Stripe extends its infrastructure to in-person shopping

Stripe on Monday rolled out a new product that allows online businesses to build their own custom checkout experiences for in-person shoppers. The product, called Stripe Terminal, extends Stripe's e-commerce presence to the world of offline commerce -- which still accounts for 90 percent of retail sales.

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Stripe Terminal comprises three parts: a set of SDKs and APIs developers can use to build a custom checkout experience for web or mobile apps, card readers from Stripe's hardware partners (BBPOS or Verifone), and software for managing multiple connected devices from the Stripe dashboard.

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Some major online retailers -- Warby Parker and Glossier -- are already using Stripe's tools for both in-person shopping and e-commerce.

In addition to serving retailers, Stripe Terminal caters to booking and commerce platforms that host services for other merchants. For instance, Mindbody, the booking platform for yoga studios and fitness centers, has signed up to use Stripe Terminal.

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Because Stripe Terminal is integrated with other Stripe services, it can facilitate further customer interactions. For instance, a customer visiting a Mindbody studio could pay at the studio using a Stripe Terminal card reader. Stripe Terminal could store the card information, with end-to-end encryption enabled, so the yoga studio could then let that customer book future classes online without having to input their card information again.

Pricing for Stripe Terminal includes a per-transaction processing fee of 2.7 percent and 5 cents. Card readers from Stripe's hardware partners range from $59 for mobile readers and $299 for countertop smart terminals. Stripe Terminal is available in the US now, with more countries coming soon.

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