Live Q&A: Ask us anything about our new POS, Square Register

[katieand]

Hi Sellers,

On March 9 from 10am-11am PST, we hosted a Live Q&A all about Square Register! We had three leaders from the Square Register product team here to answer your questions.

Meet the people who brought you Square Register and who were here live on March 9 to reply to your comments and answer your questions:

Evan Doyle, Square Register - Software Product Manager
Evan @evandoyle is the Product Manager for Point of Sale software on Square Devices. Prior to that, he worked on the Square Point of Sale quality team and before that, on the Support team at Square. Before Square, he designed and directed educational outdoor programs for middle and high school students, and initially heard about (and fell in love with) Square from his college buddy who started a ski tuning business using one of the original Square Readers.

Laura Jones, Square Register - Product Marketing Manager
@lauraj is the Product Marketing Manager for the Square Register and led go-to-market strategy for the product. Prior to Square, she was a management consultant and worked in international development helping small businesses in Eastern Europe get plugged into the EU supply chain. She was also a regular point-of-sale user as a waitress in college.

Sara Sanchez, Square Register - Hardware Product Manager
@SaraSanchez is the Product Manager for Square Register. Previous to Square, she worked as Mobility Product Manager, Presales Technical Lead and SW Quality manager. Passionate about delivering great solutions to Square merchants and help them reach their goals!

A couple of example questions:

• What should I consider when making the switch from Square Stand to Square Register?
• What is the ideal set up for Square Register?
• What are the advantages of the customer display?

*Please note the date and time change, updated on 2/23. 

[douglsmith]

I wondered about that when we first got our Square Register. Then I realized that it doesn't matter. Customers are used to checkout displays scrolling the items by as they are rung up and not being able to see more than a certain number of lines. So the experience is no different than any other customer display at any other store. However, if there is a need we can let the customer know they can touch and scroll.

[SaraSanchez]

Hi @sinnary - Unfortunately, you can’t change the font on customer display. You can choose to display your business name or not, and choose to display a photo or not. Thanks for the feedback about scrolling - I’ve shared it with our designers!

[sinnary]

We need more "How To" do things.  It seems I must call in because all written and searchable documents are only for Square with iPad.  I can't find simple "how to" do's for Square Register.  

[katieand]

Hi @sinnary - Thanks for asking this question! Can you share a little bit more about what types of how-to's you'd like to see? This will help us find the right resources for you or at least point you in the direction!

[SaraSanchez]

👋 @sinnary - Just in case, let me share the link to the Square Register support page: https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6264

Here you can find interesting articles and videos that will help you getting started with your Square Register and also check how specific features work.

Beyond what you see in the link above, what else or what other types or how to’s would you like to see? Once you point us in a direction, one of the community team can follow up with some extra resources.

Thanks!

[sinnary]

Thanks. I literally took over the store 2 and a half weeks ago and this is my first time owning anything retail.  So, it's all been overwhelming to say the least.  I think we have a handle on it now, but there were often times that I did have to call in and the phone rep did have to walk me through, because there was no documentation.  Honestly, I can't remember at this point.  But, I noticed a store today that had a loyalty program that customers could log with their phone numbers.  Is that something that Square can do?  

[pessosices]

Yes Square can! We've been using it since August and we (and our Customers) love it!

Here's the overview page:

https://squareup.com/customer-engagement/loyalty

[deltaboundtn]

Hi, We recieved our Sqaure Resgister in Dec 2018 and we've only had 1 hiccup delaing with Network conncectivity.  We do have an IPAD stand setup for backup. The customer display, access to CHIP & tap is great for our setup.  

Can square look to allow changing of menu item quanities without having to delete the entire menu item?  

I would like to see a way to change printer text (size or font). The default setup is hard to read.

Will Square implement the Kitchen Monitor aspect?  

Also, does Square look to update their ON-Line Ordering?  I use CHOW NOW for my online ordering, but would rather use SQUARE (everything in one place).  Having our own Mobile app from CHOW NOW allows for easier ordering for our customers.

Thanks! 

[evandoyle]

Hi @deltaboundtn,

I’m glad you like your Register! For your first question, you can edit item quantities from the cart by tapping on the item. You can also edit inventory in the Items section of Register.

