Chapter 2522 Square Mobile Card Reader

The smart phone market is bustling, and another market that is closely related to people's lives is also quietly changing.

It is actually wrong that people in all developed countries like to use credit cards.

It should be said that people who are used to spending first and then repaying, or people who have no money to buy things, like to use credit cards to spend most.

With such a proportion, the people in Europe and the United States are much higher than those in Japan and South Korea.

Basically, Americans have to swipe their cards even to buy a bottle of water. Except for small cash when tipping, they are not used to carrying cash with them.

To put it bluntly, they don't actually have much money.

There are many poor people in the United States, but their welfare benefits are good, so the poor are not short of food and clothing.

Even the middle class needs to buy houses, consume, travel, etc., and each month's salary will be deducted by various credit card companies, and the rest has to be reserved for their own medical care.

You read that right.

Although the United States has a well-developed government-subsidized medical policy, the problem is that there are too few public hospitals, and you usually have to wait in line for a week, sometimes half a year or a year.

That's why there are only so many private hospitals in the United States. You can enter a private hospital if you have money, and you can get treatment immediately. The doctor's standard is still high, but the condition is that you must have money, so these middle-class people have to prepare in advance .

So don’t watch foreign people bragging, they all show you the best side of themselves, of course you think it’s heaven.

Our Huaguo is not the same. When we show our national strength and conditions, we always take out the good ones... Those who show their bad side to others are fools.

Back to the topic.

American credit cards are a part of their lives, so in order to adapt to their consumption, these merchants will naturally open many credit card POS machines.

However, credit card fees for merchants are too high.

VISA and MasterCard are generally 3%-5% for ordinary small merchants. American Express is also the issuer of the legendary supreme card, the American Express Black Card. The fee is as high as 5.5%.

They are different for big businessmen. For example, the handling fee of Wal-Mart is only 1%-1.5%. It is clear at a glance how big the difference is.

Therefore, it is reasonable that the prices of goods in small restaurants, shopping malls and other places in the United States are not cheap.

Recently, in June, a mobile payment card reader called Square began to emerge, which happens to be a product for this mobile payment market.

The Square mobile card reader is about the size of half a matchbox and plugs into the headphone jack of your phone. Just above it is a card swipe slot similar to a POS machine swipe card reader. You can swipe a credit card or debit card to realize consumption by swiping the card.

According to the official description, the Square mobile card reader converts the information of the magnetic stripe of the credit card into audio, and then supports the Square application of the five major mobile phones of the fairy system, IOS system, BADA system, Microsoft WIN PHONE system, and Android system. The audio is converted into digital information, and then the payment information is encrypted and transmitted to the server for payment and deduction, and finally the server feeds back to the application to display whether the card swiping is successful.

If you don't have a credit card with you. That's okay, you can manually enter your credit card information, PIN, etc. through the Square app on the merchant's mobile phone. You can also complete the transaction.

And the entire transaction process has a very strict encryption method, and it is impossible for the merchant to check the credit card account number and password you entered on the mobile phone. It also ensures the security of credit card use.

The benefits of the Square mobile swipe card are many.

First of all, it is very convenient to use. As long as you call Square, you can get a Square mobile card reader for free. At the same time, you only need a valid bank checking account and download the Square app to use the Square mobile card reader to accept Pay by card.

Then you can view the item, price, time and place of your transaction on Square's website according to the data sheet number you swiped your card. There are very clear representations, which give consumers great security. Can let them know their consumption status.

The same is true for merchants. According to their registered Square accounts, they can see their sales data, turnover, and store and analyze users' consumption information, which is very helpful.

The most important thing is that its card swiping fee is very low, only a fixed fee of 15 cents for each swiping card, and a 2.5% handling fee—their handling fee in the previous life was 2.75%, but Xiao Qi is rich and powerful, so there is no need to rely on The handling fee earns a lot of money, so it is directly reduced by 0.25 percentage points, which is a full 0.5 percentage points cheaper than the 3% minimum charge for small merchants of several major credit card alliances. This is a lot of accumulation!

