Square Adds Generative AI Tools for Small Businesses

There's no copilot, but the features just might get stores operational more quickly

Square is the latest business application provider to bring generative AI features to its software to enhance user productivity. The company announced it was introducing ten new features ranging from menu and image generation to email and website copy. According to the announcement:

Today, Square announced 10 new generative AI features that sellers can use now to automate operations, speed up workflows, and regain time … Earlier in 2023, Square made generative AI a key business priority, with the aim of providing sellers with generative AI-powered tools that enable them to benefit from the time and cost savings promised by this new wave of technology.

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Key new generative AI-powered features include:

• Menu Generator: Restaurants can now create a full menu on Square in just a few minutes with just a few clicks, giving them – or any business looking to expand into food and drink offerings – valuable momentum and time-savings when launching operations on Square.

• Photo Environments: E-commerce sellers can now add hyperreal AI-generated backgrounds and choose from more than 50 style prompts with the latest version of the Photo Studio app, helping them elevate their websites and attract more customers. Since July 1, while in beta, sellers have created and saved over 14,000 AI Environment images.

More Than Just POS

Many people have encountered a Square point-of-sale (POS) payment device. They are mini kiosk-like tablets on a merchant’s check-out counter or a card reader attached to a smartphone. However, Square has expanded its offerings in recent years to include messaging, online stores, customer directories, gift card management, and a number of other capabilities. These are the features that are getting a generative AI makeover.

The key generative AI features include:

• Photo environments

• Menu generator

• Personalized email copy

• Team announcements

• Website copy generator

• Suggested replies [for direct messages to buyers]

• Auto-generated library [suggested products for sale]

• Auto-imported services [transitioning appointment booking systems]

• Kitchen categories [menu information for kitchen staff]

• Item descriptions [for the seller product catalog]

Focused on Set-Up over Daily Operations

There are some operational capabilities in the list of new features, but most will have the biggest impact when setting up a new store within Square or transitioning from another platform provider. If you are a restaurant, you can’t go live until you have the website copy written, a menu, and images. Similarly, if you have an online store, it can be a Herculean task to write all of the item descriptions for the product catalog.

You see a similar focus for Wix. The key impact will be during the set-up and launch of a new service. Most users will not engage with it very often afterward. For Square, the exception may be messaging. Auto-suggested or auto-generated replies to customer direct messages could have a big impact if this service is widely adopted. It is unclear how large Square’s market share is for this feature.

This is not to say that photo environments won’t be a regularly employed feature. It helps solve or, at least, mitigates a common problem. On balance, this is not an everyday need.

Everyday vs Milestone Activities

Square's everyday small business features, such as payment processing, don’t have obvious generative AI points of leverage. However, a big deal for any business is the launch, and that is an important friction point in the Square onboarding process. That means it is also an obstacle between a new Square customer generating revenue and payment fees. It is in both parties’ interest to make that process more efficient.

Shopify offers a copilot to help small business owners with a variety of everyday operational tasks. It is designed as a coach and collaborator. Square is going straight for practical value. It’s about augmenting and streamlining the creation process—particularly during the launch process.

Many people have wondered how generative AI will help organizations drive revenue. If Square’s thesis is correct and the time to store set-up is reduced, it will be a clear example. Time is money, after all. 💰😎