📣 The 2021 Square Unboxed Hackathon — results are in!

[Tom]

Hi Seller Community!

For the second year in a row, we hosted a hackathon for developers to build software applications for Square Sellers. New for developers in 2021: There are special prizes for the best solutions for Square Terminal, Square Snippets API (which allows developers to modify Square Online), and Web Payments SDK.

Participation worked the same as it did last year. In order to ensure that this competition produces solutions that help solve real challenges sellers are experiencing, we needed sellers' help. There were two ways to participate.

Option 1: Share a challenge prompt for participants to solve

If you're a Square Seller, please share the challenges your business is experiencing. For example, here are some of the challenges that have come up over the last few months:

⚙ Some shop owners may need more streamlined fulfillment solutions to accommodate online ordering and shipping trends.

⚙ Some restaurants may have to manage fluctuations in seating capacity due to changes in local health guidelines.

For those that replied with suggestions by May 27th, we made sure they were available to the hackathon participants as they built their submissions.

Option 2: Participate in the Hackathon

Developers interested in participating submitted their entries by July 12, 2021: The 2021 Square Small Business Hackathon.

It was great to see sellers' suggestions and developers' solutions! 🤩

[GWTS]

CHALLENGE PROMPT

I HOPE IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO ADD A SUGGESTION OR TWO! THIS IS FOR A FOOD TRUCK THAT CANNOT UTILIZE RESTAURANT PLUS (WHICH I THINK DOES THIS WITH FRESH KDS) DUE NOT HAVING A CONSTANT WIFI CONNECTION.  I USE THE IPAD IN A STAND CONNECTED TO A PRINTER.

IT WOULD GREATLY HELP US FULFILL OUR KITCHEN TICKETS IF THEY COULD PRINT IN A SPECIFIC ORDER OF OUR CHOOSING SUCH AS BY CATEGORY OR FIRE ORDER. 

IT IS HARD TO READ TICKETS WHEN YOU HAVE TO SEARCH THE ENTIRE TICKET FOR ALL THE ITEMS THAT GO IN THE FRYER, THEN ALL THE ITEMS THAT REQUIRE A GRILLED ITEM, ETC.... 

I WOULD LIKE IT IF IT AUTOMATICALLY TOOK THE TICKET AS IT IS RUNG IN (WHICH IS USUALLY BY PERSON -ENTREE, DRINK, DESSERT-REPEAT FOR EACH GUEST) THEN PRINT IN A SPECIFIC ORDER.   BUT I WOULD TAKE BEING ABLE TO MOVE THE ITEMS ON THE SCREEN MANUALLY OR HAVING THE SCREEN AUTOMATICALLY SORT BEFORE CHECK OUT.  

IF THERE IS ALREADY A WAY TO MAKE THE SYSTEM DO THIS  PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL PERSONALLY! @ GRILLWICHTOTSTOP@GMAIL.COM

[GWTS]

CHALLENGE PROMPT

IT WOULD SAVE PAPER AND MAKE A KITCHEN TICKET EASIER TO READ & FULFILL  IF ...

PART OF SETTING UP AN ITEM ENTAILED TWO DIFFERENT NAMES FOR THE SAME ITEM

1. AN ONLINE CUSTOMER FACING NAME AND

2. A KITCHEN PRINTER NICKNAME (SHORTENED SO IT DOES NOT TAKE UP TWO LINES)

FOR INSTANCE I HAVE AN ITEM CALLED BLACK BEAN CHIPOTLE BURGER (A MOUTH FULL) 

BUT MY NICKNAME ONLY HAS TO BE BLCKBN BRGR (NOT VERY CLEAR TO A CUSTOMER BUT ENOUGH FOR THE COOK)

