Shopify is approaching merchants on two different fronts, launching a new card reader and a "Shopify Pay" app that are both free to current clients.
The company announced Shopify Pay, which enables consumers to check out in a few seconds by entering a 6-digit verification code send to their phone, removing the need to type in shopping and payment information.
Consumers can opt in to have this data saved with Shopify Pay. That automatically enables the 6-digit option for any Shopify merchants after the initial setup. Other mobile payment companies, such as Sionic, have used this short-code method as an alternative to EMV or PIN authentication. Shopify Pay will be available over the next few weeks to all stores using Shopify Payments.
An Apple Inc. iPad tablet with the Shopify Inc. app is displayed at the entrance to the company's headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015. Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce software maker that sold shares in an initial public offering in May, raised its revenue forecast after beating analysts estimates in its second quarter as a listed company. Photographer: Kevin Van Paassen/Bloomberg
Kevin Van Paassen/Bloomberg
Shopify is also taking preorders for a mobile card reader, which will be free for current Shopify clients; new users would pay $29 in the Shopify Hardware Store. TechCrunch reports the reader will support swipe and chip payments. It will plug into a charging base via micro USB. The battery in the reader should last about a week, TechCrunch reports, adding the reader is designed to accommodate different mounting options.
Shopify began offering hardware in the U.K. last year as an enhancement to its traditional cloud-based multichannel commerce platform that works on smartphones and tablets and allows chip and contactless payments for Android and Apple Pay.
The company more recently partnered with Klarna to add instant financing for merchants in the U.S., U.K., Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The card brand has added several tools that expand "agentic commerce," which adds artificial intelligence-based automation to shopping, service and checkout, innovation that's becoming popular with payment companies.
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