The smartphone market is bustling, and another market closely related to people's lives is also quietly changing.
It is actually wrong that people in developed countries like to use credit cards.
It should be said that people who are accustomed to spending first and then repaying, or who have to buy things when they have no money, are most likely to use credit cards to make purchases.
This ratio is much higher among people in Europe and the United States than among people in Japan and South Korea.
Basically, Americans have to swipe their cards even to buy a bottle of water. Except for small amounts of cash when tipping, they are not used to carrying cash with them.
To put it bluntly, they actually don’t have much money.
There are many poor people in the United States, but their welfare benefits are good, so the poor do not lack food or clothing.
Even middle-class people still need to buy houses, consume, travel, etc. Once their monthly salary arrives, more than half of it will be deducted by various credit card companies, and the rest must be reserved for their own medical care, etc.
You read that right.
Although the government-subsidized medical policy in the United States is very developed, the problem is that there are too few public hospitals, and you usually have to wait in line for a week, sometimes half a year or a year.
That’s why there are so many private hospitals in the United States. If you have money, you can enter a private hospital and you can get treatment right away. The level of doctors is still very high, but the condition is that you must be rich, so these middle class people have to prepare in advance.
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So don't look at foreign people bragging about how good they are. They all show you the best of themselves. Of course you will think it is paradise.
Our country, China, is not the same. When we show our national strength and conditions, we always show off our good things... and show others our bad side. That is a fool.
Back to the topic.
Americans' credit cards are part of their lives, so in order to accommodate their consumption, these merchants will naturally open many credit card POS machines.
However, credit card swiping fees for merchants are really too high.
Visa and Rard are aimed at ordinary small merchants, generally charging 3%-5%. American Express, the issuer of the legendary Supreme Card, the American Express Black Card, charges as high as 5.5%.
They are different for large merchants. For example, Wal-Mart's handling fee is only 1%-1.5%. It is clear at a glance how big the difference is.
Therefore, it is understandable that the prices of goods in small restaurants, shopping malls and other places in the United States are not cheap.
Recently, in June, a mobile payment card reader called Square began to appear, which is exactly a product targeted at this mobile payment market.
The square mobile card swiper is about the size of half a matchbox and can be inserted into the headphone jack of a mobile phone. Right above it is a card swipe slot similar to a POS machine card swiper. You can swipe your credit or debit card on it and you can
Enable credit card consumption.
According to the official description, the Square mobile card swipe converts the credit card magnetic stripe information into audio, and then supports the Square applications of the five major mobile phones: fairy system, ios system, bada system, Microsoft system, and Android system, and will convert the audio
It is converted into digital information, and then the payment information is transmitted to the server in an encrypted manner for payment and deduction, and finally the server feeds back to the application to display information on whether the card swipe was successful.
It doesn't matter if you don't have a credit card with you. You can also complete the transaction by manually entering your credit card information, password, etc. through the Square application on the merchant's mobile phone.
The entire transaction process is very strictly encrypted. It is impossible for the merchant to view the credit card account number and password you entered on your mobile phone, which ensures the security of the credit card.
Square mobile card reader has many benefits and advantages.
First of all, it is very convenient to use. As long as you call the Square company, you can get a Square mobile card swipe for free. At the same time, you only need a valid bank checking account and download the Square application to use the Square mobile card swiper.
Pay by card.
Then you can check it on Square's website based on the data slip number you swiped your card, and you can see the items and prices of your transaction, as well as the time and place of the transaction, all clearly indicated. This gives consumers
This provides them with great security and allows them to know their consumption status.
The same goes for merchants. According to their registered Square account, they can see their sales data and flow, and can store and analyze users' consumption information, which is very helpful.
The important thing is that its card swiping fee is very low. You only need to pay a fixed fee of 15 cents for each card swiping order, and a handling fee of 2.5%. In the previous life, their handling fee was 2.75%, but Xiao Qi is rich and there is no need to rely on handling fees.
I made a lot of money, so I directly reduced it by 0.25 percentage points. It was 0.5 percentage points cheaper than the 3% minimum fee of several major credit card alliances for small merchants. This adds up to a lot!
If you don’t bring a credit card and pay by manually entering your credit card account and password information, the handling fee is only 2.75%, plus a $15 fee for each card swipe. The previous square mobile card swipe rules, this method of manually entering credit card information
, the fee is 15 cents plus a handling fee of 3.5% of the transaction amount.
The square mobile card swipe is not only used by fixed merchants. For example, if you sell things at a flea market, you usually pay with cash in the past, but now with the square mobile card swiper, you can safely pay with a credit card.
The same goes for ordinary face-to-face transactions. A mobile phone and a square mobile card reader can solve the problem, which is safe and convenient.
It is precisely with so many benefits that the square mobile card reader has been developing rapidly in the United States since its launch more than a month ago.
More than 12 million small merchants in the United States have applied for and used Square mobile card swiping devices. The total number of individual applications has exceeded 7 million, and the total number of transactions has almost reached 20 million. Everyone is not afraid of waste, and you will be charged for using it anyway.
If you don’t use it, there is no fee.
The number of American credit cards issued by Visa is 210 million and Rard is 180 million. Except for children who are not eligible to receive cards, basically all Americans have their credit cards.
Compared with the number of credit cards issued by the two super giants, mobile payment service platforms such as Square, which also charge merchant fees, currently appear to be very weak, accounting for basically one-tenth of their share.
And this is only in the United States. The number of visa and Rard cards issued globally exceeds 3 billion, and the square mobile card reader has only begun to develop in the United States.
But there are many smart people in the world, such as Visa and Rard, including American Express, Japan JB and other companies. After seeing the prospect of the popular mobile payment platform of Square mobile card swipe device, they immediately contacted Square company's EO.
Jack Buppa, the vice president of operations of the third-party payment platform Paypal, wants to fully acquire Square.
Anyway, credit card issuing companies are all super powerful and have no shortage of money.
As soon as you hear the name Paypal, you will know that Jack Buppa is an old friend of Hoffman, and he was only willing to come after being invited by Hoffman. For this reason, Xiao Qi gave him an annual salary of 3 million US dollars and 1% of Square shares.
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Jack Buppa is a smart man, so he knows how promising Square will be, so even when he heard JB's full acquisition offer of up to 1 billion US dollars, he was not moved at all.
He just revealed the names of the company's founders and largest shareholders, and these giant credit card issuing companies immediately ceased operations.
As soon as the news spread, everyone was shocked.
It’s the company of the world’s richest man, Xiao Qi, again!
It’s Xiao Qi’s creativity again!
How smart and knowledgeable is he? It seems that as long as it is related to the Internet and intelligence, there is not much he has not dabbled in!
Relying on this sensational publicity, the square mobile card swipe quickly rushed into the Canadian market, setting an astonishing record of shipping 1 million square mobile card swipers in one week.
You know, Canada is famous for its small population. The total population is only 40 million, and 1 million Square mobile card readers account for at least one-third of their small shops!
However, Square, which is so popular in the United States, has no intention of taking the opportunity to launch into the European market.
Because Xiao Qi told Jack Buppa that after the first step is successful, the only thing left is to continue to stabilize the basic base of the North American market. After occupying 80% of the mobile card swiping business and more than 30% of the credit card swiping market,
Only then did I consider expanding overseas.
Stabilizing the market is one thing, and the other is that Europe's debt crisis is about to break out.
Under such a bad financial environment, credit card consumption will be weakened to the greatest extent. Even several credit card giants are complaining, and Square, which has just entered the market, will not join in the fun.
Although Jack Buppa felt that Xiao Qi was too conservative, he also admired Xiao Qi's stability.
It is easy to set up a good company and it is easy to become famous, but it is not easy to prosper for a long time.
Only this kind of cautious and steady company can take root in the depths of the market and gain maximum benefits!
(Brothers, please subscribe more!) (To be continued)