If you don’t bring a credit card and pay by manually entering the credit card account password information, then the handling fee is only 2.75%, plus a fee of $15 for each card swiping—the previous Square mobile card reader rules, this manual input of credit card information In this way, the charge is 15 cents plus a 3.5% transaction fee.

The Square mobile card reader is not only used by fixed merchants. For example, if you sell something at a flea market, you usually pay with cash in the past, but now with the Square mobile card reader, you can safely pay with your credit card.

The same is true for ordinary face-to-face transactions. A mobile phone and a Square mobile card reader can solve the problem, which is safe and convenient.

With so many benefits, the Square mobile card reader has been in full swing in the United States since it was launched for more than a month.

More than 12 million small merchants in the United States have applied for and used the Square mobile card reader. The number of individual applications has also exceeded 7 million, and the total sending volume has reached 20 million. Everyone is not afraid of waste, anyway, it will be used. There is no fee if you don't use it.

VISA issued 210 million U.S. credit cards, and MasterCard also had 180 million. Except for children who are not eligible to receive cards, almost all Americans have their credit cards.

Compared with the number of credit cards issued by the two super giants, the Square mobile card reader, a mobile payment service platform that also charges merchant fees, seems to be very weak at present, basically accounting for one-tenth of their share.

And this is only in the United States, the number of VISA and MasterCard cards issued worldwide exceeds 3 billion, and the Square mobile card reader has only begun to develop in the United States.

But there are many smart people in the world. VISA, MasterCard, including American Express, JCB, etc., contacted Square’s CEO immediately after seeing the prospect of Square’s popular mobile payment platform. Jack Bupa, the vice president of operations of PayPal, a third-party payment platform, wants to acquire Square.

Anyway, the credit card issuing companies are all super bosses, and they are not short of money.

As soon as you hear the name PayPal, you know that Jack Bupa is an old friend of Hoffman, and he was only willing to come at the invitation of Hoffman. For this reason, Xiao Qi gave him an annual salary of 3 million U.S. dollars and 1% of Square shares .

Jack Bupa is a smart person, so he knows how broad the prospects Square will be, so even after hearing JCB's wholly-owned acquisition offer of up to 1 billion US dollars, he is not tempted at all.

He just revealed the names of the company's founders and largest shareholders, and these giant credit card issuing companies simply died down.

As soon as the news spread, everyone was shocked.

It is the company of Xiao Qi, the richest man in the world!

It's Xiao Qi's idea again!

How smart and knowledgeable is he? It seems that as long as it is about network and intelligence, there is not much he does not dabble in!

Also relying on this sensational publicity, the Square mobile card reader quickly rushed to the Canadian market, setting an astonishing record of sending 1 million Square mobile card readers in a week.

You know, Canada is notorious for its small population, with a total population of only 40 million, and 1 million Square mobile card readers, which account for at least one-third of their small shops!

However, Square, which is so popular in the United States, has no intention of taking the opportunity to push into the European market.

Because Xiao Qi told Jack Buppa that after the first step is successful, the rest is to continuously stabilize the basic market of the North American market. After accounting for 80% of the mobile card payment business and more than 30% of the credit card payment market, Only then did I consider going abroad.

Stabilizing the market is one aspect, and the other is that the European debt crisis is about to erupt.

Under such a harsh financial environment, credit card consumption will be weakened to the greatest extent, even several credit card giants are complaining, and Square, which has just entered the market, will not join in the fun.

Although Jack Bupa felt that Xiao Qi was too conservative, he also appreciated Xiao Qi's stability.

It is easy to establish a good company and become famous, but it is not easy to prosper for a long time.

Only such a cautious and steady company can take root in the depths of the market and obtain the greatest benefits!

(Brothers please subscribe more!) (to be continued ~^~)