Deep Dive: Square
- Square is one of the seminal financial services companies of this generation.
- Here's a deep dive into Square's products, business, and company.
Profile
San Francisco based Square is a commerce ecosystem which offers merchant aggregator services and payment processing solutions. It boasts a line of software and hardware products that enable sellers to grow and manage their businesses. Its offerings include consumer and business friendly Cash App, online store, Square Payroll and Square Point of Sale. Square was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey. It currently has offices in the U.S, Canada, Japan, Australia, UK, Ireland and Spain. As of December 2019, it has more than 3,800 employees.
Square Ecosystems
Square hosts two digital payment ecosystems, namely its Seller and Cash App ecosystems.
The Seller ecosystem provides merchants with a wide variety of financial products from credit card processing to point of sale solutions for building and retaining their businesses. Square’s products range from its hardware to its subscriptions and services such as Square Capital, Square Payroll and the Square Card among others.
Square’s Cash App ecosystem caters to consumers and businesses through its digital wallet that supports P2P payments. Aside from its peer to peer payment capabilities, the app allows consumers to receive their paychecks, direct deposits and tax returns. It also provides a platform for stock and bitcoin investments. Cash App users can request a free Visa certified debit card called Cash Ccard which can be used with Boosts, oror discounts at retail stores for Square users, and ATMs. Cash App generates its revenue by charging consumers and businesses transaction fees. For consumers standard transfers between users are free while instant transfers incur a 1.5 % fee. Customers that use a credit card to make a payment on Cash App also incur a 3% fee. Businesses are charged when they accept Cash App payments at 2.75% per transaction.
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