Square, the digital payments firm, recently got candid about three new developer tools. With these tools, developers now have the liberty to build on top of Square Online for the first time, along with early access to its most awaited Snippets API for Square Online.
The company revealed these tools at its fifth annual partner and developer conference, Square Unboxed.
Details of tools
Snippets API is the first API developed on top of Square Online and is engineered to allow developers to build plugins to help sellers create new online experiences. The ability to make extensions for Square Online was the most in-demand feature requested by developers over the past year, considering the surge in online trade.
Square explains that by merging Snippets API with other Square APIs, developers can create new and innovative ways for seller user engagement. The company further mentioned that this will enable added security to initial sales, increase conversion rates, and build long-term loyalty.
Fomo, the social proof marketing platform, says that it has leveraged Snippets API and has displayed unobtrusive customer interaction notifications on features such as live traffic, purchases, and reviews.
During Square Unboxed, the company also revealed information on the general availability of Loyalty API and Web Payments SDK, its two brand-new tools with the potential to augment and expand the benefits of online selling.
On the technical front, the new Loyalty API facilitates developers to use Square Loyalty rewards programs to offer an omnichannel loyalty experience to Square sellers. At the same time, the Web Payments SDK provides a customizable online payment platform ready to be integrated into an e-commerce website.
Additionally, the SDK supports numerous payment methods, including ACH (Automated Clearing House) bank payments, which is essential as Square continues to serve larger sellers.
What do experts say?
Fomo CEO Hideko Tachibana said, “We help our users build trust and urgency with prospective shoppers by showing that other customers are engaging with the online store in real-time, just like the online equivalent to a busy store.”
She added, “Square Online sellers can easily embed Fomo with just one click, without needing to touch any code. From a technical perspective, the Snippets API was straightforward and easy to use, and our devs were able to get a working solution in just a couple of hours.”
David Rusenko, Square’s GM of eCommerce, said, “Omnichannel payments were a recurring theme at the conference, and Squares online growth has been especially strong in the past year, achieving more than x2 growth in active sellers each quarter since the beginning of 2020.”
Square’s Head of Partner Management, Gabriella Hernandez, said, “The partner initiatives have grown rapidly in recent years. She says that since 2018, the number of 90-day active developers building solutions for sellers on Squares platform has grown more than 30% annually and that Square also saw nearly 50% annual growth since 2018 in seller adoption of partner solutions.”
