Stripe is rolling out Terminal across the US

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Payments technology provider Stripe is extending Terminal, its product designed for in-store payment acceptance at brick-and-mortar locations, to all merchants in the US through new processing software and devices. Stripe initially launched Terminal in September 2018, marking the firm’s first move past its flagship suite of digital commerce-related offerings.

Stripe

Terminal leverages Index, a point-of-sale (POS) software developer, which it acquired last year.Stripe has plans to integrate Index’s offerings with its own services to enable clients to manage their physical and digital card payments in one place.

At the time of the acquisition, Stripe said the move was more about company growth than a push into retail, but we noted it would likely help boost Stripe’s in-store presence and allow it to offer omnichannel capabilities.

Here’s what it means: Terminal is intended to unify merchants’ experience across sales channels to reduce fragmentation.

Terminal’s software development kits (SDKs) and application programming interfaces (APIs) will make it accessible to merchants of all sizes. Terminal also includes POS hardware and software to manage connected devices, like Housecall Pro, a software platform that allows users to manage online bookings and accept in-person Stripe payments through one app.

Developers can use JavaScript, iOS, and Android SDKs to integrate Stripe Terminal into their websites or apps, customize the reader screen, and set up in-person payment for subscription businesses or marketplaces. Terminal could ultimately enable merchants of all sizes to unify their retail channels or transition from online to in-store, where 90% of consumer spending takes place.

Terminal can provide merchants with a unified experience by removing fragmentation between managing different systems for their online and in-person channels. Terminal is focused on tech-oriented e-tailers looking to move in-store. Merchants including Glossier and Warby Parker, which both sell predominately online but have opened stores in select cities, were its initial clients.

The bigger picture: Stripe is moving further into a particularly crowded space, but by offering a specific capability for a specific use case — businesses moving online to in-store — it could gain an advantage.

Stripe could overcome competition from major players in the POS hardware space by tapping into its existing base of online merchants.The POS hardware and software space counts several major players like Ingenico, Square, and PayPal, all of which have been diversifying their offerings in response to shifting merchant demands and building one-stop-shop solutions for sellers.

That’s particularly true as a growing segment of merchants pursues cross-channel commerce: Retailers have increased their commitment to omnichannel initiatives to bring more customers in-store, like buy online, pick up in-store options, for example.

As a historically software-driven company, Stripe could tap into its extensive network of online merchants, which it can now serve in-store as well through Terminal — a solution type will become increasingly important as more merchants seek out omnichannel solutions. Terminal could also appeal to merchants that are launching their businesses and want to open both online and in-store simultaneously.

Ultimately, Stripe’s focus on tech-savvy sellers could differentiate it from the competition, but being a more narrowly focused solution means Stripe will need to ensure it has a wide reach to effectively tap into a significant share of retailers.

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