Stripe, an international financial infrastructure platform, recently announced that Stripe Terminal is currently available in Singapore, making it convenient for companies to create custom checkout experiences for accepting in-person payments, along with unifying client experience and data across online and in-person transfers.
Although selling items online has become a lot easier, extending sales to in-person meant bringing together point-of-sale hardware and software, effectively managing burdensome security and certification processes, as well as complying with changing regulatory and hardware needs.
As noted in the update, Stripe Terminal aims to lower this complexity by offering a simple, omnichannel payments solution via its suite of developer solutions (APIs and SDKs) as well as pre-certified card readers.
Stripe Terminal aims to make it easy to create custom checkout experiences for accepting in-person payments, allowing technology-forward companies to streamline their checkout experience.
As mentioned in the announcement, Stripe Terminal provides businesses across industry segments with various reader options and features like tipping.
Fast-growing firms such as Castlery and Plato are currently using Stripe Terminal to support omnichannel payments.
By combining Stripe Terminal with Stripe Connect, platform businesses may offer merchants with the capability to take in-person and online payments at scale.
Four in ten APAC firms depend on a software platform to operate and to service clients.
For instance, Plato, which claims to be Singapore’s most “popular” web-based clinic management software, currently enables over 2,200 healthcare providers across the Southeast Asian region to accept in-person transfers via their clinics and online at scale with Stripe.
Remi Kanji, Co-founder of Plato Medical, stated:
“Plato is a Clinic’s Operating System – it automates work across the patient journey, from a patient’s first appointment to their final bill. Integrating with Stripe Terminal was a no-brainer for Plato as it eliminates double entry errors and simplifies payment reconciliation for clinics. Beyond automation, Plato encourages clinics to run a ‘Contactless Clinic’. Clinics using Plato can allow patients to make their own appointments online, self-register their details from their handphone, and even sign consent forms from their own device. The PlatoPay Terminal reduces a touchpoint by letting clinic staff control their payment terminal remotely, enabling them to maintain social distance while serving patients.”
In addition, platforms such as Plato are able to manage orders for Stripe Terminal hardware on behalf of their merchants while having a “360-degree” customer view and unified onboarding, reporting, and reconciliation.
Stripe Terminal provides fleet management features for managing and monitoring hardware at scale across different locations or connected accounts—directly via the Stripe Dashboard.
Almost 67% of furniture shopping currently takes place in stores, the announcement revealed.
This is why online companies such as Castlery are eager to extend their business presence into the physical world.
With Stripe Terminal, Castlery has created a customized in-store experience and gets a holistic perspective of online and in-person sales.
Travers Tan, co-founder and SVP of Sales, Castlery remarked:
“Stripe Terminal enables our team to be untethered from the cash registers, freeing them up to roam the showroom and provide our clients with more personalised attention. This seamless experience is crucial for Castlery as furniture is an important purchase and requires dedicated assistance so that customers can pick the right pieces to enjoy in their homes for years to come. The new wireless function was easy to integrate into our Point-Of-Sale systems so we could help our customers checkout anytime, anywhere without disruption to the in-person interaction.”
With Stripe Terminal, firms such as Castlery will know when a client has purchased items online, then returns to buy something in store, and may tailor their customer experience accordingly.
As explained in the update, this also helps the finance team with the reconciliation process.
Instead of printing out accounts for offline and online payments, and spending time tracking different codes and transfers, all transaction data is available in the Stripe Dashboard.
As noted in the announcement, companies may choose to reward customer loyalty more easily by providing an incentive or discount when they notice repeat purchases from the same client(s) on the dashboard.
Sarita Singh, Head of Revenue and Growth for Southeast Asia at Stripe, said:
“With the digital economy booming and customers returning to stores post-pandemic, it’s crucial for platforms and businesses to stay ahead of the curve and reimagine how they can better integrate their virtual and in-person experiences for their customers. Stripe Terminal will help businesses streamline payment flows and provide a holistic view of their customer. By introducing Stripe Terminal and other recently launched services such as Stripe Tax in Singapore, Stripe wants to equip businesses with the right kind of tools to unlock the kind of growth that is as dynamic and ambitious as they are.”
Terminal works with the Stripe platform, including Payments, Connect, Billing, and more to enhance client experience via online and offline channels.