Success, Security, and Simplicity with Barn2Door Point of Sale
In this week’s episode we sit down with Anthony, Barn2Door’s Product Manager, and discuss the Barn2Door Point of Sale (POS). After several months on the market, we dig into Farmer’s success with the device, and the added security and simplicity provided by the recent addition of Mobile Wallets, Google Pay and Apple Pay, on the Barn2Door POS.
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James Maiocco: Welcome today to the Direct Farm Podcast. I'm James, your host for today's episode. Uh, we've got another great conversation for you today, with Barn2Door's very own Product Manager, Anthony Maiocco. Anthony joined Barn2Door more than three years ago in the height of the pandemic as part of Barn2Door Success Team.
He helped onboard hundreds of Farms all across the United States, and, and then a year later Anthony moved into product management to help us define and prioritize our engineering investments. Now, over the past year, Anthony's actually expanded his role and responsibilities to take on management and use of [00:01:00] the Barn2Door User Experience and Support Teams, too.
He was educated as a mechanical engineer and continues to invest his time and energies to help Barn2Door best serve Farms. Uh, so really delighted to have him here today. Anthony, welcome back to the Barn2Door Direct Farm Podcast.
Anthony Maiocco: Thank you for having me.
James Maiocco: Well, hey, let's go ahead and jump in. I know we got a lot to cover today, but can you, could you start just telling us a little bit about yourself and what prompted your initial interest in agriculture before you joined Barn2Door?
Anthony Maiocco: Um, it, it goes back to probably somewhere there in middle school. Of all things I, I probably couldn't tell you like exactly why, it was an interest in chickens that kind of kicked to the whole thing off, like where that exactly came from. Like who, who knows? But, um, I was keenly interested in having and owning chickens and was doing research and all that good stuff and then of all things, uh, I decided to start a little website cuz I was trying to aggregate all this information about [00:02:00] chicken breeds. It's no longer, no longer up there, but it was pickingachicken.com.
But, uh, it , it actually did okay for a little while there. It made it its way onto the, the first page of Google. But, uh, that was step one. And then that just led me to, to work at the local grange, feed and supply store, kind of through the summers, in high school. And, um, you know, one thing led to another, and now here I am, uh, however many years later at Barn2Door.
James Maiocco: Wow. Well, seems like chicken is always the gateway drug for a lot of Farmers to get involved with agriculture. Uh, certainly appreciate your affinity for chickens, um, I know many people on our team go to you with questions about specific breeds. That's good that you have all that background knowledge and experience.
Well, since joining Barn2Door, your role and responsibilities have certainly evolved significantly during your tenure. What do you enjoy most about your position now at Barn2Door now that you've got purview over Product, User Experience, and Support?
Anthony Maiocco: Yeah, uh, particularly the [00:03:00] close relationship between the Product side and Support is something that we enjoy at a business level. Um, support has really great kind of finger on the pulse in terms of what our Farmers are asking questions about, or need a little bit more explanation. And then product is where we help decide what we're gonna work on next.
So it's, you know, pretty easy to see how those dovetail one into the other. Having that relationship between the two departments is, is certainly a nice handoff, but then for me, just getting the chance to actually see those improvements delivered to our Farmers and see the positive feedback is probably my personal favorite.
James Maiocco: That's great. Must be really tangible, obviously, for your team to be able to see that feedback coming in, and then work with the Engineering Team on getting those things fixed right and resolved, right? Because there's no bug for your code, there's always room for improvement, but it's great that you have your eyes across all of that.
So it's been a few months since Barn2Door made its new Point of Sale device and its mobile application, generally available for [00:04:00] purchase. How's it going so far?
Anthony Maiocco: Quite well. Um, we have actually put out a survey to the Farms that have, uh, been using our Point of Sale device and the feedback ha has been very positive. Um, so it's been been exciting to see the results of that.
James Maiocco: So can you tell me, I know the survey has several questions. Let's just kick off with a couple questions, specifically. What's been the feedback specifically about ease of use getting started, just the basic setup? Cuz sometimes, you know, it can be a little intimidating to get a device and try to pair it with an application on your phone.
Anthony Maiocco: So going through one of our main priorities when we were designing this whole Point of Sale experience was making it as easy as possible for a Farmer to take their existing inventory list and, when they log into the Point of Sale the very first time to have that just show up, and they're pretty much ready to go.
