Shopify is launching its retail hardware and point-of-sale app for merchants in the UK. The reader supports tap, chip and swipe payments, letting retailers accept both contactless and traditional card-based payments, and the free app works in tandem with the reader device on either iPhone or iPad.
The Shopify app and reader combo means sellers can accept a range of payment options at festivals, pop-up shops, or in permanent stores, and it also ties the in-store shopping experience to a merchant’s online store, if they’re using Shopify to power their e-commerce.
Shopify’s card reader hardware costs £59 and is available for pre-order today, with a limited time discount of £20. The app is free to use, as mentioned, with credit card rates starting at 1.6 percent with no per purchase fee.
“The UK is Shopify’s second largest market,” Hailey Coleman, Product Growth Manager at Shopify, told TechCrunch via email. “The launch of the Shopify POS app and card reader provides small business owners an easy and secure way to accept payments anywhere. Now merchants in the UK can run their entire business with Shopify.”
Shopify’s reader/software combo coming to U.K. also gives retailers a fairly easy way to get up to speed with the latest mobile payment tech: the reader supports Android Pay and Apple Pay automatically, thanks to its built-in NFC contactless capability.