Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, has today expanded its in-person payment options by enabling businesses in the UK to accept Tap to Pay on iPhone.
From farmers selling at markets, to plumbers doing home repairs, and beauticians in salons, businesses on Stripe can now seamlessly and securely accept in-person payments with Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone technology—no additional hardware or payment terminal needed.
“Tap to Pay on iPhone means millions of UK businesses can now accept contactless payments with a device that many of us already have in our back pockets”, said Ruhi Dang, EMEA product manager at Stripe. “For a small business, this easy-to-deploy technology means they can accept contactless payments from more customers in more places, and scale quickly.”
Start with an iPhone and Stripe Terminal
Tap to Pay on iPhone provides more flexibility for UK businesses to accept all types of in-person contactless payments using only an iPhone and the Stripe Terminal SDK.
At checkout, the merchant will simply prompt the customer to hold their contactless credit or debit card, iPhone or Apple Watch, or other digital wallet near the merchant’s iPhone, and the payment will be securely completed using NFC technology. Tap to Pay on iPhone also supports PIN entry, which includes accessibility options.
Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone technology uses the built-in features of iPhone to keep the business and customer data private and secure. When a payment is processed, Apple doesn’t store card numbers on the device or on Apple servers.
Flexible payments to grow your revenue
The UK’s largest digital bank, Monzo, is partnering with Stripe to allow its hundreds of thousands of business banking customers to accept contactless payments on their iPhone, wherever they are.
“Getting paid is a pain point for so many businesses and we hear from our customers just how important it is to make this process easy and quick,” said Jordan Shwide, head of business banking at Monzo. “That's why we’re offering Tap to Pay on iPhone, to make accepting payments on the move simpler and to make sure our business customers can focus more on doing what they love.”
Payment platform Lopay offers Tap to Pay on iPhone capabilities to its business customers, who range from electricians to pet groomers. By using Stripe’s financial infrastructure to accept payments, issue cards, and manage payouts, Lopay ensures its customers get their earnings instantly.
“It takes a few minutes for a small business owner to start accepting payments on their iPhone, and those who also have a Lopay card can access their earnings instantly,” commented Ollie Mahoney, co-founder and CTO of Lopay. “A taxi driver can collect a fare on their iPhone, drive to the nearest petrol station, and use that money to fill up the tank. Getting set up and having quick access to funds makes a real difference to the cash flow of a small business.”
This technology is also transforming the charitable sector. UK-based social fundraising platform givestar uses Stripe to offer Tap to Pay on iPhone to hundreds of thousands of fundraisers across the UK, from the teams at Save the Children and the Red Cross, to corporate charity, and individual fundraisers.
“The impact Tap to Pay on iPhone is having on charitable fundraising through givestar is huge and is greatly needed given the decline of cash,” explained givestar co-founder Alex Coleridge. “Being able to collect a donation on your iPhone makes it far easier to raise money, whether that be at the pub, the office or even a marathon start-line. This technology is already opening up fundraising to a younger audience and that’s critical for the future of the charity sector.”
A new way to enable unified commerce
Stripe customers can now use Tap to Pay on iPhone to implement a unified commerce solution that does not rely on stationary hardware. With unified commerce, systems and data are consolidated into a single platform, enabling businesses to unify their reporting, understand customer behaviour better, personalise experiences and recommendations, and reward loyalty.
“Larger businesses have been using Stripe to create cohesive customer experiences across their different sales channels for years. Tap to Pay on iPhone offers a new way to build an efficient and cost-effective unified commerce model,” added Ruhi Dang, EMEA product manager at Stripe.