Square Debuts Suite of Small Business Automation, Embedded Finance Tools

Commerce solutions provider Square has unveiled nearly 100 features to help its business customers grow.

The new features, announced Wednesday (April 12), offer sellers a way to enhance their revenue at a time when small and-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are feeling pinched.

“Square has more than 35 integrated tools, and they’re all designed to help sellers work smarter by automating their operations and creating new revenue streams,” Square CEO Alyssa Henry said in a news release.

“For the first time, we’re announcing new features across products all at once, because our strength lies in the integrated ecosystem of software, hardware, and embedded financial services. We have purpose-built vertical software products to serve industry-specific needs, and horizontal services products that serve multiple industries.”

Among the new features is Waitlists. As the name suggests, it lets sellers offer waitlists for appointments and services so they can ensure their schedules remain full.

There’s also Square Subscriptions, which “enables online buyers to subscribe to items or services on a recurring basis, generating repeatable, reliable new revenue streams for omnichannel sellers,” the release said.

Meanwhile, Square for Restaurants has integrated with OpenTable to let eateries speed up operations while gaining more insight into table turnaround times and reservation details.

“No matter the combination of products a seller uses, the new features we’re announcing today can all drive meaningful gains for SMBs as they navigate the year ahead,” Henry said.

And as PYMNTS research has shown, the year ahead could be a tough one for those SMBs, many of which are “operating on the edge,” as noted here earlier this week.

Our research found that most SMBs have access to enough cash reserves to stay open for two months or less if their sales dry up or they run into another cash flow shortfall, while 17% of these businesses reported having no access to funding at all.

“One sudden jolt in consumer demand puts these businesses at risk of closure, making it critical that these businesses consider pursuing financing options,” PYMNTS wrote.

That research is in keeping with the latest edition of National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index, which shows small businesses pessimistic about the economy amid high inflation, trouble borrowing and a tough hiring environment.

“Small business owners are cynical about future economic conditions,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said Tuesday (April 11). “Hiring plans fell to their lowest level since May 2020, but strong consumer spending has kept Main Street alive and supported strong labor demand.”