Um, so the feedback to that end has been very positive. People get to enjoy many of the elements of what they enjoy about their [00:05:00] Barn2Door storefronts, uh, there on Point of Sale as well, having all of their variable weight items and everything ready to go.
James Maiocco: And, and then with respect to like connecting the reader itself to the phone, is that just as simple as the same thing you would do with any other Bluetooth device?
Anthony Maiocco: Mm-hmm. Yep. Just through the Point of Sale application itself, it'll pop up and prompt you to connect to a reader and. Know, that's been, uh, broadly pretty quick experience from, from what we've heard from our Farmers. So yeah, go through and search for devices, pops up and hit connect, and you're squared away.
James Maiocco: That's super. So Anthony, um, it's been, um, a few months since the Barn2Door POS was released and as we were just discussing, having a really easy setup is really important out of the box. But I know that you guys spent several months and actually over a year developing this product and you guys wanted to have a POS that was truly Built for Farmers and have some things that nobody else offered.
Um, what are a couple of those kind of key features that [00:06:00] Barn2Door debut day one with their Point of Sale device that Farmers are really loving.
Anthony Maiocco: The, the first one that jumps to mind is a real time inventory sync, uh, between a Farmer's Online Store and the In-Person Point of Sale. To give a quick example, if you have a hundred chickens, it's the same inventory number between both sides of the, the system. So you could have your hundred chickens online, maybe before the Farmer's market, you manage pre-sell 15 or 20. Um, and then when you're there in-person, you still have that, 85 chickens available. Maybe you do well at the market, sell 40 or 50 of them, and you , you come out the other side and the number everywhere is gonna be down at 35.
So no reconciliation necessary after the fact.
James Maiocco: So that's a huge time saving. So regardless of whether or not somebody's purchasing online, even while you're at the market, that inventory is gonna update in real time. So there could be somebody [00:07:00] purchasing, , five chickens while you're at the market for a few hours. But at the same time, to your point, if you sell 50 chickens at the market, all of that's gonna be deducting from, , that single, count of that product.
Right? So that's a really cool feature. Uh, what's the second thing? I know, , Farmers have some unique requirements. What's the other big feature that Farmers are really excited about?
Anthony Maiocco: Yeah. The other one that is definitely worth highlighting is the ability to Sell by Weight. Um, so again, those chickens, you sell them online. Maybe you are normally selling them at $28 a piece or something along those lines. You can take that same chicken that you're selling for a set price online and be able to sell that by weight in person. Maybe the market you prefer to weigh everything out and make sure that the customer in front of you is getting a , exact charge amount. So going through, you're able to, charge the three chickens and draw those three chickens down from your inventory count accurately, but still charge by weight, , [00:08:00] to the customer.
So being able to kinda have that split and the support of being able to charge by weight, uh, to the customer, whether online or in person, uh, is a feature we looked to bring across from the online store to the in-person experience.
James Maiocco: So, so when I'm in person with my POS I could literally, with just one toggle on, on that item, flip it from a fixed price to a sell by weight. So all of a sudden that chicken, like you said, which may be charging simply $28 on line for a flat fee in person, I could actually charge two four pounds, two ounces, exactly.
And, and it would just calculate it automatically. So I might pull three birds outta my my cooler, at the market. Each of them might have a different weight. I could charge the exact weight and I can get every penny to the ounce, essentially.
Right.
Anthony Maiocco: Mm-hmm. Yep. And no extra, you know, special configuration needed in the background. Like if a customer walks up and you wanna change that, you can all just do it right on the spot quickly and easily.
James Maiocco: That is really slick. I can see why Farmers [00:09:00] are clapping for that feature. That's a huge, huge value add. Um, so now. Back to the time put into developing and designing this experience. I understand, again, more than 18 months of research and development to get this first version of the POS out into the wild.
Can you share, you know, a couple stories perhaps how Farmers are using it today? What's, what's an example where, a Farmer who've had been with Barn2Door for some time, perhaps have had a lot of online sales, , how are they doing now with POS? Is this something new that's enabling the capture additional of volume?
Anthony Maiocco: Um, the release of the Point of Sale for many of the Farms we work with has been a huge win-win. For, for them the ability to kind of further lean into, their in-person sales, some of these Farms we work with didn't even have a Point of Sale previously, um, so obviously a huge value add there for them.
Um, but then the ability to have all of those, features that come with Barn2Door kinda wrapped into their in-person like Point of Sale [00:10:00] experience as well. So, all sales are gonna get appropriately synced in their QuickBooks integration if they have that set up or, or things of that nature.
There's a Farm we work with out in, Kentucky who, , had done some volume with us in, in the previous year. Um, not what we classify as a super high number, but they bought a Point of Sale system, actually two, two of the readers. Um, and lo and behold, they have started doing in-person sales and have now done, uh, many tens of thousands of dollars in volume in person, which has been really remarkable to see.
So, Seeing Farmers able to really lean into the Point of Sale experience and find additional volume for themselves by being able to offer an additional measure of convenience for their customers who are there in person and maybe wanna add an item on to their online order or something like that, has been really incredible to see.
James Maiocco: Yeah, that's a, that's a real use case. I know talking with many Farmers myself that they've been very excited about. [00:11:00] Right. To your point, maybe they never had a Point of Sale previously and all of a sudden, when. Are doing their pickups with the Point of Sale, that's affording them the opportunity to capture additional add-on sales in person, even though they, that person may have already , pre-ordered for pickup.
Right? So that's just really nice, just again, supplemental income for these Farmers. Great to see that it's, in many cases, been quite material, like double digit lift in, in volume for some of these Farms. Now, um, now that you know, Barn2Door has been in the market for several months, you know, it must be fun beginning to work on some of the refinements based on all this feedback for our Farmers, right?
So I know you survey Farmers all the time. You're looking for this feedback, we're always looking for more ideas on how we can make, uh, our, our solution, and in this case, the Barn2Door Point of Sale more useful. So recently, we announced, , the expansion of the Barn2Door Point of Sale to support Mobile Wallets.
So can you explain a little bit more, uh, about what a Mobile Wallet is and, and then we can talk about why it's a big deal.
Anthony Maiocco: So [00:12:00] Mobile Wallets, uh, for those not familiar, are an application within someone's phone where they have the ability to enter in their credit card. So, um, so they load in their credit card and they're actually able to use their phone for in-person transactions without even having the card there.
So someone can, load their Amex or their Visa right onto their phone. And then when they're there, tapping their phone in person for, for checkout, as we've all gotten more and more used to. Um, the, the reader pretty much thinks that it's a card right there on the spot.
James Maiocco: So that's a big deal, right? Because I know both Apple and Google have native applications to Apple Pay and Google Pay that are available with every iPhone or with every Android device, , that support, these types of Mobile Wallet right on the phone.
So, we've expanded out to Mobile Wallets. For many Farmers, this might be new territory for them. Maybe they've heard about it, maybe they haven't. I know this took some time and energy for our [00:13:00] Engineering Team to implement. Why is this such a big deal in terms of like looking ahead for a Farmer's growth?
Anthony Maiocco: Yeah, well, while the idea of a Mobile Wallet on, on the surface might sound like a little bit gimmicky, it really is something that is here to stay. Uh, just buy the numbers, 49% of all Buyers have now completed a purchase using a Mobile Wallet. And to kind of tack onto that, 37% of Buyers say they make the majority of all their purchases with a Mobile Wallet.
Looking at the, the buyer base, that number is just continuing to grow and grow. Uh, there are many folks in the younger generations who would leave their homes without a credit card on them at all. So it is absolutely imperative to make sure that you are, uh, able to support this method of payment and something that we see, uh, looking ahead as something that's here to stay and super important to, to make sure that you can accept.
James Maiocco: Yeah, and I don't know if I qualify as younger, I'm 52, but [00:14:00] I know I use Mobile Wallets and it is my preferred form of payment. I certainly, while I still keep it, Credit card on person, just in case I need it for some work because there are some vendors who don't accept Mobile Wallet payments.
Wherever a Mobile Wallet payment is available, that's what I use, right? Because I can simply just pay with, my fingerprint or with my actual, with facial recognition as well. So let's talk a little bit about why. This big shift, right? Why is this driving so much? Why is there so much enthusiasm amongst buyers for using Mobile Wallets, for in-person payments?
Like what are some of the big trends that you think are, are driving this? What, what's the first thing that comes to mind?
