The power to change the world: Square uses big data to change your consumption behavior

The most important final step of the 2013-year IPO, also known as changing consumer behavior and the rules of the industry, is big Data.

Just finished the lunch meeting, rush to see the next customer, then you, need a cup of coffee, so as to boost the spirit of the afternoon. Slide on the phone screen, the location of the nearby café, gave you a coupon, mobile phone map marked, café located in front of the 50 meters not far. You enter a room Aroma café, ordered a cup of favorite black coffee and a little milk, the clerk to help you checkout the same time, the pocket of the phone automatically induction, the price after the discount payment.

From the minutes you go into the café, the checkout table, no cash, no credit card, no mobile phone, this automatic trading scenario has been staged every day in the US and Canada, and the service provider behind it is the action payment technology company Square.

Square is the hottest star in the Silicon Valley of the United States now. It was hailed as the most anticipated IPO after Facebook, by the American magazine Initial public offerings, and the "Fast Company" in Technology magazine named Square as " The world's 50 Xin Chuang Company ", founder of many West (Jack Dorsey) by the global reputation as the next" jobs. "

Since its inception in 2009, Square has accumulated 75,000 businesses in just three years, with a staff count of 80 in 2011 and more than 300 today. According to Privco.com, Square received only 2 million dollars in 2010, and a year later, it grew to 42.5 million dollars. According to statistics, Square's annual turnover in 2012 has been as high as $10 billion.

Create a checkout counter without "cash"

"Just as PayPal was changing online shopping, square is changing the action shopping!" "The advent of square has revolutionized the credit card companies and payments industries," the magazine said.

In the past, if the stores need to accept credit card consumption, they must first apply to the card issuing agencies, fill out one after another application, a few days, and then sent by the card issuer for on-site review, can be installed on the card machine. On the contrary, the card connector sent by Square, 90% in the same day that the letter back, two days, received the connector.

When the iphone is installed, the store can begin to accept the swipe card, charge a 2.75% fee per transaction, or pay 275 dollars a month to enjoy square service.

"We just want to make the transaction more convenient, even if a mom and dad's family café, it should have such a convenient service!" "Doxycycline points out that large chains can create a competitive advantage through the comparison of operating numbers and commercial software analysis, and that the role of square is to serve small and medium businesses and to lower the entry threshold for every aspect of payment.

The "card connector" is just the first step in the square rewrite action to pay the market, and then it uses big Data to completely change the consumer's habits, which is what square is really worth.

The Square register is like a set of commercial software, using transaction data statistics, from the checkout process, to the back-end customer relationship management, business strategy planning, all put forward innovative practices, and businesses in addition to membership fees, but also what to prepare?

The answer is an ipad or an iphone.

Square began to innovate at the checkout of the store and create a checkout counter without a "cash" deal.

"The death of the cash!" "Fortune Star" (Fortune) magazine in this title, a special article on Square's latest initiative.

In the case of coffee shops, consumers, after downloading the square app, upload photos, register the relevant information, the next consumption, simply approached the counter, mobile phone can be through the GPS sensor, automatically connected to the store system, when you finish the coffee, the clerk saw the screen screen, is through the induction and jumped out of the name, photos, the correct, Can be directly from your pocket of the mobile phone to deduct, in the process, not only do not need cash transactions, even mobile phones do not have to take out.

But don't think that square is capable of these, in fact, the biggest business opportunities in their backstage service. "Just like the Web traffic analysis system, even a small independent café, like Starbucks, knows what the weather should be selling," Doxycycline said.

For small and medium-sized businesses, in the past, we must rely on the learning costs accumulated by experience, and now, through data alignment, can quickly forecast and respond to the needs of consumers like large chain brands.

"Immediate" big business opportunities in the background

Square's back-office services with an hourly unit of data analysis, all the alleys of the pizza restaurant, laundry, or corner of the grocery, can analyze each point in the customer unit price, the number of visitors, best-selling goods and other figures, the digital into information, become inventory, ordering, marketing level strategy.

In fact, square from an external card service provider, to the back-end of the data computing services, aimed at the customer each transaction to optimize the target, it is to go into the marketing area, tight customer marketing budget.

And through the Square Register and app to build a bridge between the store and the consumer, so that the stores can be their own information log on the "location" of the main directory.

When consumers walk into each block, they are able to identify the stores that work with square in the vicinity, while Square pushes the coupons to consumers. Not only that, but by simply extending the opportunity to every moment of "instant", when the store launches an instant promotional campaign, it can get the fastest and most accurate marketing benefits through square.

Manage the relationship between "Li" and "Shang"

From payment, operational management to marketing, the square, which plays big data applications, has been planning CRM (Customer relationship Management) functions. In addition to the use of photo comparison, consumer records, to understand the habit of regulars, improve the quality of service, Square's "gift card" allows consumers to "give each other" gifts.

If your best friend has just moved out of the house, you can go through the square App, search for a partner in the neighborhood of a friend's new home, a gardening, furniture store or supermarket, buy a 50-dollar electronic voucher, send it directly to a buddy's cell phone, and he can spend it directly.

Similarly, the store can also use gift cards, as regulars, VIP members of exclusive concessions to maintain customer loyalty.

Square through instant, operation of the data operations, play their own advantages, in the business and consumers in each link, find new services, the accumulation of nearly three years, the results began to emerge, the last round of fundraising, including the Starbucks investment of 25 million U.S. dollars, so that square market value of more than 3.2 billion U.S. dollars.

"square's partnership with Starbucks will lead to a wave of national action payments, the magazine said. "Star Bak is a quarterly revenue of more than 3 billion U.S. dollars, the United States has more than 7,000 stores."

Square consolidates its leadership in the field of payment, reaching its peak after establishing cooperation with Apple Passbook. The Apple Passbook, which has at least 400 million registered credit card holders, is like a needle in the world's expectation of the future of action-paying markets.

"Look" tight consumer purse

According to the forecasts of the research institutions, the U.S. action payment market has reached 11 billion U.S. dollars, three years will grow to 57 billion. The results of the National Retail Federation survey also showed that, while the retail sector, which currently uses the mobile-dot device, accounted for only 6%, half of the respondents planned to use the device in the next 1.5.

Through square Wallet, not only do you want to improve the efficiency of payments, including personal accounting and financial management functions, Square wants to cross the field. Doxycycline pointed out that many unhealthy consumption behavior, loans, card debt is due to lack of data analysis.

"In the end, all the deals in the world will be through us!" "So much so that the ultimate goal of square is portrayed. When square can predict your spending decisions, it's not hard to imagine how its future advertising and marketing operations will be rebuilt.

It's no wonder that square, with big data gripping businesses and consumers, is predicted by global experts to be the biggest IPO of the year 2013, because it is unlimited to grow from the data gold rush.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)