Square's merchant gateway play leads to SAP partnership

Mobile point of sale providers such as Square are under pressure to broaden services beyond payments as the transaction hardware becomes commoditized.

To that end, Square is collaborating with SAP to embed more tools that can help merchant acquiring. Square's merchants can use SAP Business One to support accounting, project management, operations and human resources, tied to Square's hardware, point of sale, settlement and financial services.

For example, sellers using SAP Business One can access a single view for payments and sales data, and access to financial services and hardware to accept chip cards and Apple Pay.

Square CEO Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer of Square Inc., second right, tours the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2015. Square Inc. jumped more than 60 percent after the mobile payments company priced its initial public offering low enough to entice skeptics as well as bulls who are confident in its growth prospects. Photographer: Yana Paskova/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Jack Dorsey
Yana Paskova/Bloomberg

Square has been adding myriad services as it seeks to become a full-service merchant gateway.

In just the past few months, Square has pushed deeper into online commerce, introduced a plastic card, and applied for an industrial bank license.

Square has long offered lending to its small business clients, using payments records to manage credit risk and to allow merchants to payback the loans. The SAP collaboration would allow Square to offer a broader menu as PayPal, Stripe and traditional merchant acquirers bulk up to retain merchants.

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Retailers Mobile point-of-sale Square
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