Anthony Maiocco: Yeah, definitely a couple factors here. Uh, first one being the convenience for these buyers. I mean, as, uh, some of the listeners might have seen before, like the ability to just hover their smartphone over, whatever reader they might be using to make a payment.
And for the buyer it's very quick, and as we noted, [00:15:00] it's very heavily used by them. So it's a level of convenience that they're quickly becoming used to.
James Maiocco: it's easy. I do this all the time. I just carry my phone in my back pocket , wherever I walk in to grab a cup of coffee, you can just pull my phone out and make a just quick and easy payment. What's the second big thing here that you're seeing or driving this? is there some value add also even for the, the vendors as well?
Anthony Maiocco: yeah. Um, looking towards this in our modern world, the second point is gonna be security. , depending on the application, I know Apple uses facial recognition, Google will use, uh, either that or usually a pin or your fingerprint to make sure that, the customer is really there with their card, which can help reduce dispute and fraud rates.
So there's , Benefits there for the, the vendors in terms of reduced, uh, chargebacks. And then yeah, making sure that those facial recognitions especially will like look through and make sure, I think Apple's facial recognition uses 30,000 data [00:16:00] points to make sure that, you are who you are right there.
So make sure not to wear your sunglasses. But, um, yeah, there, there's a layer of security there that benefits both the buyer and the seller when making these payments with Mobile Wallets.
James Maiocco: That's super impressive, right? Because I know my pin on my phone's only six digits, right? But 30,000 points for facial recognition, that's pretty insane. That sounds like a pretty hard algorithm to crack. I can understand why Apple and Google are also encouraging people to use Mobile Wallets. Um, what else?
, we obviously went through Covid, , recent years and people have a lot of concern about touching things. Is sanitation kind of something else that you're seeing too, is like people just don't want to touch terminals, that kind of thing? You know, when they're going up and using a Mobile Wallet,
Anthony Maiocco: Yeah, well, the ability to just hover and tap and pay many times is, like I said, quicker and easier for folks. But yeah, the ability to just, , use their own device, which they're very comfortable with, and, um, Never have to come into, into contact with anything else is [00:17:00] probably a, a growing, uh, priority in, in many buyers minds as well, especially kind of with more sensitivity about, , public spaces and given the events of the last few years.
James Maiocco: Yeah. Okay. Okay. And then lastly, is there any other big trends? I know people are increasingly busy in their lives. Is there anything else that you think is helping to really drive the Mobile Wallet adoption? Because obviously to see half of all Americans now having completed a Mobile Wallet transaction, that's a big deal.
Something must be going right.
Anthony Maiocco: Well, if we're looking at trends, I think we can all say that people are increasingly, , attached and , probably dependent on their smartphones, but folks are more likely to probably forget their wallet at home than their smartphone at this stage.
and we are in a world that's increasingly busy as well, you know, folks are multitasking when they're right there making that in-person transaction, and a dog trying to run off for a, a child on their hip or something like that. So it's, um, one of those things [00:18:00] where they only need one hand to do it. So they don't need to worry about pulling out their wallet and trying to, , manage an impressive feet of dexterity to get the card out and present it.
Instead, they can just pull their phone out like many of us do many times a day, hover it and then be on their way, , very quickly, easily,, with one hand.
James Maiocco: So what I'm hearing is not only convenient, but it's simple, right? Like so you don't have to have, like you said, fumbling around for cards, you're not having to insert something into a terminal, particularly if you got a cup of coffee or a dog leash in your hand, in the other hand, or perhaps you're holding the products that you're purchasing from the Farmer, right?
It just works easy. Everything's simple. Uh, for that buyer, I can understand. I know I'm a huge advocate of Mobile Wallets. This is why I use Mobile Wallets almost exclusively. And so hopefully Farmers, if you're listening to this, you're hearing just again, This, growing enthusiasm amongst buyers, right? But the big part of this too is you're also going to improve that experience for your buyers who are gonna be happier with that experience at [00:19:00] your mobile checkout.
So if you were talking with a Farmer who was skeptical about Mobile Wallets, Anthony and who had never used them before, you know, what are a couple points that you would try to come back to or want them to just again, think through before passing on this opportunity.
