The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2019
Shopify Tap & Chip Reader: LEDs under a glass-like surface guide card payments
Shopify's pocket-sized card reader replaces screen instructions with hidden LEDs that light up step by step through the payment flow.
Shopify
What it had to solve
Shopify's merchants were increasingly selling face to face, and the e-commerce company decided to build its own retail hardware instead of reselling third-party terminals. The reader had to let sellers accept chip and contactless payments on a phone or tablet anywhere in the store, with no time to learn a complicated terminal.
How it works
Shopify's merchants were increasingly selling in person, and the company decided the hardware should be its own rather than a third-party terminal. The brief for the Tap & Chip reader: let a seller accept chip and contactless payments on a phone or tablet anywhere in the store, with zero time spent learning the device.
The answer was an interface made of light. Hidden LEDs beneath a glass-like composite surface light up through the payment flow, guiding the seller step by step without a screen or text; the chip slot is sculpted to be found easily, and the self-contained shape rests in the hand and fits a pocket. The body is robust and tamper-resistant, with long battery life and security features built in.
The Red Dot jury praised the reader for its self-contained shape and pleasant haptics, calling it an extremely mobile and enjoyable-to-touch card reader, and the project is preserved in the Red Dot Design Award archive. Shopify launched the reader in April 2019 as the centre of a retail kit built for in-store selling.
Why it lands
- LEDs under the surface carry the payment steps without text, so the guidance works for sellers of any language and at any moment of distraction.
- The sculpted chip slot and pocketable form make the device usable by touch in the middle of a live transaction.
- A tamper-resistant body with long battery life treats the reader as daily store equipment rather than a fragile gadget.
- Building the hardware itself let Shopify control the whole in-store experience instead of bolting on a third-party terminal.
What it did
The Red Dot jury said the reader appeals through its self-contained shape and pleasant haptics, making it an extremely mobile and enjoyable-to-touch card reader, and the project is archived as a Red Dot Design Award winner. Shopify launched the reader in April 2019 as the centre of a new retail kit for in-store selling.
What you can take
When users will never read a manual, embed the instructions in the object: light, shape and feel can carry an interface that needs no screen, no text and no training.
Since then
The Red Dot page records the product and the jury statement but no sales figures, so the case stands on the design idea: a card reader whose interface is light rather than text. The Tap & Chip became Shopify's physical-retail entry point, launched in April 2019 together with a charging Dock and an iPad Retail Stand, and its design kept being cited as an award-winning piece of POS hardware.
Sources
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