Dorseys’s payments company announced a new option for restaurants & stores to have products delivered to customers.
Wednesday’s announcement underscores Square’s effort to beef up online offerings for small businesses that are being hit especially hard by nationwide shutdowns. The coronavirus-related shelter-in-place orders have forced many Square merchants to close their doors and quickly shift businesses online. Square announced the sale of Caviar, to DoorDash for $410 million last August. At the time, CEO Jack Dorsey had said in a statement the move would allow Square to double down on investments and focus in its core payments businesses. “In this challenging new business environment, it’s more important than ever that sellers have access to the tools they need to sell online quickly, efficiently, and affordably,” Square said in a statement. The move also highlights the elevated attractiveness of delivery models as brick-and-mortar stores remain closed. Instacart, for example, told CNBC that demand in March was the the highest in the company’s history, and that customer order volume is up more than 500% year over year. Meanwhile, Grubhub announced this month that it would merge with European food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway after merger talks with Uber fell through.