Leaf, creator of a mobile Point of Sale (POS) tablet specifically designed for commerce, today announced the introduction of Payment Apps, a first-of-its-kind marketplace through which merchant acquirers directly market their payment processing services to merchants using the Leaf POS system.
The Payment Apps marketplace is seamlessly integrated into the Leaf POS platform, enhancing visibility, creating branding opportunities for processors, and providing merchants with more insight into their processing options.
The marketplace offers a wide range of benefits to payment services providers, including increased sales via online referrals; an online profile highlighting key differentiators; improved customer retention via in-product branding, messaging, and upselling; and brand reminders every time the Leaf tablet is used to swipe a card. It also provides a convenient way for merchant acquirers to stay connected to their payment processor services through Leaf's back office POS platform.
Merchants increasingly perceive processing as a commoditized service, and Payment Apps helps to reverse the trend by adding real-time, in-POS product marketing that deepens the merchant-processor relationship. Injecting core payment products directly into Leaf's POS system enables payment providers to reach merchants while they're searching for a payment solution, and offers continuous opportunities for payment processors to promote their brand and upsell appropriate services by way of marketing messages on Leaf's tablet and within its cloud-based back office tools.
"Our merchant customers often ask for our advice when choosing a payment provider, and their need for more insight into the market and its offerings is what inspired us to create the Payment Apps marketplace," said Aron Schwarzkopf, co-founder and CEO of Leaf. "Now we can guide our customers to Payment Apps, where they are empowered to make an educated decision based on the needs of their small business."
The Payment Apps marketplace enables merchants to affordably integrate and leverage new mobile technologies as they adapt to an ever-changing business landscape. By providing merchants with the tools they need to make a smart choice at a critical point in their growth—as they sign up with a payment processing company—Payment Apps ensures that merchants are matched with an acquirer that best aligns with their business goals.
The marketplace offers merchants a new and easy way to navigate a broad variety of credit, debit, gift card, and mobile wallet providers in one place. Unlike many traditional and new mobile POS companies, Leaf empowers merchants to set up an independent agreement with a payment processor directly—without incurring a payment rate markup. In addition, Leaf earns no processing residuals from merchant acquirers.