THIS WOULD ALSO BE EVEN MORE HELPFUL FOR THE MODIFIERS

I WOULD LIKE MY CUSTOMERS TO SEE ADD SHREDDED CHEESE OR CHEESE SAUCE UNDER THE HEADER ADD CHEESE TO THE BURGER AND THEN AGAIN THE CHOICE TO ADD IT TO THE TATER TOTS ON THE SIDE OF THEIR BURGER.  SINCE I DO NOT SEE THE HEADER THEY ARE CHOOSING FROM I HAVE TO HAVE THE CUSTOMER SEE A LONG NAME IN THE MODIFIER CHOICES WHICH IS CURRENTLY SHREDDED CHEESE TO THE BUN OR SHREDDED CHEESE TO TOTS - I DO NOT THINK THIS LOOKS VERY PROFESSIONAL AND AGAIN IT WRAPS TO A SECOND LINE (WASTING PAPER).  IF I HAD A NICKNAME FOR THE MODIFIER THEN THE CUSTOMER ONLY HAS TO SEE SHREDDED CHEESE AS A CHOICE UNDER THE MODIFIER HEADING ADD TO THE TOTS BUT MY KITCHEN COULD SEE TOTS-SHREDDED.  

IT WOULD MAKE THIS LESS CUMBERSOME TO THOSE THAT DO NOT NEED IT IF THERE WAS AN OPTION ENABLE NICKNAMES THAT UNHIDES THIS ENTRY LINE AND IF THEY DON'T ENABLE NICKNAMES THE LINE WOULD BE HIDDEN BUT AUTOFILLS WITH THE ONLINE NAME

[GWTS]

CHALLENGE PROMPT

THIS IDEA WOULD 1. INCREASE OUR TIPS,  2. INCREASE SALES TO SQUARE (VIA ADDITION OF TIP ADDED TO SALE THUS INCREASING THE FEE CHARGED), 3. OFFER A TOUCHLESS PAYMENT OPTION, AS WELL AS,  4. ENHANCE THE ACCURACY OF OUR SALE

SOFTWARE PROGRAM FOR THE SQUARE TERMINAL TO CONNECT IT TO AN IPAD WITH STAND AND USE IT AS A CUSTOMER DISPLAY AND CREDIT CARD SWIPE/CHIP READER.

• THIS WOULD ALLOW CUSTOMERS TO SEE THAT WE HAVE ACCURATELY RUNG THEIR ORDER 😎
• ADD TIP IF SO INCLINED 💰
• HAVE AN INDICATOR THAT SHOWS THEM IF THEY ADD ONE OR MORE $ THAT THEY COULD EARN ANOTHER STAR 🌟
• REMIND THEM TO ADD THEIR PHONE NUMBER TO REDEEM REWARDS EARNED 📞
• KNOW THAT THEIR PAYMENT HAS BEEN APPROVED ✔️
• KNOW IF IT IS OKAY TO REMOVE THEIR CARD 💳
• SIGN UP OR VIEW THEIR LOYALTY REWARDS ❣️
• LESSEN THE NUMBER OF REPETITIVE VERBAL QUESTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS TO THE CUSTOMER SO WE CAN FOCUS ON UPSELLING THE FOOD AND ADDING DESSERTS AND BEVERAGE 🍧

[Dimplesshop]

1) Ability to ship/create shipping labels (via stamps.com or something else) directly from a customer receipt.

2) a field to put a custom comment such as a shipping tracking # within a receipt for future reference.

3) ability to sell an item by a fraction allowing customers to pre-pay for an item. So as an example if a tote is $100 and they want to pay $50 today and $50 when it comes in a few weeks later you can sell .5 of a bag...

[Suzanne]

Would love a way to create a gift card (not to a specific client) with an expiration date or discount card with a CODE to enter for one time use for a dollar amount good on any item over $X, again with a time limit (the month of July or good until Sept.1, 2021).

[Tom]

Hello Square Sellers,

Thank you for sharing all of your input and why these solutions are important for your business! I'm circling back with a reminder that submissions for suggestions are now closed for this year's hackathon.

What happens next? We're compiling your insights and making sure they're available to developers as they build their submissions.

Thanks again to all who replied. We'll be back with a summary of outcomes after the event—appreciate your patience.⏳

[Chari-Designs]

I would like for customers to see the difference in price based on size and add-ons for specific items such as laser cut script words.  Perhaps that is already offered and I just don't know how to create the item in my item library appropriately. 