I’ll pass your printer text feedback along to the printers team at Square - thanks for sharing!

As for kitchen display systems, we do support an integration with FreshKDS. You can read more about it here.

Finally, for the online store integration, (as I said in response to @scappoosebagel and @barbecue) we’re aware of this limitation and are working on adding support for remote orders. It won’t be something that ships soon, but will be a bit further in the future.

[mallardlake]

Hi,

I'm considering getting the new square register but I'm concerned with the cord that attaches the small screen for customers to sign to the actual register. Is there an option for a longer cord? 

[SaraSanchez]

Hi @mallardlake, the current cord that attaches the buyer display to the seller display measures 39.3 inches. We don’t currently have an option for a longer cable however, I’m super interested to understand your setup and what length would work for you. Could you please provide more details? 😀

Here's a photo of the cable fully extended with a plant for reference 

Thanks a lot!

[douglsmith]

I was actually thinking the opposite and wondering if there was a shorter cable available. I only need about a 1ft cable so with the current cable I have to figure out what to do with the extra so it doesn't look cluttered on the counter.

[Helen]

Thanks for letting us know you'd like a shorter cable @douglsmith. I'll share that request with the Register team, I do see how it could clutter up your countertop even with twist ties!

In the meantime some sellers shared tips on how to manage cords in another post if you'd like to take a look. 👀

[wynnnnailspa]

We've just started using Square Register.   Under the "Modifier Sales" menu, how do we pull up the gross sales of the modifier's parent item — not the gross sales of the modifier itself?    Our modifiers don't have additional costs, but we'd like to how they impact sales in dollar amounts.

Thanks in advance.

[evandoyle]

Hi @wynnnnailspa,

You can’t see modifier sales in Register or the Point of Sale app, but you can on your Dashboard. While you can’t see parent item sales from the modifier sales view, I’d suggest using the custom reports feature to layer on what you’d like and create your own reports. Hope this helps! 

[Kyrail]

Square register has been great for our gift shop, however, my staff has experienced a glitch with the machine at times. The screen freezes and doesn't allow the staff to access the item list or select an item to be sold. The only way that I have found to fix this glitch is to toggle from the Checkout screen to the Items screen and then back to Checkout. Is this glitch being addressed in future updates?

[SaraSanchez]

Hi @Kyrail - Thank you for reporting this. Our software engineering teams have been investigating an occasional freeze in the Checkout section of Register, as you’ve described, that a few sellers have let us know about. We’ve added logging to so we can tell what’s going on when this happens, and are working with our quality teams to reproduce and fix the issue. I don’t have a timeline for a fix, but I assure you that it’s an important issue that we’re working on, and it will be fixed in a future software update. Keep your eye on release notes in the community for updates. 

[HoneyGirlFarms]

I recieved my register before a show. Set everything up and it worked great at home. When I travelled to the show and set up the reciept printer seemed to cause everything to act possessed. The wifi was sketchy, since we were relying on a hotspot for service, but once I disconnected the printer and restarted it, everything was working fine. Just curious as to if this was the environment or is it a hardware issue.

[evandoyle]

Hi @HoneyGirlFarms,

This sounds like an environmental issue. I’d suggest that you keep an eye on your Register’s performance in other environments and let us know if anything comes up. Also note that we did receive reports that a recent version of Square Register software had a subset of Star printers lose connection with the device. We’re addressing this in a subsequent update of the software, and the printer connection should be stable again. 

[WagBend]

One more questions on Rewards, sorry.

Our rewards on not a "discount" Rather a free item (dog bath) So a customer comes in with a code for a reward, we enter it in and it directly goes to where you add items to charge.

We dont need this to happen since there is no transaction taking place. I'm assuming the reward is still being taken off the customers reward star count?

Thanks in advance, sorry if I am confusing 

[evandoyle]

Hi @WagBend,

This is how loyalty works. You can set your reward amount - be it a discount or a free service or item - in your Dashbaord and then apply it to a sale when a customer returns. Rewards that customers earn are applied to the cart so you can track the ROI of the program.