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Intuit Inc.’s QuickBooks is looking to take a bigger bite of in-store commerce with the launch of a new card-reader product.
The company, best known for its accounting software, already processes payments through invoices and some payments hardware, but it’s betting that its new reader, which is the first that Intuit has designed exclusively, will hold appeal with small businesses conducting in-person commerce.
The card reader will sell for $49, and QuickBook plans to introduce a $39 power stand for the device later this summer that will allow businesses to charge both the reader and a phone or tablet. Business owners will be able to input the prices of items into QuickBooks software on their mobile devices, and the total price will appear on the reader for customers to see. Customers will then have the option to tip by pressing buttons on the card reader, without having to touch the business owner’s phone or tablet to enter a tip amount.
“We believe this is going to fuel our leadership in the payments space,” said Rania Succar, the senior vice president for money offerings at Intuit QuickBooks. She noted that those using QuickBooks for its payments offerings “increasingly” use the platform for other functions like banking and lending.
See also: PayPal takes on Square with launch of card readers in the U.S.
The card reader will work alongside Intuit’s
INTU,
broader suite of QuickBooks business software. Succar said that the company already processes $65 billion of payments annually, primarily through its invoice product, and that the integrated financial offerings give businesses the ability to forecast cash flows for several months out.
The card reader space has been hot lately, with PayPal Holdings Inc.
PYPL,
recently announcing its own launch of a reader product in the U.S.