[Purp24]

add the option to look up transactions by product info. right now we can only search by card or receipt number

[JUYBoutique20]

yes this is a great suggestion

[MailCache]

It would be awesome if square invoicing had a late fee option. Even better if the late fees could be reoccurring. IE,: If an invoice is not paid by a certain date, there would be a late fee automatically added to the invoice. Then if the invoice continued to be unpaid every week/month/etc the late fee would duplicate itself until the invoice had been paid.

[Tom · Accepted solution]

Hello again! The results are in.

Thank you to everyone for making this a successful event, especially to sellers who took the time to lay out the challenges they face and to developers for their solutions! I'm excited to follow up with a highlight of the top six submissions from participating developers. To learn more about a particular build, click the link included in the description below.

 

The Winners of the 2020 Small Business Hackathon:

First Place and Most Creative Idea:
App name: Flash Order

Developers: Jonlund Lund & Weston Hafen
Developers’ Description: One button ordering is now a new ordering channel for the Flash Order platform. Via the Flash Order app a smart button is linked to the Square Terminal and is configured to order a specific menu item. When the button is pressed the ordering details are sent to the Flash Order cloud and routed to the Square Terminal for payment.

Second Place:
App name: watQ

Developers: Cliff Dias, Fabio Nobrega, Jameson O’Reilly, & José Abreu
Developers’ Description: In the simplest terms, watQ? connects a customer to a merchant by enabling the customer to view the merchant’s menu, place an order and deliver the order to the Merchant's Square POS.The Merchant’s inventory in Square is synchronised in the middleware allowing us to generate a consistent user experience for the retail customer. The Middleware uses the Square APIs to synchronise data.

The mobile app [integrates] the middleware and presents the shopping experience using the Merchants branding. watQ? enhances the Square capabilities by adding features like support for earliest delivery time and breaking down modifiers into categories. For example, when the order comes through to the POS, the merchant is notified whether the customer wants to remove, add or provide instructions.

Best Snippet for Square Online:
App name: Photoreview

Developer: Rowland Saer
Developers’ Description: Photo Review is a social validation app that allows you to post original content or repost content from your customers on your product page using your Instagram feed and a hashtag. Creating a carousel that displays all the Instagram posts that have the hashtag you selected.

Best App for Square Terminal Overall:
App name: Zaastry with PaymentEye

Developers: Miko Aro
Developers’ Description: Zaastry web software is used for accepting online ordering and payments from customers using Square APIs and SDKs. The Terminal POS and PaymentEye software in the merchant shop are used for accepting in-person payments using the Square Terminal device

Best use of Web Payments SDK with another Square API:
App name: mrkntile

Developers: Lauren Shultz

Developers’ Description: mrkntile aims to solve 2 main problems:

1. Help local sellers without a physical location find shops in the area with extra space willing to display their items.
2. Provide both parties with the tooling they need to easily manage the partnership by integrating with their Square accounts so the shop can take payments directly on behalf of the seller.

Most Impressive Technical Integration:
App name: React Square Web Payments SDK

Developers: Rowland Saer
Developers’ Description: React-square-web-payments-sdk is a library that will help developers easily build payment forms by passing only some parameters and having a Square account.

Learn more about the winners in Square's Developer Blog here: The Square Unboxed Hackathon Winners.

For a complete list of results from the hackathon participants, head over to the 2021 Square Unboxed Hackathon website. You can use the search bar to look for specific details and filter by category (e.g. Square Online, Square Terminal, and Web Payments SDK).

Thank you again to everyone for engaging with this event!

[HC_Charlie]

LOVE the innovation shown by all of these entries! I could see a use already for some of these, especially the one button ordering. I don't sell food but could see this in my retail store. I am wondering if this button can be combined with other items in someone's order? For example, If they buy several cards and gifts in my store, and I scan those barcodes, could the customer also press the button to add the specific defined item into their order and pay for everything?

[Kiosko]

Yes, a button could be configured to add an item to an open order.  You would need to use one of our Flash Order user interfaces to make that happen.  As of right now Square doesn't allow for us to edit an Open Ticket.

Weston

Flash Order

[Minion]

That Flash Order is super awesome and very creative.