Case study

Shopwave

Summary

  • Shopwave POS is designed for large retail brands and quick-service restaurants globally that want to manage their front-end and back-end business in a single software solution.
  • Shopwave chose Square for its renowned brand, reliable platform, and the fact that customers get paid exceptionally fast.
  • Shopwave built the integration with the Square Terminal API in a couple of days, powered by clear API documentation and open communication with the Developer Support team.
  • Shopwave rolled out the Terminal API integration to Rainbo, a UK-based food truck, and plans to scale to other businesses in the UK.

Background

Shopwave is a POS software designed for large retail brands and quick-service restaurants globally to manage front-end experiences for customers and back-end business needs. The platform includes a collection of applications that form the backbone of these businesses, from kitchen display screens to ordering kiosks to inventory tracking and reporting.

Shopwave was founded by Julian Polzella and Ben Brown, former co-founders of a coupon company. While working with customers to activate coupons, they quickly discovered that many businesses were dissatisfied with their POS systems. When their coupon company was acquired, Julian and Ben set out to solve this problem by creating a global, customizable POS solution that serves retail brands and quick-service restaurants across a wide range of geographic markets.

Building with Square

Shopwave had Square on its radar for a few years, particularly because many retailers were already using Square for payments. “It was important to partner with a payments provider that would match, if not elevate, Shopwave’s brand,” said Ben Brown, co-founder and CEO at Shopwave. “Square was an easy choice. Their platform uptime and status updates are consistently reliable, their team is highly responsive, and our customers get paid faster than with any other payments provider.”

When the Square Terminal API was released in alpha, the Shopwave team quickly joined the early-access program. This payments integration enables their UK customers to accept contactless and card payments with Square, which was not previously possible with the U.S.-only Square Reader SDK.

“We were able to build with Terminal API in just a couple of days, which is exceptionally fast compared to other integrations. The API documentation was clear and the Developer Support team was eager to help. Plus, our customers are utterly impressed by Square Terminal. It is truly best in class.”

Julian Polzella, co-founder and CTO at Shopwave

Rolling Out Terminal to Sellers

Shopwave plans to roll out the Terminal API integration to businesses across the UK. The first customer to use Square Terminal integrated with Shopwave’s POS is Rainbo, a multi-location food truck based in London. Rainbo was previously using a different payment processor that did not accept contactless payments and had limited credit card support. With Square Terminal, Rainbo has unlocked flexible payment options and is excited to bring Square with them as they open their second location in the near future.