Dive Brief:

• Amid a broader shift to contactless payments, QuickBooks has created the QuickBooks Card Reader, allowing small business owners to accept payments and reconcile their transactions in its accounting software, according to a press release emailed to Payments Dive. The card reader also integrates with the QuickBooks mobile app.
• The reader comes with an LED display that guides customers through their transactions, a customizable tipping function and compliance notifications to update business owners on local payment regulations, the company said.
• This summer, QuickBooks also plans to introduce the QuickBooks Power Stand, a portable countertop payments hub that can charge the card reader. The card reader is priced at $49, and the power stand will be for sale at $39, or business owners can purchase both for $79, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Intuits’ introduction of the Quickbooks digital card reader and portable payments hub follows the rise of contactless payments, a trend catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In an April 2021 survey, the company found that nearly half (46%) of small businesses began processing contactless payments during the coronavirus pandemic, and about a third (30%) of those that accept payments via mobile payment apps also started doing so during the coronavirus pandemic. 

As QuickBooks enters the point-of-sale business, it's vying for market share in competition with startups and payment veterans alike. Last month, card giant Visa began piloting its tap-to-phone payment service for U.S. sellers, letting them take tap payments on their smartphones. In April, Podium, a payments and communications company, introduced its card readers, which collect payments and facilitate post-transaction interactions with customers via loyalty and engagement programs. And earlier this month, online payments provider PayPal rolled out its Zettle point-of-sale hardware in the U.S. after launching it in the U.K. last year.

“These industry-leading payment hardware solutions that pair seamlessly with the QuickBooks platform further enhance our robust end-to-end payments offering for small businesses and provide flexibility depending on how they do business and how their customers want to pay,” Rania Succar, senior vice president of Intuit QuickBooks Money Offerings, said in an emailed statement.

Over the past two years, Intuit has released additional money management tools to assist small businesses. In 2019, the company launched its Instant Deposit service in collaboration with card giant Visa to provide independent businesses with immediate access to their funds. Last summer, the company also debuted its QuickBooks Cash accounts, which pay 1% interest to small businesses using them along with its accounting software and mobile apps.

While QuickBooks customers had access to a type of card reader in the past, the new QuickBooks product is the first payments hardware designed as a suite, with a new type of antenna along with LED display and touch functions, said Clare Nordstrom, a spokeswoman for the company.