Working with the restaurant delivery software provider lets Block build out its Square for Restaurants suite.

GoParrot helps restaurants set up and manage online ordering and payments and can strengthen the Square for Restaurants suite.

Big Tech squares off against unions: Momentum is on the side of workers seeking higher wages and transparency. How companies address brewing labor movements could be a red flag for regulators.

Google ravenous for square footage: A leading provider of virtual productivity tools, Google spends big on offices and data centers. But hard times are ahead to keep its workforce intact.

On today's episode, we discuss how Apple's new Tap to Pay feature will disrupt the payments world. Then for "In Other News," we talk about the impact of American Express' new checking account and what will happen now that buy now, pay later firm Afterpay is integrated with Block (formerly Square). Tune in to the discussion with VP of content and head of financial services Daniel Van Dyke and our analyst Jaime Toplin.

We predicted Square would pilot small-business and consumer credit cards. It didn’t, but in the same vein, it announced plans to acquire Afterpay.

The payfac model has catapulted into the mainstream, thanks to payments disruptors like PayPal, Square, and Stripe. The growth in the number of payfacs, and in the payment volume passing through them, is reshaping key relationships within the payments ecosystem. But the model bears some drawbacks for the diverse swath of companies adopting it, as well as for the merchants that work with them.

Square opened its Cash App ecosystem to 13-17 year olds under parental supervision in the hopes of creating life-long users.

Its deal for Fair Square Financial marks the digital-only bank’s second attempt at buying a credit-card company in less than two years.

The European point-of-sale firm acquired customer loyalty startup Fivestars to help it compete in the US against rivals PayPal and Square.

Developing streamlined offerings that support all channels on the back end is an ongoing effort, says Saumil Mehta, head of point-of-sale at Square.

In 2022, Square will leverage this blended ecosystem to add not only BNPL—thanks to its Afterpay acquisition—but also Tidal, which we predict will provide direct payment capability for content creators. Both additions will help Square aggressively court new sellers and users.

Square. Starbucks. sweetgreen. The Motley Fool. The Points Guy. The Wall Street Journal. Uplift. Venmo. Visa. Voyager. Wells Fargo. WEX.

Square and Shopify let sellers set up shop on TikTok. Creator payments. Providers are looking at enabling direct payments, which may lead to more features like Twitter’s PayPal- and Stripe-operated tip jar and Super Follows. Platform ownership. After acquiring Tidal, Block (formerly Square) is using it to build out artist payouts and will continue to add integrations.

Though hardware is critical, providers struggle to turn a profit in the segment: Block (formerly Square) reported $51.2 million in hardware costs in Q3 2021 but just $37.3 million in hardware revenues, for example. Providers will take two tactics to drive profitability:. Bolstering product suites to attract merchants.

Block plans to use Afterpay to tighten connections between its Square and Cash App ecosystems and grow its global user base. Block started letting sellers offer recently acquired Afterpay’s BNPL solution in January. Dorsey told investors Afterpay can help Block attract much larger retailers and that there were also cross-selling opportunities between Square sellers and Afterpay customers.

Square sellers can set up dedicated shopping tabs on TikTok, include product links on videos, and run ads using TikTok Ads Manager.

Providers like Square are expanding in the market, and QR code usage is growing thanks to providers like PayPal. These expansions are bringing contactless to the last holdouts.

Or it could tie to added use cases: Services like the in-store payments integration Square has developed in the US could boost interoperability with mobile proximity payments and benefit both categories if introduced in other markets. Read Next. Sources. BBC. Boku. British Retail Consortium. Digital Transactions. Elavon. emerchantpay. Entrust. Gemini. The Guardian. Finextra. Monzo. Paragon Bank. Paym.

The news: Block (formerly Square) completed its acquisition of Australia-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Afterpay and made it available to its online merchants in Australia and the US, per a press release. Merchants can accept Afterpay free of charge until May 10. Block said it will make Afterpay available for in-store purchases and on its developer platform in the coming weeks.

Following rollouts in Ireland and France, Square launched an early access program in Spain, where it can capitalize on rising digital payments use.