Square, a payment platform best known for its ubiquitous readers, enters the Canadian cannabis market. The company announced on Wednesday morning a partnership between Jane Technologies and the online ordering service, which allows customers to order marijuana for pickup or delivery.
Square announced in a press release that, in addition to its agreement with Jane, it is opening an early-access program for licensed dispensaries across Canada. “This will allow authorized cannabis sellers to test the Square Retail Point of Sale (POS) Solution in stores before being launched more broadly,” the company stated.
Square’s cannabis clients can now track real-time the inventory of multiple stores and receive compliance alerts when an order exceeds Canada’s purchase limits for marijuana products.
Square’s head of retail, Roshan Jhunja said, “We are always looking to solve sellers’ pain points, and we know that cannabis dispensaries only have a limited number of options for reliable and integrated commerce solutions.” He added that sellers were looking for a “fully integrated, easy-to-use omnichannel solution” to help run their business both in person and online.
Entry by a mainstream payment processor and POS service provider, which is popular in the cannabis industry, could place pressure on existing competitors. Most are small in comparison to traditional financial services, and they specialize in working with marijuana businesses and other regulated ones.
“Square’s reputation as a global commerce platform speaks volumes,” Socrates Rosfeld, CEO at Jane Technologies. The partnership developed organically, given our shared philosophy of providing brick-and mortar retailers with the best digital tools.
Jane says that it powers over 2,500 brands and retailers in 39 U.S. States and Canada.
Many cannabis companies in the United States are unable to accept payments by card for marijuana purchases, as marijuana is still illegal on a federal level. Most banks avoid the cannabis industry because they are concerned about liability and potential legal penalties. Some companies have come up with shady workarounds to get around the problem, like using “cashless” ATMs which miscode cannabis purchases as cash withdrawals.
A prohibitionist group accused Maryland of protecting banks that are violating federal law. But both the state and Wells Fargo have stated that the transactions were compliant with applicable laws.
Next week, a vote will be held on legislation that would allow banks to work more easily with cannabis businesses. The coalition of 35 cannabis associations, drug policy reform organizations and a leading national union sent a message on Tuesday to Congress calling for them to address the “humanitarian cost” of robberies that target cash-intensive marijuana businesses .
Square began working with CBD companies in 2019, despite the obstacles that continue to exist for banking marijuana businesses. Square began a pilot program for CBD sellers that was only open to invitees in May that year. The program expanded in October that same year.
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Photo by Rick Proctor.
The article Payment processor Square enters Canada’s Marijuana Market through partnership with online sales platform Jane first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
