Square brings developer payment API toolkit to Australia

Nearly a year ago, Square unveiled a way to be a more flexible commerce technology company, launching its Build with Square program. The aim was to allow third-party software and hardware developers to incorporate Square’s ecommerce and payment processing services into their own apps and devices. On Tuesday, Build with Square is being extended to Australia, the first location outside North America to gain access to this program.

Merchants in Australia will now be able to use Square’s ecommerce and point of sale APIs within their preferred applications. With a couple lines of code, businesses can incorporate the Square experience right into apps that currently suit their workflow. While the entire Square experience won’t be suitable to growing companies, there may be certain aspects of it that are still appealing, such as how Square handles accepting EMV payments and Apple Pay, as well as processing online payments. Now these features can be brought into practically any retail offering.

“As Square becomes an increasingly global company we are committed to bringing our tools to international developers and sellers of all sizes, starting with the launch of Build with Square in Australia, the first country outside of North America to have access to our payment APIs,” remarked Carl Perry, the company’s developer lead, in a statement. “This is an important step as we create a more international platform for developers this year.”

The first company to use this new API platform is Melbourne-based SwiftHero, a startup that pairs tradespeople with companies.

For years, Square has been actively targeting small businesses, but now as a public company, it needs to become more flexible, showing shareholders that it grow its commerce offering. Build with Square is the first step forward. Previously, it was limited to merchants in North America, but now it’s moving overseas to a country the company only launched in a year ago.

The push to bring Build with Square to more countries is also an effort to attract newer merchants onto its platform. As the company expands into new markets, there are some sellers that may not want the closed commerce system, instead opting to retain their existing services. But as they progress, they may want to adapt and incorporate new technologies, so Build with Square could be viewed as a happy compromise — keep your existing workflow, but evolve it with what you like best about Square.

Additional integrations have been made in the past year to expand the developer platform, including efforts to join up with TouchBistro, Vend, and Wix. Square CEO Jack Dorsey has said in the past that the company isn’t in a position to build everything, so the availability of its API lets third parties do the work while giving customers the Square experience. Integrations previously made will now be available to those in Australia, including those around Weebly, Ecwid, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento.