Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, today unveiled Stripe Reader S700 to help businesses bring their online and in-person payments experiences closer together than ever before.
The new, Android-based smart reader is “part of Stripe Terminal, a set of developer interfaces, pre-certified card readers, and logistics management tools.”
Stripe Reader S700 is “the latest demonstration of Stripe’s commitment to in-person payments, following the launch of Stripe Reader M2 in 2021, Stripe’s 2022 acquisition of BBPOS for manufacturing, and Stripe’s launch of Tap to Pay on iPhone in 2022 and Tap to Pay on Android in 2023.”
Stripe Reader S700 is described as “a powerful handheld or countertop device with premium features like a high-definition screen and long battery life” that can support diverse use cases:
- Restaurants can use it to accept tableside orders, payments, and tips.
- Movie theaters can use it to sell tickets at the box office or to patrons waiting in line at the door.
- Concert promoters can sell merchandise wherever the show takes place—whether it’s a surprise rooftop performance or a multiday festival out in the desert.
- Fitness studios can use it to provide waivers, accept payments for single classes, and sign up customers for memberships.
Kate Brennan, head of product for Terminal at Stripe, said:
“Stripe Terminal users are constantly creating new commerce experiences. They need a flexible, all-in-one device that can keep up, and which works with their existing integration. With Stripe Reader S700, we are providing a dynamic, customizable point-of-sale device. It is ideal for businesses that want to create unique in-person checkout flows that travel easily from the counter to the curb.”
Stripe Reader S700 goes further than traditional payments hardware by “providing on-reader customizations for different business needs.”
Businesses can brand their splash screen and run custom apps “for taking orders, offering loyalty programs, collecting customer information, and more.”
Stripe Reader S700 works “on the same integration as all other Terminal devices, meaning businesses can start using it right away.”
Online and in-person payments without the complexity
Recent research shows “that 64% of shoppers worldwide prefer brands with both an online and in-store presence.”
Stripe’s payments platform “combined with Stripe Reader S700 allows businesses to create a unified system that analyzes data in-store and online to keep up with shifting customer preferences.”
For example, Stripe’s online checkout can “capture a customer’s preferred payment method alongside their loyalty program and then pass that information to the physical store, where it’s accessible on Stripe Reader S700 when that customer walks in to make a purchase.”
Orders placed on Stripe Reader S700 “can sync with a business’s inventory management and a customer’s online order history.”
Sasha Koehn, cofounder of Buck Mason, said:
“When we founded Buck Mason, we obsessed over both our retail and ecommerce checkout experiences. Stripe Reader S700 works with our proprietary POS platform, Pima, giving us a unified view of our business and making our in-person shopping experience as delightful as our online store.”
Businesses can “order and manage fleets of Stripe Reader S700 devices across multiple locations within the Stripe Dashboard, or their own dashboards via an API. In either dashboard, businesses can view connectivity status, customize settings by location, automatically deploy software updates to a fleet of readers, and diagnose payments issues as they arise.”
Dripos, an all-in-one platform “for coffee shops and restaurants, recently adopted Stripe Reader S700 for in-person payments.”
Stripe Reader S700 is “one of many ways to accept in-person payments with Stripe Terminal.”
Others include:
- Tap to Pay, which enables businesses to accept contactless payments with a compatible iPhone or Android device and the Stripe Terminal SDK.
- Stripe Reader M2, a low-cost, portable mobile card reader available in the US.
- BBPOS WisePad 3, a mobile card reader with a small display screen and pin pad, specifically built for Stripe’s global users.
- BBPOS WisePOS E, a countertop smart reader with global compatibility in all Terminal-supported countries.
Stripe Reader S700 will be “available this summer in the US and by the end of the year in all 23 countries where Stripe Terminal is available.”