Square Offers More Speed, Customization to Sellers with New Retail Features

Square’s latest retail release lets sellers optimize their workflows however they want to create delightful and engaging experiences for consumers

Square has announced its latest release for retail sellers, debuting new features and product enhancements that deliver more speed and personalization. Building on the features it launched last fall, such as customizable eCommerce themes and AI-enabled content creation, Square’s newest offerings deliver even more power, control, and automation and enable businesses of all sizes to maximize sales, build their brand, and create top-notch commerce experiences for consumers.

Giving Retailers Full Customization and Control
No two shops are the same, and Square continues investing in features that retailers can add on to fully customize their point of sale to meet the specific needs of their brand and business.

• Integration with Square KDS, which was previously only available to restaurant sellers, now gives retailers the same ability to send an order directly to their kitchen via Square’s first-party kitchen display system. This gives multi-concept food & beverage retailers more functionality and optionality to drive additional revenue streams through their operations, all within the Square ecosystem.
• Redesigned Orders Manager gives sellers more insight and categorization options for various sales channels, order statuses, and fulfillment types, including the ability to view, manage, and update saved and completed carts all in one place. Sellers can also action orders in bulk, saving valuable time while ensuring reporting accuracy.
• Age restrictions let sellers set up age-regulated items in their catalog, such as wines, beers, and other beverages, to automatically add verification prompts during the checkout flow and keep the process easy and smooth for staff.
• Remote device management empowers sellers to manage their devices from any location, whether running multiple stores or managing while on-the-go. Key features include Device Hub to remotely monitor and manage devices, Device Profiles to create and share settings between devices remotely, and Printer Profiles to manage print configurations across all points of sale.

Workflow Optimizations
To keep retailers focused on driving sales and growing revenue, Square has made it faster and easier to manage the often-burdensome logistics of selling.

• Shipping enhancements including more flexible and customizable shipping rate profiles, and new options for integrated and bulk label printing.
• More flexible refund options will give sellers the ability to process refund amounts without requiring a linked transaction record on Square.
• Scanner Scale integrations and support for tare weights are now available on Retail Point of Sale, providing more flexibility for however retailers want to sell by seamlessly enabling new accessories and unlocking new bulk item functionality.

“One of Square’s advantages is our combination of breadth and depth – we have so many tools across our ecosystem that can be added and customized to fit however your business runs,” said Stephanie Grodin, Retail product lead at Square. “Whether you want to sell locally and online, offer both retail goods and a food-service experience, or have one location or several, Square can meet your needs and optimize your workflows, all in one point of sale.”

Inventory Management
Square’s latest release focuses on streamlining inventory tasks, giving sellers faster, better insights and visibility into their inventory flows, with many features specifically aimed at multi-location retailers with more complex inventory needs.

• Stock overview enhancements give sellers more ability to control and customize their stock views, including new sorting features to view by low or high stock level, location view, and incoming orders.
• Aging inventory reporting, coming this summer, gives sellers greater insights into areas of opportunity in their inventory mix, helping them identify, move, and reduce dead stock and ultimately maximize inventory ROI.
• Transfer orders, coming this summer, gives multi-location sellers more ease, flexibility, and insight when transferring stock between locations, including tracking in-transit stock, logs of previous transfers, and speedy receiving via point of sale or Dashboard.
• Bulk Actions help retailers move faster to apply or modify low-stock alerts and update stock received to stay atop inventory inflows and outflows.
• Unit cost capabilities are now built into the Square for Retail app, helping retailers complete item creation and calculate COGS whether on mobile or desktop.

Performance & Reliability Improvements
Finally, a few key performance updates make Square an even more seamless technology partner to retailers of all kinds and sizes.

• Offline payments are available on all Square hardware devices and in all countries, giving retailers the ability to sell through any technology disruption or in remote, off-premise locales.
• Speed improvements to Square Register and Square Terminal have reduced time-to-load for item detail by 49% and item catalog by 18%.
• A new and improved search algorithm within the point of sale will enable faster checkout, and saves recent searches for easy reference.

For more information about Square’s solutions for Retailers, visit squareup.com/retail.