Anthony Maiocco: Sure. Uh, So in terms of just Mobile Wallet usage, just to point back towards some of those kind of trends and numbers we were looking at before, um, it, it is something that buyers are increasingly looking towards and, uh, using in, in their personal lives, as many as one out of three buyers who prefer to use Mobile Wallets to make the majority of their in-person payments.
So, um, something that as we've kind of seen has grown over the past years and it's continuing to grow and is increasingly an expectation of your buyers to, to be able to have this payment option available.
James Maiocco: So it's really not a question if Mobile Wallet are gonna happen, it's a question of whether or not the Farmers are gonna support it, [00:20:00] right? Because buyers like me in increasing. More and more buyers are just gonna come to expect it, right? So that's a big deal. So for listeners who are existing Barn2Door account holders, what do they need to do to get started?
Like, so if they haven't ordered a POS device, you know, what's the first step? And if they already have a Barn2Door POS device, you know, what do they need to do?
Anthony Maiocco: For, for those who are, Barn2Door account holders without a Point of Sale, I mean, it's just gonna be on your online account. You're able to, to go through and order a, a reader just under the account tab and Point of Sale. Um, so pretty quick and easy to get that shipped to your door.
And then beyond that, uh, for all those who already have a Point of Sale and have been kinda seeing and using the the application, you can use it in much the same way as you were using it before. Um, so you'll now notice if you have an updated, uh, version of your application that when you click credit card, and you go through and the customer chooses how much they wanna tip at the bottom of that screen where the [00:21:00] customer's prompted to, present their credit card. It now just says, supports Apple and Google Pay. So no further setup needed. Just make sure that your application is up to date. It probably is most people have their, uh, phones on auto update. Um, so yeah, it should just be there, baked in, ready to go um, for all those Farms, uh, who've been using the application themselves.
James Maiocco: That's super. So I'm, if I'm an existing Barn2Door account holder and I got my POS, I can start taking Apple and Google Pay payments today. Like there's nothing thing holding me back.
Anthony Maiocco: Yep.
James Maiocco: Awesome. And from what I understand too, there's no additional cost or any ongoing cost associated with a POS device from Barn2Door either, is that correct?
Anthony Maiocco: Correct. Yeah, just the, purchase of the reader itself. And then from that point forward you're golden. So, , like I said, trying to make this as, easy and accessible for our Farms who are looking to kind of add this, opportunity and ability to take payments in, in person for their buyers.
James Maiocco: That's super. So, hey, before we wrap up, [00:22:00] Anthony, I know that you look at and analyze a lot of , data usage and trends. Uh, what's one of the things that you're most excited to share about the Barn2Door Point of Sale that may not be obvious to our listeners?
Anthony Maiocco: Well, looking at all of the different surveys and everything that we do, you know, a lot of positive feedback there. But one of the most exciting numbers for me is just seeing the, the increase in, revenue for our Farms. So, um, for them there's been double digit increase in in the volume for the Farmers with Barn2Door utilizing the Point of Sale system, and hard to put too much emphasis on that, but that's been a really incredible number to see.
James Maiocco: That's huge. I know if somebody came and offered me a double digit increase on my salary, I would take that tomorrow.
Anthony Maiocco: Yep, sign me up for that too.
James Maiocco: So, hey, if you're a Barn2Door account holder and you have not yet ordered a Point of Sale device, you can simply log into your account today. Uh, go to the account tab and scroll down to Point of Sale, and you can place your order on a Point of Sale and get [00:23:00] one this week. Literally. It's that easy.
If you're a Farmer who's not yet working with Barn2Door, looking for an all-in-one solution, hey, look, come check us out. We've obviously made a heavy investment to make this experience easy and simple to use, uh, not just for your online sales, but for in person, right? And keeping everything in sync.
I wanna extend my thanks to Anthony for joining us on this week's podcast episode, and its ongoing contributions to leadership of Barn2Door. Thank you, Anthony.
And here at Barn2Door, we're humbled to support thousands of Farms across the country. We're honored to get the opportunity to learn from many of our most successful Farmers who share their tactics, resources, and tools that they use to grow and manage their farm business.
If you're looking for more information about the Barn Barn2Door Point of Sale, check out our website at barn2door.com and navigate to Software, backslash Point of Sale. There you can dive into all the features of the Barn2Door POS, built for Farmers to help you increase sales and save time.
Thank you for tuning into the Barn2Door Direct Farm Podcast and we look forward to seeing you next time.