Stripe expands real-world payments system to Ireland

Payments technology company Stripe is expanding its real-world point-of-sale product Terminal to five European countries, including Ireland.

The system, which was launched in the United States in September, is built for so-called “born on the internet” brands that are expanding into brick-and-mortar stores, eliminating the need to have a different payments system for in-person payments.

The expansion will see Stripe Terminal also come to France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands.

“Over the last decade it has become much easier to accept in-person or online payments. But as soon as you want to do both, it would get complex and challenging,” said Matt Henderson, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business lead at Stripe. “The expansion of Stripe Terminal means businesses in Europe and around the world can easily unify their in-person and online payments experiences.”

There are three elements to Stripe Terminal: tools to create a custom checkout experience using web or mobile apps; pre-certified card readers that support card, contactless and mobile wallets, secured with end-to-end encryption; and fleet management features for managing and monitoring hardware across multiple locations.

Among the businesses already signed up for Stripe Terminal are Taxi.de and Indy Cinema Group, along with retailers such as Glossier and Warby Parker. Global platform Shopify is also using Terminal to build its in-person checkout.

“For Shopify merchants, integrating their offline and online businesses is crucial, and that includes payments,” said Shimona Mehta, managing director, EMEA for Shopify. “We are seeing hybrid shopping take on greater importance for consumers this coming Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The expansion of Stripe Terminal will mean that more of our merchants can manage in-person and online payments through Shopify, streamlining their workflows to provide a greater consumer experience.”

Stripe, which was founded by Limerick brothers Patrick and John Collison in 2009, employs more than 1,000 people globally and handles billions of dollars in transactions each year.

Separately, Stripe’s president John Collison said the digital payments company has no “immediate” plans to go public. “We’re very happy as a private company,” Mr Collison said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. “I think for us part of that and part of our patience stems from the fact that it feels like we’re very early in Stripe’s journey.”