from a BLT to a bicycle,” said Square’s Director of Directory, Ajit Varma at the time. “Everyday the directory grows with diverse businesses and allows them to display item-level information to new customers.”

    Here’s what it looked like:

    Square Directory

    “We’re focused on making easy-to-use tools for merchants that create an incredible experience for their customers—no matter where they are. Creating an online marketplace is our next step in making commerce easy for everyone,” Varma says of the new Market offering. “Square Market makes local businesses accessible to customers down the block and across the country.”

    More on Square Market here.

  • Square Market Launches As Online Storefront for Small Businesses

    Square Market Launches As Online Storefront for Small Businesses

    Not content to simply exist as a mobile payments platform, Square is expanding into the world of ecommerce with a new online marketplace for local businesses to display their wares.

    It’s called Square Market, and it lets any Square-using small businesses across the country open and operate an online storefront for free, making it easier for people all across the country to buy their products.

    “We’re focused on making easy-to-use tools for merchants that create an incredible experience for their customers—no matter where they are. Creating an online marketplace is our next step in making commerce easy for everyone,” said Ajit Varma, Square’s Director of Discovery. “Square Market makes local businesses accessible to customers down the block and across the country.”

    For Square, the pitch is all about simplicity for the local business. “No need to waste money on expensive website development, complicated fees, or complex inventory management,” they say.

    Any business that wants to join Square Market can set up shop for free, and post photos, descriptions, and contact info on their own person Square Market page. Those pages also include a map and social links (to share the market on Facebook, Twitter, and such).

    Product pages not only contain photos of products and detailed descriptions, but also social links that allow users to share their purchases on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

    On the business end, Square takes 2.75% from every online sale. That’s it – there are no other fees. Merchants attach a shipping cost to each item they sell and Square handles the payments.

    It’s been a big year for Square – both in terms of new products and expansion. They put their Square card readers in a bunch of new locations, they made improvements to the point-of-sale system with a new card-reading iPad stand, and they expanded to Japan – their first expansion outside of North America.