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Seasonal festival, markets and events are creating new opportunities for the creative entrepreneurs. Business owners are asking themselves: How do I adapt my business to be mobile and operate efficiently across multiple locations, while serving hundreds of customers at the same time?
With the summer months right around the corner, it’s time to start preparing for these types of opportunities which the events season presents us.
Square has powered numerous events across Australia, including popular music festival Splendour in the Grass hosted over three days in the Byron Bay hinterlands, Brisbane’s Beer Incider Experience, and the Noosa Food and Wine Festival. Whether you’re looking to reduce queues, increase sales or minimise expensive hardware rentals, here are our top three tips for business owners and entrepreneurs looking to implement Square at their upcoming event, festival or market.
Point of Sale and Card Payments at Events, Festivals and Markets
1. Pay for what you use
Whether you’re running a pop-up or a major music festival, Square is the perfect payment solution for seasonal businesses that want reliability and functionality, without an ongoing burden of cost throughout the rest of the year.
With no lock-in contracts or recurring monthly fees, you only pay for what you use with Square — a low 1.6% for any tapped, dipped or swiped Visa, MasterCard, eftpos, JCB, or American Express card payment. Our hardware is stylish, mobile and very affordable — just $65 for the Square Reader (for speedy and secure tap-and-go payments from contactless cards and mobile wallets).
Getting started is as simple as signing up for your free Square account, downloading the Square Point of Sale app, and you’re on your way to running a fully integrated point-of-sale and payments system.
2. Keeping up with the contactless demand
Australian consumers are leading the world when it comes to contactless payments. Research on the global adoption of contactless cards last year showed that two-thirds of Australians carry a contactless card (compared to just 14 percent of Americans), and over half of transactions under $100 were made using a contactless method of payment.
With festivals and events providing a captive audience for your business, now is the time to make sure you can accept the preferred methods of payment. Square Reader enables you to process transactions quickly and securely, whether you’re at a busy market stall or queue-busting a festival bar. In fact, you can tap up to three card transactions every minute! It also allows your customers to pay with Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay via their smartphone or smartwatch, saving them from the queue at the dreaded and costly mobile ATM.
3. A business in your pocket
Square also helps power your event beyond point-of-sale and card payments. It’s packed with features including e-invoicing, email and SMS receipts, inventory and employee management, and powerful business reporting tools. You can also assign permissions to different levels of employees and management, to ensure that your business data stays secure.
If you’re managing larger events with multiple bars, food vendors and customer touch points, Square also enables you to track sales, cashflow and inventory at a location level — giving you detailed insight into how every area and aspect of your event is performing in real-time.
Planning an event? Our local Events team is here to help. Lodge an enquiry here and we’ll get in touch to discuss your needs.
1.6% rate applies for Square Sellers who sign up on or after 30 May 2024. The rate of 1.9% will apply for Square Sellers who signed up prior to this date when using Square Reader, Square Stand or Tap to Pay, as listed in the Square Fee Schedule.
1.6% card present rate applies for Square Sellers who sign up on or after 30 May 2024, or who signed up prior to this date and subscribed to a paid software plan. The rate of 1.9% will apply for all other Square Sellers who signed up prior to this date when using Square Reader, Square Stand or Tap to Pay, as listed in the Square Fee Schedule.
